Thought this might be of interest to some.

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA

http://members.tripod.com/nature_scenic_photos/

Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 15:18:09 -0500
Reply-To: Marvin Davis <marvdavs at OLEMISS.EDU>
Sender: "National Birding Hotline Cooperative (Chat
Line)"
<BIRDCHAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
From: Marvin Davis <marvdavs at OLEMISS.EDU>
Subject: Bad Tick News for C USA region birders
Comments: cc: ARBIRD-L at UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU
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BirdChatters,
esp in mid-Miss Valley/MO area:

I don't want to be alarmist, but another potentially fatal
[non-Lyme] tick disease is reported from the lower Midwest
region via today's news release over Drs. Guide at:
http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/112fd6.htm

These are most highlights of the story--

"Researchers Identify New Type Of Potentially Fatal Tick-Borne

Disease"
ST. LOUIS, MO -- July 15, 1999 -- Researchers have
discovered a new form of a tick-borne disease that can
be fatal in humans. This finding provides more insight
into ehrlichiosis, first identified in humans in the United
States in 1986.

A bacterium called Ehrlichia ewingii causes ehrlichiosis
in dogs, cattle and other animals. But in the past few
years, four people exposed to ticks in Missouri have
contracted the disease from this bacterium.

"We want people to know that ehrlichiosis is in *Missouri,
*Arkansas and southern *Illinois," said Gregory Storch,
M.D., professor of pediatrics at Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis. "If someone is bitten by
a tick and feels sick afterward, he or she should contact
a physician as soon as possible and make sure the
physician knows about the exposure."

The researchers report their findings in today's issue of
The New England Journal of Medicine.

The symptoms of ehrlichiosis resemble the flu and they
include fever, malaise, headache and muscle and joint
pain. They usually appear seven to 10 days after a tick
bite. Dog ticks, deer ticks and the Lone Star tick are
known to spread the disease.

Ehrlichiosis can be successfully treated with antibiotics.
But someone who does not receive treatment can
develop serious liver and lung problems that can cause
organ failure.

Two other Ehrlichia species previously have been
identified in the U.S. E. chaffeensis, first detected in
1986, also is endemic in Missouri. Infecting a special
white blood cell called a mononuclear cell, it causes
human monocytic ehrlichiosis. In 1994, a new form of
human ehrlichiosis called human granulocytic ehrlichiosis
surfaced. This form involves a white blood cell called a
granulocyte.
.........................

"We realised right away that we were on to something
very interesting -- that this bacterium previously known
to cause illness in dogs had been discovered in humans,"
Storch said.

All four patients with E. ewingii were male and had an
illness with fever during the summer months of various
years. They ranged in age from 11 to 65 years, and all
reported having been exposed to ticks and having had
contact with dogs before their illness. Three of the four
patients were receiving immunosuppressive therapy for
other conditions and all four had low platelet and white
blood cell counts. After receiving antibiotic treatment for
ehrlichiosis, they recovered. In two of the patients,
Ehrlichia organisms were visible in granulocytes, as in
dogs with E. ewingii.

The investigators do not know whether E. ewingii
infection in humans, like many emerging infections, is a
new phenomenon or merely a newly-recognised one.
Because E. ewingii is closely related to E. chaffeensis
and both are found in Missouri, it's possible that previous
cases of E. ewingii have been misdiagnosed as E. chaffeensis.

Regardless, Storch and colleagues believe it's important
for the public and physicians to be more aware of
ehrlichiosis. He said some physicians still do not
recognise the disease when their patients have classic
symptoms.

"It's important for physicians to be thinking about
ehrlichiosis and to be suspicious so they can start the
appropriate treatment," Storch said. "It can make the
difference between life and death."
.........................
"The whole Ehrlichia story is rapidly developing and this
is one new chapter about a very important emerging
infection," Storch said.
end
\_/
(o!o)
(( )) Hoo-ha-hoo-hoo
\ /
***\"
"/**************************************************************

W. Marvin Davis, Ph.D., Prof. Pharmacol.& Toxicol., Dept of
Pharmacol.
U. Mississippi, University, MS 38677 [Oxford, MS]
662/232-7330/5151w
234-1773h; Fx:662/232-5148--marvdavs at olemiss.edu [listowner
missbird]
_____________________________________________________________________

^o^ ^o^ ^0^ ?o? \o/
^o^ ^o^ ^0^ Peregrine ^ .
Gulls Pelicans Bald Eagle (stooping) Swift
Hummer Bee
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