Lyme disease (aka lyme borreliosis) is a plague suffered by many archaeologists, and anybody else who spends part of each spring and summer wandering about in forested areas. The disease is caused by the tick-borne bacterium Borrelia burgorferi, and spread to humans by the bite of a tick. A recent open access article published on June 24, 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that North American ticks and European ticks are genetically distinct populations, and, according to the paper, B. burgdorferi originated in Europe.
Couldn't prove it by me, but here's the paper, if anybody's interested.
- Margos, Gabriele, et al. 2008 MLST of housekeeping genes captures geographic population structure and suggests a European origin of Borrelia burgdorferi. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(25):8730-8735. Free for the download
- Ticks and Lyme Disease
- Lyme Disease: Cause, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention, everything you always wanted to know, from About.com's Arthritis guides Carol and Richard Eustice
Comments
Hello,
That is interesting about the origin of Borrelia burgdorferi. In all of our research we have not across that information. we will review the sources and possibly add it to our database on Lyme disease symptoms and treatments.
By all means, be sure to read the research. It is well outside my area of expertise, but it looked like an interesting and potentially useful study.
Kris
Hello;
As lyme disease victim who is left with, risidule chronic issues ,I am always researching.I have read one article that says the borrellia bacteria was in European countries years ago causing brain disease and teeth to rot.Many people were treated like lepords and fled thier homeland from fear of being put on a island like a prisnor.It also said it may be possible that the decendants of them carry a heriditary form of the illness which lends to the family connection to bi polar/mental illness.The european strains are none to cause a brain illness not talked about as much in the US.It says if your family carries the heriditary form your are more suseptable for contracting an acute case from tick bites and those who carry the gene may suffer more severe symptoms due to the new infection causing the heriditary case to come out of dormancy …I am just saying I read that somewhere.It was thought to of been spread thru rats and tick bites.I am just saying I read that somewhere…
Beth, that is fascinating. I wish you could remember your source. Was it a book? A magazine article, perhaps? Were you in school at the time? Textbooks often have data that other media do not.
How long ago did you read this information? That would also be helpful.
I also tested positive for Lyme Disease. I had no rash so there is no telling how long I was infected. The treatment was prolonged and there was residual neurological damage as well as the more common arthritis.
Please respond with all that you can recall.
Thank you.
Although I lucked out, many friends of mine contracted lyme disease while in the field. It can be very debilitating, and some I know had to give up their careers as archaeologists.