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Tick Bites
Published in Charles Theisler, Adjuvant Medical Care, 2023
Ticks get onto the skin, tend to move to a warm moist location, and then bite onto the skin to attach themselves. Next, they burrow into the skin and feed on blood. Ticks are most often found on the head, scalp, or neck. Most tick bites are painless and cause minor redness and swelling. However, some ticks can cause illness or infection such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis/ehrlichiosis, spotted fever rickettsiosis, babesiosis, tularemia, and Powassan virus. A tick should be removed as soon as it is found to help prevent disease. Symptoms of weakness, paralysis, fever, lethargy, numbness, headache, or rash (especially an expanding rash) are reasons to seek medical care. According to the CDC, tick-borne diseases are increasing nationally.1
Ticks
Published in Jerome Goddard, Public Health Entomology, 2022
Ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis. Ehrlichia and Anaplasma organisms may be transmitted by ticks as well. They are rickettsia-like bacteria that primarily infect circulating leukocytes. The most common of them, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the causative agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), occurs mostly in the central and southern United States, and infects mononuclear phagocytes in blood and tissues.12 There were 1,799 cases of HME in the United States in 2018.4 A new species of Ehrlichia causing human illness in Minnesota and Wisconsin has recently been recognized.13 Another, Anaplasma (formerly Ehrlichia) phagocytophilum, infects granulocytes and causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA); it is mostly reported from the upper Midwest and northeastern United States. There were 4,008 cases of HGA in the United States in 2018.4
Severe Tick-Borne Infections and Their Mimics in the Critical Care Unit
Published in Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha, Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Critical Care Medicine, 2020
Praveen Sudhindra, Gary P. Wormser
Human granulocytic anaplasmosis is caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which is an obligate intracellular bacterium. As the name suggests, the organism exhibits tropism for neutrophils. The geographic distribution is generally identical to Lyme disease, since it is transmitted by the same Ixodes spp. tick vectors.
Detection of Neoehrlichia mikurensis DNA in blood donors in southeastern Sweden
Published in Infectious Diseases, 2022
Lisa Labbé Sandelin, Jenny Olofsson, Conny Tolf, Louise Rohlén, Lars Brudin, Ivar Tjernberg, Per-Eric Lindgren, Björn Olsen, Jonas Waldenström
Although vector-borne infectious agents can be found in blood, they are generally not transmitted directly by blood contact, but by a vector, such as a tick or a mosquito [20]. As a result, vector-borne infections vary geographically depending on vector species distribution, competency, and available reservoirs [8,21]. Several tick-borne pathogens can potentially be transmitted through blood transfusion. Furthermore, many tick-borne microorganisms are located intracellularly, which is an excellent condition for transmission by transfusion [21]. Different tick-borne infections have different cell tropisms that affect prevalence and density in human blood, and thus the probability of transfusion-mediated transmission [22]. In the Northern Hemisphere, a limited number of tick-borne infections have been identified as TTIs [21,22]. The intraerythrocytic protozoan Babesia spp. is of greatest concern to recipient safety [1]. Of transfusion-transmitted tick-borne rickettsiae, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which infects granulocytes and causes anaplasmosis, is most frequently reported [8,23].
Anaplasmosis-induced hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2022
Mikhail de Jesus, Amanda Lopez, Jevin Yabut, Stephanie Vu, Madhuri Manne, Lauren Ibrahim, Rahul Mutneja
Morbidity and mortality in patients with HLH continue to be very high. The incidence of shock ranges from 50% to 80%.6 The incidence of acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation varies from 58% to 100%.6 The incidence of acute renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy has been reported to be as high as 59%.6 Anaplasmosis rarely causes renal failure and is unlikely to have caused the renal failure in our patient.14 Therefore, physicians need to consider the diagnosis of HLH in hospitalized patients who worsen despite treatment for the purported diagnosis. This case report further supports Anaplasmosis as an etiology of secondary HLH. Anaplasmosis should be considered as a potential trigger in patients with HLH due to unknown etiology and in populations with a high incidence of tickborne disease.
Prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in humans in Belgium for the period 2013–2016.
Published in Acta Clinica Belgica, 2019
Mony Hing, Dorien Van Den Bossche, Tinne Lernout, Christel Cochez, Jean-Paul Pirnay, Walter Heuninckx
The results of our laboratory surveillance of anaplasmosis in humans and the results of some studies carried out on its vector and reservoirs confirm that A. phagocytophilum is established in Belgium but it is difficult to estimate its extent. The vector (Ixodes ricinus tick) is present all over the country, but some provinces are at a higher risk because of a more suitable habitat for ticks and their reservoir hosts. Based on an analysis of the data on TiquesNet, an online citizen-based platform for reporting tick bites in Belgium (launched in July 2015), higher incidences of tick bites have been registered in the provinces of Luxemburg, Limburg and Namur. In 2009 and 2010, high tick numbers have been reported in the provinces of Flemish Brabant (49–59 ticks/100 m2), Limburg (31–56 ticks/100 m2) and Luxemburg (12–17 ticks/100 m2) [15].