Tick-Borne Infections and the US Blood Supply

I know, catchy title. I'd rather err on the descriptive side though, as the following info may not be as ephemeral as I'd like it to be. I found a little article on something that may scare you; but probably not enough to change your life in any way.  In a paper released by the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers from the CDC are reporting close to 200 cases of babesiosis over the past three decades, all of them related to blood transfusions, ultimately from infected donors. Since 2000, the number of reported incidences has risen dramatically.

Microscopic Tick

What is babesiosis and how will this dribble effect my life, you ask? Let's discuss the origins and implications.

Babesiosis is  usually transmitted by deer ticks. Babesia microti ares the causative organism  in Lyme disease and obviously Babesiosis. The actual infection is not unlike Malaria, so it's pretty great. By great, I mean potentially devastating. At first, it feels like the flu. Then, hooray! Acute organ failure. 

I figured I'd take the alarmist stance to get your attention. I know you're probably here to learn how to kill ticks, but we've plenty of time for that later; besides, I like to keep you guessing. Now, for the straight dope. Healthy adults have little to fear from this illness. Unless you have an immunodeficiency, Babesiosis is probably going to resolve itself if you manage to contract it, which is difficult given its propensity to be geo-specific. So, put you fears aside. Now back to the troubling part; Babesiosis is in the blood supply. Or is it troubling? Actually, it's not. It turns out this is less epidemic and more advancement in medical diagnosis. That's right, there probably aren't more instances of Babesiosis in the blood supply, doctors are just getting better at identifying it.

 
 

Tick Breakdown

Before we really get into how to kill ticks, let's take a quick look at the wide variety of ticks spreading merriment and disease across our great land.

We begin our tick breakdown with the American Dog Tick. The name leaves little need for further explanation, one would think, but in the spirit of informative blogging let's describe this pedestrian parasite a bit:  Also known as the wood tick, the American Dog Tick is not dog-specific strangely. It likes smaller animals, including small rodents and birds. It was probably given the aforementioned name because humans encounter so often on our "best friend." It also likes raccoon, too. But who doesn't really? Females have a grayish spot behind their tiny little heads, and grow up to the size of a grape after a full meal. Males don't grow as much after feeding and can be distinguished by the silver lines on their backs. These play a big role in the spread of Rocky Mountain spotted fever.


Then there's the lone star tick. It's not as scary as the dog Tick, and it's about half the size and varying in color. They typically don't spread as many diseases as dog ticks, but may be associated with an as yet unidentified bacteria that mimics the behavior of Lyme Disease. 

Adult Deer Tick

Speaking of Lyme Disease... the deer tick is the kind of tick you find on your scalp after a camping weekend. They're most often found in the woods, reddish in color, and about 1/6 of an inch long. And here's the kicker, they're the ones who spread Lyme disease to humans. So watch out.


Finally, there's the winter tick, the most innocuous of the bunch, at least to humans, anyway. They feed on larger game animals, like antelope and horses. They've been known to pass infection between larger mammals, but few recorded instances of human diseases have been caused by the winter tick.

Everyone Has a Back Story

Let's start with a little background info on our subject: the tick. They don't fly or jump, or anything as dynamic as other parasites with which you're probably acquainted.  They lie in wait; patiently stalking their prey, which is really more of a host, as they're goal is not to kill or devour you, but simply to ingest your blood until they become engorged and fall off.  They seem to have no other purpose in life other than to procreate, aside from the occasional  moonlighter with a penchant for accounting of course.  They don't feed very often,  but when they do, look out! They're very good at passing ugly diseases around from host to host. Want to know how they find their hosts? I figured you did.

They have very complex  sensory organs that specialize in gas detection. As carbon-based, warm blooded creatures, many of us on this planet emit carbon dioxide. Ticks pick up on a promising carbon-dioxide trail and inexplicably position themselves along the source's intended path. They're sneakiness is uncanny. Now, if you want to know how to kill ticks you have to know your adversary.

Ticks are often thought of as insects, but they're actually arachnids -- another possible source of their cunning. Nobody ever called a spider stupid. Well, I'm sure someone has, but generally, spiders are thought of as clever animals. Anyway, ticks are very good at spreading diseases as I mentioned earlier, some of the most efficient in the animal kingdom in fact. When they suck blood, they do it very slowly. In most mammals a  tick will go unnoticed for days while feeding. Then, they get really big and fall off. It's pretty disgusting. We've all seen the pictures, but here's another one just in case. 

There are many different types of ticks out there waiting to pounce, figuratively speaking. But I'll save them for next post. Until then, let's watch this informative and disgusting video on our little parasitic friends, aptly deigned "The Bloodsucking Ninja of Summer."