link between tick bites & allergies

[philamom]

2 articles below of interest:

1) Findings of a study of Chronic Fatigue Patients - well over 80% of these patients had seronegative Lyme disease and responded favorably to antibiotic treatment improving by at least 50%, and many more.

 

2) Findings of a link between tick bites and new onset of allergies - IGE responses. This is not the first finding of such a connection -- there appears to be a strong link between tickborne illnesses and allergies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF A COHORT OF INTERNATIONALLY CASE DEFINED CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME PATIENTS IN A LYME ENDEMIC AREA

 

Samuel Shor1, MD, FACP

 

 

 

 

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ABSTRACT

 

Background

 

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion for which there are no markers. Lyme disease is the most common vector borne illness in the United States for which chronic fatigue is a frequent clinical manifestation. Intervention of patients with Lyme disease with appropriately directed antimicrobials has been associated with improved outcomes.

 

Methods

 

An arbitrary date was chosen such that all patients registered in the database of the practice of the PI, which is located in the Lyme endemic area of Northern Virginia area were reviewed. The diagnosis of clinically significant fatigue > 6 months was chosen. Inclusion criteria required fulfilling the International Case Definition for CFS.

 

Results

 

Of the total 210 included in the analysis, 209 or 99% were felt to represent a high likelihood of “seronegative Lyme disease.” Initiating various antimicrobial regimen, involved at least a 50% improvement in clinical status in 130 or 62%. Although not achieving the 50% threshold according to the criteria discussed, another 55 patients subjectively identified a beneficial clinical response to antimicrobials, representing a total of 188 or 88% of the total identified as having a high potential for seronegative Lyme disease.

 

 

Conclusions

 

A potentially substantial proportion of patients with what would otherwise be consistent with internationally case defined CFS in a Lyme endemic environment actually have a perpetuation of their symptoms driven by a persistent infection by Borrelia burgdorferi. By treating this cohort with appropriately directed antimicrobials, we have the ability to improve outcomes.

 

 

 

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Bulletin of the IACFS/ME. 2011;18(4):109-123. © 2011 IACFS/ME

 

 

Read full paper

 

http://www.iacfsme.org/BULLETINWINTER2011/Winter2011ShorCFSinLyme109123/tabid/458/Default.aspx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this may have been posted before but the connection between tick bite and food allergy seems pretty common in general

 

 

J Allergy Clin Immunol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 May 3.

Published in final edited form as:

J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2011 May; 127(5): 1286–1293.e6.

Published online 2011 March 31. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2011.02.019

 

 

 

 

 

 

PMCID: PMC3085643

NIHMSID: NIHMS273885

 

Copyright notice and Disclaimer

The relevance of tick bites to the production of IgE antibodies to the mammalian oligosaccharide galactose-α-1,3-galactose

Scott P. Commins, MD, PhD,a* Hayley R. James, BS,a* Elizabeth A. Kelly, MD,a Shawna L. Pochan, CNM, MPH,a Lisa J. Workman, BA,aMatthew S. Perzanowski, PhD, MPH,b Katherine M. Kocan, PhD,c John V. Fahy, MD,d Lucy W. Nganga, MD,e Eva Ronmark, PhD,f Philip J. Cooper, MB BS, PhD,gh and Thomas A. E. Platts-Mills, MD, PhD, FRSa

aAsthma and Allergic Diseases Center, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville

bMailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York

cCenter for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

dDepartment of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

eCenter for Respiratory Diseases, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Nairobi, Kenya

fDepartment of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umea University, Umea, Sweden

gUniversidad San Francisco de Quito, Cumbaya, Quito, Ecuador

hLiverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK.

Correspondence to: Thomas A. E. Platts-Mills, MD, PhD Allergy Division, University of Virginia Health System, P. O. Box 801355, Charlottesville, VA 22908, Email: tap2z@virginia.edu: (434) 924-5917.

*These authors contributed equally to this work.

The publisher's final edited version of this article is available at J Allergy Clin Immunol

See other articles in PMC that cite the published article.

Other Sections▼Abstract

Background

In 2009, we reported a novel form of delayed anaphylaxis to red meat, which is related to serum IgE antibodies to the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal). Most of these patients had tolerated meat for many years previously. The implication is that some exposure in adult life had stimulated the production of these IgE antibodies.

Objectives

To investigate possible causes of this IgE antibody response, focusing on evidence related to tick bites, which are common in the region where these reactions occur.

Methods

Serum assays were carried out using biotinylated proteins and extracts bound to a streptavidin ImmunoCAP.

Results

Prospective studies on IgE antibodies in three subjects following tick bites showed an increase in IgE to alpha-gal of twenty-fold or greater. Other evidence included i) a strong correlation between histories of tick bites and IgE to alpha-gal (χ2=26.8, p<0.001), ii) evidence that these IgE antibodies are common in areas where the tickAmblyomma americanum is common, and iii) a significant correlation between IgE antibodies to alpha-gal and IgE antibodies to proteins derived from A. americanum(rs=0.75, p<0.001).

Conclusion

The results presented here provide evidence that tick bites are a cause, or possibly the only cause, of IgE specific for alpha-gal in this area of the United States. Both the number of subjects becoming sensitized and the titer of IgE antibodies to alpha-gal are striking. Here we report the first example of a response to an ectoparasite giving rise to an important form of food allergy.

Keywords: ticks, anaphylaxis, oligosaccharide, alpha-gal, IgE antibody to CCD