MS/ALZ and ticks

[Guest guest]

, to start to reply to your question here is a population much

like Nantucket where just about everyone is infected. So then we

would want to find if there was in increase in diagnoses of dimentia,

MS, lupus, etc.

Scand J Infect Dis. 1998;30(5):501-­3.

IgG seroprevalence of Lyme borreliosis in the population of the Aland

Islands in Finland.

Carlsson SA, Granlund H, Nyman D, Wahlberg P.

Department of Medicine, Aland Central Hospital, Mariehamn, Finland.

This is a study of people living in Aland, a group of islands in the

Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden. 500 blood donors and 3,248

health service clients who did not have Lyme borreliosis were

examined for Borrelia burgdorferi IgG antibodies. The method used was

an ELISA containing a selection of diagnostic antigens to a Borrelia

burgdorferi PKo strain. It was found that the distribution according

to sex, age and titre values was identical in the 2 groups, which

were therefore treated as one. 19.7% of all the sera was positive.

The prevalence in men was 23.6%, and in women 16.7%. The prevalence

rises with age, the highest prevalence being seen in men (44.7%) and

women (37.0%) over 70 y of age. The data show that the Aland islands

are strongly endemic for Lyme borreliosis compared with international

levels of infection.

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Ann Med. 1993 Aug;25(4):349-­52.

Late Lyme borreliosis: epidemiology, diagnosis and clinical

features.

Wahlberg P, Granlund H, Nyman D, Panelius J, Seppala I.

Department of Medicine, Aland Central Hospital, Aland Islands,

Finland.

Lyme borreliosis is endemic in the Aland Islands. Exposure of the

inhabitants to bites of the tick Ixodes ricinus is heavy. The purpose

of this study was to describe symptoms and signs of patients with

late Lyme borreliosis in this area, and to correlate the findings

with the epidemiological setting. The first 100 consecutive patients

with late Lyme borreliosis found in the region since 1984 are

included in this study. Neurological, articular and muscular symptoms

and signs dominate. General screening for Lyme disease is not

recommended in the area due to uncertainty about how to deal with

seropositive healthy persons in this heavily exposed population. The

recognition and prompt treatment of erythema migrans and other

manifestations of primary Lyme borreliosis is important in order to

avoid the late stages of the disease. Treatment of all those

suffering tick-bites with an antibiotic would be an option in view of

the incidence of infected ticks, but cannot be considered because

tick-bites are extremely common among the inhabitants. The region

would be suitable for general immunization against Borrelia

burgdorferi if the means for doing this becomes available in the

future.