November has arrived and with it so has the wintery weather. Although it’s nice to think all this meteorological nastiness will put an end to tick activity for the year, sadly they’ll be active any time the temperatures rise above freezing and we are continuing to see those kinds of temperatures throughout much of southern Canada.
On a happier note, Canadian researchers are continuing to publish papers on a wide range of issues related to ticks and tick-borne illnesses. Some of the most recent ones focus on disease causing pathogens (anaplasma, babesia), others on geographic spread, and still others move things a step forward on the medical front. There was also a contentious piece published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that I’m absolutely certain some of you will take issue with. I’ll let you guess which one it is in the list below.
Here are the papers that I have added to the Lyme Disease in Canada website this month:
Combatting Lyme disease myths and the “chronic Lyme industry”
Diversity of Babesia spp. in cervid ungulates based on the 18S rDNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I phylogenies
Local abundance of Ixodes scapularis in forests: Effects of environmental moisture, vegetation characteristics, and host abundance
Passive and Active Surveillance for Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in Saskatchewan, Canada
Predicted Northward Expansion of the Geographic Range of the Tick Vector Amblyomma americanum in North America under Future Climate Conditions
Recent Emergence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Ontario, Canada: Early Serological and Entomological Indicators
Updates to the Canadian Notifiable Disease Surveillance System and its interactive website
As always, I managed to ferret out some papers that I missed during updates in previous years. So, here are a few older papers that I’ve added to the site:
2014
Molecular characterization of two vitellogenin genes from the tick, Amblyomma hebraeum (Acari: Ixodidae)
Demonstration of lumpy skin disease virus infection in Amblyomma hebraeum and Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks using immunohistochemistry
2011
Granulocytic anaplasmosis in a horse from Nova Scotia caused by infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum
I’ll be providing in-depth analyses of some of these papers in upcoming issues of The Lyme Report, so if you haven’t yet subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so by clicking the button below.
As always, if you know of any research being done by Canadian scientists that I should be including on the Lyme disease in Canada site or exploring in my bi-monthly newsletter, please send me an email with the details. I’ll be happy to check it out.