For our last episode of this season, we’re going out with a bang, or should we say bite? This week we’re tackling the doozy of a disease called Lyme, the most prevalent tick-borne infection in the northern hemisphere. Tune in to hear us navigate the complicated biology of Borrelia burgdoferi, delve into the ancient history of the disease (ice mummy? yes, please!), and trace the tangled ecological web woven by the spirochete, its vector, and its hosts. And to round out this delicious blood-meal of an episode, we are joined by the one-and-only hunter of ticks, ecologist of disease, and PhD advisor of Erins, Dr. Brian Allan! Not only does Brian shine some light on the current innovative research on Lyme disease ecology, but he also details his own experience with the disease. This episode is as full as a tick with information about Lyme disease, making it one you’re not going to want to miss.
The clock is already ticking for our third season premiere on October 29, so mark those calendars, people! And in the meantime, wash your hands, ya filthy animals!
| History | Biology |
| Ostfeld, Richard. Lyme disease: the ecology of a complex system. OUP USA, 2010. | Halperin, John J., Phillip Baker, and Gary P. Wormser. “Common misconceptions about Lyme disease.” The American journal of medicine 126.3 (2013): 264-e1. |
| Quammen, David. Spillover: animal infections and the next human pandemic. WW Norton & Company, 2012. (Chapter: The Deer, the Parrot, and the Kid Next Door) | Stanek, Gerold, et al. “Lyme borreliosis.” The Lancet 379.9814 (2012): 461-473. |
| Stanek, Gerold, et al. “History and characteristics of Lyme borreliosis.” Lyme Borreliosis: Biology, Epidemiology and Control. Wallingford, Oxon, UK: CAB International (2002): 1-28. | Gasmi, S., et al. “Emerging Infections: Surveillance for Lyme disease in Canada: 2009–2015.” Canada Communicable Disease Report 43.10 (2017): 194. |
| Castillo-Ramírez, S., et al. “Trans-Atlantic exchanges have shaped the population structure of the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto.” Scientific reports 6 (2016): 22794. | Lantos, Paul M. “Chronic lyme disease.” Infectious Disease Clinics 29.2 (2015): 325-340. |
| Hoen, Anne Gatewood, et al. “Phylogeography of Borrelia burgdorferi in the eastern United States reflects multiple independent Lyme disease emergence events.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106.35 (2009): 15013-15018. | Data and Surveillance | Lyme Disease | CDC |
| Keller, Andreas, et al. “New insights into the Tyrolean Iceman’s origin and phenotype as inferred by whole-genome sequencing.” Nature communications 3 (2012): 698. | Sykes, Robert A., and Phoebe Makiello. “An estimate of Lyme borreliosis incidence in Western Europe.” Journal of Public Health 39.1 (2016): 74-81. |
| Levi, Taal, et al. “Deer, predators, and the emergence of Lyme disease.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109.27 (2012): 10942-10947. | Stone, Brandee L., Yvonne Tourand, and Catherine A. Brissette. “Brave new worlds: the expanding universe of Lyme disease.” Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 17.9 (2017): 619-629. |
| Margos, Gabriele, et al. “MLST of housekeeping genes captures geographic population structure and suggests a European origin of Borrelia burgdorferi.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.25 (2008): 8730-8735. | Nigrovic, L. E., and K. M. Thompson. “The Lyme vaccine: a cautionary tale.” Epidemiology & Infection 135.1 (2007): 1-8. |
| Marshall III, William F., et al. “Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in museum specimens of Peromyscus.” Journal of Infectious Diseases 170.4 (1994): 1027-1032. | |
| Mysterud, A., Easterday, W. R., Stigum, V. M., Aas, A. B., Meisingset, E. L., & Viljugrein, H. (2016). Contrasting emergence of Lyme disease across ecosystems. Nature communications, 7, 11882. | |
| Persing, David H., et al. “Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in museum specimens of Ixodes dammini ticks.” Science249.4975 (1990): 1420-1423. | |
| Rizzoli AN, Hauffe HC, Carpi GI, Vourc’h GI, Neteler M, Rosa R. Lyme borreliosis in Europe. Eurosurveillance. 2011 Jul 7;16(27):19906. | |
| Vollmer, Stephanie A., et al. “Host migration impacts on the phylogeography of Lyme Borreliosis spirochaete species in Europe.” Environmental microbiology 13.1 (2011): 184-192. | |
| Walter, Katharine S., et al. “Genomic insights into the ancient spread of Lyme disease across North America.” Nature ecology & evolution 1.10 (2017): 1569. |
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!
