Lyme found in 21 Chinese provinces

[msf]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26094509

Wow, you know something is wrong when the Chinese government are leading the way in terms of openness and honesty...

I had to check (even though I used to live there!) how many provinces there were...there are 23, counting Taiwan, which I sure wasn't involved in this study. So 21 out of 22 provinces have endemic levels of Lyme (plus Taiwan, as has already been documented). I think this is a significant finding for other countries too, since China is the size of Western Europe and contains many different climatic zones. The fact that Lyme was actually more common in the south shows that the old story about Lyme being a disease of the temperate zones is completely wrong. Since it must have been found in either Yunnan or Hainan (assuming I'm right about Taiwan) it has now been shown to exist in a tropical zone, as well as the sub-tropical zone just to the north.

 

[Dufresne]

Dr. Horowitz: When I consulted with the Chinese government several years ago, they told me that up to 6 % of their 1.3 billion people had been exposed to Lyme, and that was using insensitive blood testing like the ELISA test, which can miss approximately half of the cases. It is therefore possible that up to 150-200 million people have been affected by this epidemic since Lyme has spread worldwide, and has been known to be around since the 1800's (it has actually been around a lot longer, since the DNA of borrelia was found in Otzi, the Neanderthal man, 5000 years ago).

The Chinese government actually understands this is an epidemic; and to consult someone like Dr Horowitz might suggest they're not as prejudiced against the idea of Chronic Lyme as the a$#holes in North America.

 

[barbc56]

I'm confused, not the first nor the last time.

The study only did sera on goats and pigs. Does this mean it's presence is increased in humans or is suggestive that it's increased in people?

While the latter would not surprise me, what is the transmission route? Directly from the goats and pigs or is there an intermediate carrier that gives lyme to humans.

Interesting way to measure the prevelance of Lyme but it does make a bit of sense.

Barb

 

[msf]

The abstract does not mention the prevalence of Lyme in the human population. However, it suggests that there is the potential to contract Lyme anywhere in China, contrary to the received wisdom that you can only get Lyme in temperate zones.

 

[Antares in NYC]

Dr. Horowitz has mentioned in a couple of seminars that he has been called to advise the Chinese health authorities since they are experiencing an epidemic of Lyme and babesiosis. In a country of 1.3 billion people, with some areas of extreme population density, the potential of hundreds of millions infected is quite concerning.

On the other hand, this could potentially force China to increase research efforts to tackle this epidemic. We know the CDC hasn't done squat in regards to Lyme since the early 1990s.

 

[msf]

Yes, I noticed that Zhang (who is researching persisters in various contexts, and effective treatments for them) has some links to Chinese research institutions. Hopefully they will realise that there is actually a huge market for effective treatments for Lyme, and plow more money into this.

 

[msf]

And this was one of the recent American efforts: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26103924

 

[duncan]

Th Chinese do not subscribe to the CDC's five-band positive requirements (which are for Bb stricto), as far as I know. For instance, for b. afzelii, I think they require only one band IgG positive out of 10.

Speaking of the CDC, msf, I think the Mead noted in your nih link is Paul Mead of the CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, which might in part explain the direction of the abstract.

 

[msf]

I think I read that somewhere too.

I am not surprised that it was one of the same old lot, it's almost a closed-shop in the US.