American doctors have described, perhaps, one of the most unusual cases of «interaction» of a person with a tick. As a result of his bite, a seventy-year-old man became infected with several diseases at once. The post that talks about this is hosted at BMJ Case Reports.
Seventy Year Old A patient presented to an Oregon hospital complaining of fever (fever), nausea, and painful swelling in the ankle. A blood test showed that the man had low concentrations of red blood cells and platelets in the blood (anemia and thrombocytopenia). Biochemical parameters of the blood indicated acute damage to the liver and kidneys.
Lyme disease or tick-borne borreliosis
Lyme disease is one of the many infections that ticks can carry
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The patient told doctors that a month earlier he had been bitten by an «insect» (the man did not see him) on his ankle, which is now swollen. This happened during a trip to the northeastern United States, where ticks (which are arachnids, not insects) are widespread.
Further examination yielded unexpected results. The patient turned out to be infected not only with Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of tick-borne borreliosis or Lyme disease, the most “common” tick-borne infection. He also found the bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti, which cause anaplasmosis and babesiosis, respectively.
The main symptoms of babesiosis — hemolytic anemia and fever — are a bit like the course of malaria. Also, this infection is characterized by fatigue, chills, headache, anorexia, dry cough. Infection can occur not only with a tick bite, but also with blood transfusion.
Anaplasmosis affects various blood cells: white cells, erythrocytes and platelets. There are signs of liver damage, and blood may be found in the urine. Common symptoms include diarrhea, anorexia and weight loss.
Both diseases occur in Russia
These diseases have some common manifestations. Scientists suggest that this contributed to the severity of the patient's condition. For example, both babesiosis and anaplasmosis can cause damage to the blood and internal organs. However, earlier descriptions of the joint course of as many as three tick-borne infections do not exist. It is known that comorbidities can significantly worsen the course of Lyme disease.
Syphilis of the 21st century — Lyme disease
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Patient's symptoms resolved after being treated with several antibacterial drugs.