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Anyone got Lyme from Bed Bugs?

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Posted 12/9/2014 5:01 AM (GMT 0)
Has anyone gotten Lyme from Bed Bugs? My health problems started 2 years ago. I could never find ticks but we found blood suckers that look like bed bugs.

I have a lot of Lyme symptoms but still undiagnosed. I suspect environmental factors because at the same time as I got sick, my sister got swollen knee and spine. Few months later, mom showed some of my symptoms and she appers to get sick a lot more often more. She gets ''colds'' every few months and high blood pressure plus she has pain in her back.

Researching online, the consensus seems to be that bed begs carry but don't transmit infectious diseases. Any new research on this or personal stories?
Posted 12/9/2014 7:12 AM (GMT 0)
A number of insects transmit Lyme that previously did not.

It is not clear which do and which do not.

The ticks that transmit Lyme are often very small. Many people have been diagnosed for Lyme even when they don't remember a tick bite or a rash.

If there are many deer in your neighborhood, that's a fairly high indicator for Lyme.

Environmental toxins can also predispose you and family members towards getting Lyme more easily.

I will look up bedbugs online.

Margaret
Posted 12/9/2014 7:29 AM (GMT 0)
Ok, according to the scientific literature, bedbugs can transmit infectious diseases, but aren't known as vectors, which makes no sense to me.

The fact that bedbugs are blood sucking insects is not good, as ticks and mosquitoes have the same nature, and mosquitoes are now known to carry and transmit Lyme Disease.

Bedbugs and ticks look very similar. Do you know for sure that the bugs were bedbugs and not ticks?

Ticks can infest a house or piece of furniture as well, and tick nests carry thousands of nymph ticks.

It also seems to me that any insect that sucks blood and causes a rash is highly suspect.

Lyme Disease is highly controversial, as you probably now know. Its existence isn't questioned, but essentially everything else about it is hotly disputed, including how it is transmitted.

Sometimes many members of a family or community can be infected by Lyme, esp. if they share certain hereditary factors, or if they have all been exposed to environmental toxins (or, if they are in a rural, wooded area).

Margaret
Posted 12/9/2014 7:33 AM (GMT 0)

teragram said...
A number of insects transmit Lyme that previously did not.

It is not clear which do and which do not.

The ticks that transmit Lyme are often very small. Many people have been diagnosed for Lyme even when they don't remember a tick bite or a rash.

If there are many deer in your neighborhood, that's a fairly high indicator for Lyme.

Environmental toxins can also predispose you and family members towards getting Lyme more easily.

I will look up bedbugs online.

Margaret

Hello again :)

Not sure what you mean by neighborhood....there is nature reserve maybe 10-20 miles out of town (deers present) but I've never seen a deer grazing my lawn or anything like that :) Lyme cases do get reported here but it's only like 10 or 20 per year out of population of 100,000.
Posted 12/9/2014 7:47 AM (GMT 0)

teragram said...


Bedbugs and ticks look very similar. Do you know for sure that the bugs were bedbugs and not ticks?

Ticks can infest a house or piece of furniture as well, and tick nests carry thousands of nymph ticks.

I do not. They look like bed bugs to me, flat body, white/black depending on if they have been feeding.

I actually called a lab here to ask for testing but it's a few hours drive to take the little ****ers....guess I should get on it asap. Have caught and bagged a few in plastic bags.

Do you happen to know what diseases should I get them tested for besides Lyme?

I was not aware that ticks can infest a house. Since these bugs seem to congregate around the beds, I assumed they're bed bugs. If these are ticks I'm lucky I'm not dead or paralyzed by now.
Posted 12/9/2014 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Honestly, there is so much that is unknown about these infections, it's not safe to assume that all the information is "in" yet. Just look at this: "In order to draw out blood, the bed bug will inject into the bite a small amount of a chemical it naturally secretes. This causes the blood to flow better, which is of course a good circumstance from the point of view of the bug in question."

bedbugs.net/do-bed-bugs-carry-diseases/

This is exactly what ticks do, so although there may not be much - if any- research confirming this yet, I wouldn't say it can't happen.

Realize that it wasn't that long ago that it was believed that only one type of tick transmitted Lyme, and that there was only one strain of the disease that could make people sick - those number have and continue to change.
Posted 12/10/2014 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
It doesn't matter how many cases get reported. Many people don't even know they have Lyme, and many who do (like myself, and I have pictures to prove it) don't report.

Based on what Trav. said, I think it's highly likely that bed bugs do transmit.

Lyme is said to be all over the world (though I have my doubts about Antarctica, ha ha!), deer or no deer. The presence of deer makes it more likely, but the rates of contagion are increasing fast.

People get Lyme in NYC.

I have deer all over my neighborhood (yes there are other people here), but I live way out in the country!

Margaret
Posted 12/10/2014 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
yeah, up until I got lyme I still believed the false thing that ticks had to be attached for 24-48 hrs to transmit lyme. And I thought, wow how are all these people getting lyme, don't they check themselves? And I did tick checks every day the year I got lyme- and never even found the tick- just saw the bite. Now I think they transmit lyme and cos right away- in seconds.
Posted 12/10/2014 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
I know that my reinfection happened in less than an hour of a tick attaching to me. I picked up the tick in town when I went in to get just a few things from the grocery store - I was gone from my house for less than 1 hour and when I got back, I went straight into the bathroom to find a tick attached to my torso - the bite stayed red, swollen and incredibly itchy for 3 weeks.

I also hear stories like mine frequently, so I know that I'm far from alone in knowing that they were infected in a lot less than 24 hours.

So the information that is "official" may not reflect reality very well.
Posted 12/11/2014 4:32 AM (GMT 0)
There are many who suspect they were infected by bed bugs, including me. In centeal Florida.
Posted 12/11/2014 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
I reported my case to the Hawai'i State Board of Health. (Not sure if this will come back to haunt me somehow!) The person on the phone took notes but ended our conversation by saying there have been no cases of Lyme in Hawai'i. He said they will just keep my notes on file and if more people start reporting then they will consider reporting these to the CDC. Total BS.

After this frustrating convo I went online to research "Lyme in HI". LOTS of vacationers report hiking to Hawaiian waterfalls and getting bitten by something, then getting home to the mainland and falling ill with Lyme right after their vacations. Some tourists say they know they got bitten by mosquitoes at the waterfalls (it's all jungle there, tons of mosquitoes) and others say they believe they got it from bedbugs in the homes of the relatives they were visiting. Some don't know what bit them but they saw bites and welts after their hikes. There are wild deer in the jungle and mountain areas of Hawai'i too, so it could be ticks....

It seems likely that any blood-sucking vermin can transmit this disease...
Posted 12/12/2014 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
This disease is caused by bacteria and people who suffered from it are often infected with ticks and bedbugs that carry bacteria. Some tests must be taken like Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test, Western blot test and the Polymerase chain reaction test. Antibiotics like doxycycline and amoxicillin are usually prescribed. However, before taking these antibiotics, make sure you've undergone skin testing to avoid allergies.
Posted 3/22/2018 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hello. I know this thread is four years old but I wanted to tell you I was recently bitten by bed bugs and I definitely have something from them. I believe it's Lyme as the symptoms match up. I'm just waiting on my test results. If it's not Lyme, it's something with similar symptoms. I absolutely 100% know the bed bugs are what made me sick so I don't believe they don't transmit diseases. My husband was also bitten and he is now starting to show the same symptoms. I hope you were able to find answers, interpro. I have also been in contact with other people who claim their Lyme came from bed bugs so you are definitely not alone. If you see this post, please give an update as to how you're doing.
Posted 3/23/2018 7:08 PM (GMT 0)

Theminesweeper said...
Hello. I know this thread is four years old but I wanted to tell you I was recently bitten by bed bugs and I definitely have something from them. I believe it's Lyme as the symptoms match up. I'm just waiting on my test results. If it's not Lyme, it's something with similar symptoms. I absolutely 100% know the bed bugs are what made me sick so I don't believe they don't transmit diseases. My husband was also bitten and he is now starting to show the same symptoms. I hope you were able to find answers, interpro. I have also been in contact with other people who claim their Lyme came from bed bugs so you are definitely not alone. If you see this post, please give an update as to how you're doing.

Just an FYI - The OP hasn't been back to the forum since 2014...so doubtful he/she will see this post.
Posted 3/24/2018 1:39 AM (GMT 0)
Along the same lines- I never noticed a tick bite (not that it couldn't have happened) but ever since I moved into my apartment three year ago I've noticed weird little aracnids that have little crab like pinches. Anyone ever see these nasty little things? I only see like five a year but they are gross and I've never been able to identify them.
Posted 3/24/2018 4:10 AM (GMT 0)
Wisco, I don't know but if you catch one you can take it to your local large pest control company and they will identify it for you.
Posted 3/24/2018 7:38 AM (GMT 0)
ive never seen bed bugs nor ticks and i have 10 positive blood tests for lyme, wb, elisa, lymespot, elispot, dark field microscopy, all positive from 3 different labs in two countries. so where will that lead me? i had no rash

ticks are tiny and hard to spot. nymhs are 1mm size, they produce an anesthesic when biting so u dont feel it.

seriously if u have a black dot on your leg below socks... who ever does study his or her feet in detail every evening to search for 1mm dots... i never do....

my point is the vast majority of people on this forum could have been bitten by nymph ticks and not even know it.

then u debate rest of your life where has this come to you.... it's a big problem so the bug has to be big and ugly, huh? smile
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