Deer flies have now been confirmed to carry Lyme and Anaplasmosis

"Swarming deer flies could quickly expose people to Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis"
danielcameronmd.com/swarming-deer-flies-quickly-expose-people-lyme-disease-anaplasmosis/

While there is some misinformation about the amount of time it takes for a tick to transmit Lyme, here are a couple of excerpts from the article:
"The Buss study is the first to demonstrate that deer flies can carry B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum, causative agents of LD and Anaplasmosis. As a result, the authors suggest “the risk for transmission of these pathogens via the bite of [an infected deer fly] is present.”

Of the 48 deer flies collected in Pennsylvania, nearly 40% (19) were positive for B. burgdorferi, and 29% (14) were positive for A. phagocytophilum, while 6% (3) were co-infected with B. burgdorferi and A. phagocytophilum."


"Swarming deer flies could quickly expose people to Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis. “Humans are accidental hosts for L. cervi and could be exposed to these pathogens via exposure to the keds [deer flies], as it takes 15-20 minutes for an adult deer ked to take a blood meal on a human,” warns Buss."

But the deer are in the same position as humans - we are just caught in the cross fire. It's the white footed mouse and chipmunks that keeps this going - and they are VERY prevalent everywhere!

/entomologytoday.org/2015/03/30/understanding-the-complex-life-cycle-of-the-blacklegged-tick-to-combat-lyme-disease/

"In eastern and central North America, the host most likely to transmit an infection to a feeding tick is the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), which infects between 40% and 90% of feeding larvae. Eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) and shrews (Blarina brevicauda and Sorex spp.) tend to be moderately competent reservoirs for B. burgdorferi. Most other mammalian, avian, and reptilian hosts have a considerably lower reservoir competence."
www.caryinstitute.org/science-program/research-projects/lyme-disease

Bookmarks, Antonio, bookmarks!!! Bookmarks are like my second brain!! LOL!

"We are our own worst enemy" I say that a lot. Did you guys check out the photo of the deer fly?

It's going to take some close observation on my part to distinguish from the other little flying creatures around here.

So far the only thing that bites are the horseflies and what I guess are baby horseflies.

Yeah, I used to do that, Trav, and I should start again. My excuse for stopping was that my bookmarks list extended beyond my screen, and it became too much for my eyes to navigate through, but I could totally just sort them into folders.

I need to start, yes. Have been slacking on the health educating, which is not good. Knowledge is power!

~<3

thanks for sharing, Trav.

mosquitoes /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26631488
...and now deer flies.

shocking huh ... so protect yourself against ticks, mosquitoes ... and flies ? good luck with that, lol ...

they will now say these mosquitoes and flies are opportunistic vectors and will not transmit the disease. But tell that to a guy that has AIDS or some severely compromised immune system, people on strong steroids. Maybe Borrelia does not need the full services of a professional tick vector in order to infect an already sick guy with the immune system torn apart... maybe one mosquito bite is all it takes, who needs immune suppressing tick saliva when u have Prednisone....