A tick recently removed from a child in South Glens Falls has tested positive for the pathogens, Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease, and for Borrelia miyamotoi, a more recently discovered form of Borrelia, according to a release from the Lyme Action Network.

The tick report was conducted by the Laboratory of Medical Zoology at the University of Massachusetts.

While the public is somewhat familiar with the B.burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, there is little awareness of B. miyamotoi. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Borrelia miyamotoi is a species of spiral-shaped bacteria that is closely related to the bacteria that cause tick-borne relapsing fever, another common borreliosis. It is more distantly related to the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

First identified in 1995 in ticks from Japan, B. miyamotoi has since been detected in two species of North American ticks, the black-legged or “deer” tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus). These ticks are already known to transmit several diseases, including Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, Powassan virus, bartonellosis, babesiosis, and other infections.

Patients with B. miyamotoi are most likely to experience a fever, chills, and headache. Other common symptoms include body and joint pain and fatigue. This disease is not associated with any rash.

This bacterium can be transmitted within the first 24 hours of tick attachment and the probability of transmission increases with every day an infected tick is allowed to remain attached.

Blood tests for Lyme disease are not helpful in the diagnosis of B. miyamotoi infections. Currently, confirmation of a diagnosis relies on either the use of polymerase chain reaction tests that detect DNA from the organism or on antibody-based tests. Both types of tests are under development and not widely commercially available but can be ordered from a limited number of CLIA-approved laboratories, such as IGeneX in Palo Alto, California.

Physicians have successfully treated patients infected with B. miyamotoi with a multi-week course of antibiotics.

It is unclear how common this infection is. There are few well-documented cases of human infection in the United States.  Because it is so difficult to diagnose, it may be misdiagnosed as other ailments.

One characteristic of Borrelia miyamotoi that is different from Borrelia burgdorferi that is particularly concerning is that once a tick becomes infected with the pathogen, all the eggs laid by that tick, which number in the thousands per tick, will also carry the infection.  

People should continue to take precautions against tick bites and see their physician if they experience a tick bite or any unexplained fever, rash, or malaise after spending time in tick habitat.