Lyme Transmission

Transmission


It has been confirmed that fleas, flies, different types of ticks, gnats, mites, biting flies, and mosquitoes all can spread Lyme disease. [1][2]  Borrelia has been found in over 25 species of Ixodes and 15 other kinds of ticks. Although it is believed that there is only one species of ticks that transmits Lyme because other tick's saliva kills the spirochetes, there is insufficient research to make this claim because we have only seen a reduction in spirochete numbers in their saliva, meaning some spirochetes survive. If the immune system is working at 100% with its innate system along with its macrophages, NK cells, and B1-cells and the adaptive system, it is possible that Borrelia can be killed by the immune system as soon as it tries to enter into a host. Since the ticks saliva shuts down parts of the hosts immune system, [3] ticks may be the primary means of transmitting Lyme disease for people who have a healthy immune system, but people with weakened immune system may have a higher chance of being infected by all insects and arachnids infected with Lyme disease. Some reports indicate that only 15% of Lyme patients remember a tick bite. [4]

All stages of a tick can spread Lyme from being a baby larvae, to maturing as a nympth and then in its final stage as an adult. Each stage only feeds once and even larvae's are carriers because borrelia and co-infections are transmitted from mother to larvae. Although each stage of a tick's life has a preferred species (larvae prefers white footed mouse and active in august which feed for 3 days, nymth prefer humans and are most active in the summer which feeds for 4 to 5 days, adult ticks which prefer deers), each of these stages of ticks would have no problem choosing a human host if they had the chance. Some studies suggest that only 1% of larvae are infected with Borrelia, other's suggest that 25% of larvae's are infected [5].  The ticks that are assumed the main transmitters of Lyme are in their nympths stage and are so small that the period at the end of this sentence can be the same size as some of the Nympths.

Spirochetes can have 24 extra segments of DNA which is information on how to change and survive in different species. [6] When blood enters the ticks gut, heat rises and pH lowers which allows spirochetes to identify which species the tick is feeding on.  Once the spirochete identifies the species it's about to invade, it changes its physiology, rearrange its biological structure, rapidly increase their numbers by 400%, start migrating to the tick's salivary glands, change their outer surface protein coating, and prepares for an invasion of the new host. This process may take the spirochete up to 24 hours, so a person can have a tick attached for 24 hours and not be infected with Lyme disease, but because Borrelia is unpredictable, there have been many cases where the spirochete decides to invade the host immediately after the tick is attached to the host.

Other means of transmission and bodily fluid's found to be infected with Lyme
Placenta (mother can spread Lyme disease to her child) [7]
blood transfusions (blood banks do not test for Lyme nor co-infections. Many patients with Lyme do not know they are infected until their immune system realizes its been invaded which may take months.
Breast Milk [8]
Tears
Semen
Vaginal secretion
Urine (Dr. Burgdorfer was infected with Lyme after a rabbit infected urinated in his eye)

Borrelia infects areas that will also provide them with an exit outside of the body. They are able to survive freezing and thawing temperatures (as well as ticks).  Borrelia can survive without a host for 2.5 years waiting to be picked up by another host such as an animal licking a plant covered in Borrelia. [9] Over 300 types animals are found to be infected with Borrelia.

Lyme disease isn't only about the spirochete Borrelia. There are many other diseases that infect a host when a tick attaches itself to its host and these secondary diseases are called co-infections. Lyme co-infections are also easily transmitted to human hosts through numerous ways. One of the most commonly known ways is by the scratch of a cat (cat scratch disease or Bartonella).

[1] Singleton, Kenneth (2010-08-19). The Lyme Disease Solution (p. 6)  Kindle Edition
[2] Buhner, Stephen Healing Lyme, Silver City: Raven Press, 2005. Print p.17
[3] (Buhner, 24)
[4] http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/about_lyme.html
[5] (Buhner, p. 19).
[6] (Buhner, p.26)
[7] Weintraub, Pamela (2010-04-01). Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic (p. 332). Macmillan. Kindle Edition. )
[8] (Buhner, p. 17)
[9] (Buhner, p. 5)