Testing samples

Pet · 19-08-2005 1:36am #1

Where in Trinity would I drop off preserved (in alcohol) ticks to test for the presence of Lyme disease (this is as much about scientific interest as it is about my health paranoia)? I'd imagine it would be the Moyne Institute, but I'm not so sure..and who would I contact? I don't just wanna show up with my little sample case..

Also, can anyone speculate, would staff/postgraduates in the labs
1)Take kindly to,
"Yay! Samples for data!"
2)Be indifferent to,
"Meh." or
3)Be annoyed by such a request?
For "****'s sake, do you think I've nothing better to do!?"

Frankiestylee · 19-08-2005 4:18am

I dunno why... but this is probably the funniest post I've read all night

ApeXaviour · 19-08-2005 7:04am

Hey pet, I talked to my dad. I may be wrong but I think you'd be hard-pushed to find someone in trin who could do that. Lyme-disease is a virus, which rules out growing it in a petri-dish, which in turn rules out our magnificent biochem labs etc..

The best place would prob be the VRL (virus reference lab) in UCD..

DrIndy · 19-08-2005 1:24pm

It would in fact be better to take a sample from YOU instead and send it off for virus serology.........

cuckoo · 19-08-2005 2:34pm

Can i second Frankie on this being one of the funniest posts on this board?

And, Pet, for my own curiosity, how did you get the tick off of you?

Chardee MacDennis · 19-08-2005 2:54pm

surely the alcohol would kill the disease?

DrIndy · 19-08-2005 7:26pm

You need to take rectal mucosal samples for definitive histological diagnosis of lymes disease......

wayfarer · 19-08-2005 8:03pm

How does that work? Do they stick a q-tip up your arse or summat? I'm sure pet would love to hear a thorough description.

Pet · 19-08-2005 8:14pm

Frankiestylee wrote:

I dunno why... but this is probably the funniest post I've read all night

Can i second Frankie on this being one of the funniest posts on this board?

Thank you, thank you, I'm here all week.

Lyme-disease is a virus

Nope, it's a bacterium, I'm certain of it. Google it for more info (I can't be arsed).

The best place would prob be the VRL (virus reference lab) in UCD..

UCD have a VRL and we don't!? Booooo-urns!!!

It would in fact be better to take a sample from YOU instead and send it off for virus serology.........

Apparently it doesn't show up for a couple of weeks..and I'll forget about it if I leave it go..

And, Pet, for my own curiosity, how did you get the tick off of you?

Tweezers, why do you ask? And there were loads of ticks, like twenty..that's what you get for rolling down a mountain though.

You need to take rectal mucosal samples for definitive histological diagnosis of lymes disease......

Ha, nice try smartarse!

ApeXaviour · 19-08-2005 11:08pm

Pet wrote:

Nope, it's a bacterium, I'm certain of it. Google it for more info (I can't be arsed).

Hmm you are correct, I quized my da on this (it is his field after-all) apparently he thought I said west-nile disease. Well I suuuppose it could be misheard like that... hmmm

Frankiestylee · 20-08-2005 11:42am

Eh.... whats lymes disease?

DrIndy · 20-08-2005 2:50pm

Its a tick borne disease which is rareish in ireland, but endemic in eastern and central europe and in the southern USA.

It is spread by deer and farm animals.

After initial innoculation, a raised red ring appears and grows outwards from the central point, this is pathognomic of lymes disease, but many people don't notice it.

After a period of time, then the serious joint, heart and neurological disease develops.

Definitive diagnosis is with blood samples to look for the serology of this bug, confirmatory diagnosis is with mucosal samping (about 1cmx1cm) is needed of high rectal mucosa for microscopic examination.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm

DrIndy · 20-08-2005 2:51pm

DrIndy wrote:

Its a tick borne disease which is rareish in ireland, but endemic in eastern and central europe and in the southern USA.

It is spread by deer and farm animals.

After initial innoculation, a raised red ring appears and grows outwards from the central point, this is pathognomic of lymes disease, but many people don't notice it.

After a period of time, then the serious joint, heart and neurological disease develops.

Definitive diagnosis is with blood samples to look for the serology of this bug, confirmatory diagnosis is with mucosal samping (about 1cmx1cm) is needed of high rectal mucosa for microscopic examination.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm

I personally would not be concerned by a tick bite unless I noticed erythema migrans......

venice_irk · 21-08-2005 8:18pm

unless you were bitten on the willy.

Tick Talk · 07-05-2009 11:14pm

To the original question of testing live ticks - this is actually a very serious question. We know that ticks carry Lyme disease in Ireland (see below for pubmed article by Prof Gray of Dublin) and due to climate change more and more people are becoming infected.

We have recently started a petition to make Lyme Disease Notifiable. This will help us to raise awareness of the disease in the medical profession. If anyone would like to help us sign the petition or even just click on the link to read the comments from infected people (both here and abroad) we'd be very grateful.

Our target is 250 signatures and we are almost there!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Lyme-Disease-Ireland

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44960753282

Prof Gray's article:

http://www.ucd.ie/agri/html/homepage...ERM/ERM05.html

Extracts from the text - full report in link above:-

Lyme disease in Ireland J. S. Gray, F. Kirstein, O. Kahla and J. N. Robertson Institute of Zoology, Free University of Berlin, Germany; Lyme Disease Reference Unit, Southampton General Hospital, UK.

Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis - LB) is a potentially debilitating disease transmitted by ticks, but although the tick vector, Ixodes ricinus, is common and widespread in Ireland, awareness of LB is low. The series of studies described here investigated the biology and epidemiology of Irish LB in an attempt to assess the present and future risk that it may pose.

Prevalence of infection in ticks:- The influence of habitat characteristics on risk of infection was further investigated in field studies in Connemara, Co. Kerry and Co. Wicklow, in which ticks collected from well-described habitats were analysed for infection by IFA or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It was found that ticks collected from woodland had markedly and consistently higher infection prevalences (11-28%) than ticks collected from open farmland (0-1%), in which tick hosts were almost exclusively sheep or cattle.

Additionally, it was found that the highest infection prevalences were found in the most heterogeneous woodland, presumably reflecting the wider variety of vertebrate hosts present. It is thus apparent that risk of LB cannot be determined from risk of tick-bite alone and that the nature, abundance and variety of tick-hosts in a given habitat are also important.

Keep your eyes peeled for them biting critters :pac:

Fad · 07-05-2009 11:20pm

One of the odder zombie threads I've ever come across!

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI · 08-05-2009 12:09am

Well I learnt something

Pet · 08-05-2009 12:29am

Wow, talk about thread resurrection...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I didn't get Lyme disease, so it all worked out fine in the end.

andrew · 08-05-2009 1:13am

Did you get the ticks tested then?

Ron DMC · 08-05-2009 8:44am

Pet wrote: »

Wow, talk about thread resurrection...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I didn't get Lyme disease, so it all worked out fine in the end.

Are you sure, indy said it's take a while to show symptoms...

Tick Talk · 08-05-2009 9:08am

Ronny Mitchell wrote: »

Are you sure, indy said it's take a while to show symptoms...

Hi there - Lyme disease is a tricky one for sure! I was one of the unfortunate ones - didn't get early flu-like symptoms or remember a rash but did find a tick that was slightly plump which suggests it had been feeding a while. (Early symptoms could have meant earlier diagnosis and treatment which would have hugely improved my chances of recovery).

I carried the Lyme disease asymptomatically for several years - the odd inkling now and then that something was wrong - for instance I got joint pain which I put down to moving to Canada (thought it was just the sub zero temperatures that did it!) and I got awful fatigue which I put down to winter depression (I never had it before so I blamed it again on those Canadian hard winters!). It wasn't until settling in Ireland that all my symptoms erupted, after a viral infection pushed down my immune defenses and since then I haven't recovered.

That was 2 years ago in 2007 but the initial tick bite was in the States in 2003. I was initially diagnosed with ME but tested positive for Lyme just before xmas last year. Trouble is, once the disease has been left to fester it is so much harder to eradicate so awareness and prevention is definitely key!

Mark200 · 08-05-2009 9:56am

Hah I was laughing away at this topic but then realised it was like yearssssss old.

So does Trinity still not have a virus lab while UCD does?!?!

Tick Talk · 15-05-2009 11:15pm

Hi all - we are a nats whisker away from reaching our target of 250 signatures on our Lyme petition. If you're a Lyme sufferer or know of someone with Lyme or maybe even have ME or MS and is worried about it being misdiagnosed (Lyme symptoms are very similar) or even an active outdoors person who are concerned that they could be at risk of Lyme then we'd love to hear from you. Once we have reached the target we're planning to send the petition to the Dept. of Health, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the European Parliament. Here's your chance to raise your concerns!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Lyme-Disease-Ireland

Fad · 15-05-2009 11:35pm

Tick Talk wrote: »

Hi all - we are a nats whisker away from reaching our target of 250 signatures on our Lyme petition. If you're a Lyme sufferer or know of someone with Lyme or maybe even have ME or MS and is worried about it being misdiagnosed (Lyme symptoms are very similar) or even an active outdoors person who are concerned that they could be at risk of Lyme then we'd love to hear from you. Once we have reached the target we're planning to send the petition to the Dept. of Health, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the European Parliament. Here's your chance to raise your concerns!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Lyme-Disease-Ireland

OMG Lyme Disease! Serious concern, like with all the possible diseases out there, Lyme Disease HAS TO be the one that makes me wake up in a cold sweat most nights.

Online petition? The Department of Health are sure to listen to you now!

Pet · 16-05-2009 12:45am

Fad wrote: »

OMG Lyme Disease! Serious concern, like with all the possible diseases out there, Lyme Disease HAS TO be the one that makes me wake up in a cold sweat most nights.

Online petition? The Department of Health are sure to listen to you now!

Seeing as it's notoriously difficult to treat, escapes diagnosis in an extremely high number of cases, is the hidden cause of a number of other serious conditions, and that Irish doctors are woefully ignorant of its existence or correct treatment protocols, then yes, it's right to raise some awareness.

PurpleFistMixer · 16-05-2009 1:18am

Fad wrote: »

OMG Lyme Disease! Serious concern, like with all the possible diseases out there, Lyme Disease HAS TO be the one that makes me wake up in a cold sweat most nights.

Online petition? The Department of Health are sure to listen to you now!

Wow. Be more sarcastic.

Fad · 16-05-2009 9:20am

I should probably avoid posting/being online when I'm really tired :pac:

But in all seriousness, an online petition? Has one ever been taken seriously?
Also I think the HSE has a few other slightly more major problem on their hands, so I really doubt ANYTHING to do with Lyme Disease will be on the cards anytime soon.

PurpleFistMixer · 16-05-2009 10:01am

Shooting down attempts to do something about anything because "ah that'll never work/there are better things to be doing" is hardly constructive though... If you think someone's time and effort is being misdirected, perhaps instead of being out and out negative about it, you should suggest an alternative course of action.

That said, I don't know how seriously people take online petitions really... Writing letters is probably more effective, but sure every little helps I suppose.

Jonathan · 16-05-2009 10:03am

Fad wrote: »

I should probably avoid posting/being online when I'm really tired :pac:

But in all seriousness, an online petition? Has one ever been taken seriously?
Also I think the HSE has a few other slightly more major problem on their hands, so I really doubt ANYTHING to do with Lyme Disease will be on the cards anytime soon.

Go study for your Leaving.

Fad · 16-05-2009 11:15am

Jonathan wrote: »

Go study for your Leaving.

Good point

.

Epic Tissue · 16-05-2009 1:04pm

Fad wrote: »

OMG Lyme Disease! Serious concern, like with all the possible diseases out there, Lyme Disease HAS TO be the one that makes me wake up in a cold sweat most nights.

Online petition? The Department of Health are sure to listen to you now!

...

Tick Talk · 16-05-2009 5:30pm

Fad wrote: »

OMG Lyme Disease! Serious concern, like with all the possible diseases out there, Lyme Disease HAS TO be the one that makes me wake up in a cold sweat most nights.

Online petition? The Department of Health are sure to listen to you now!

Oops sorry - I hadn't realised that saracsm was intended - I actually took it seriously that you were taking it seriously - silly me! Perhaps if you woke up with Lyme disease one morning you may be thankful if they did make it notifiable. It MAY not make a difference but it 'could' on the other paw make ALL the difference. Our decision for an online petition is based on the fact that we have been told by the Public Surveillance Agency in Dublin that the decision to make Lyme notifiable is 'under review'. This is to support the notion that while it is under review that there are some real live people suffering out there who'd like to have real live input into the process - they can do this by just signing a name, being anonymous or even posting a bit about themselves and their struggle with the illness. Yes, the petition will be submitted in paper not just emailed (will print off and send by registered post) with request for comments.

Bear in mind, although proper signatures are useful, this makes it more difficult targetting people who have Lyme disease. After all, how many people would be walking down the high street who has it? They are more likely be tucked up in bed (many are housebound)! This petition has been sent to people in the US, across face book, through Lyme groups in Europe and here on Boards.ie - getting to that many people in as short as time would be impossible. Bear in mind I am suffering from ill health too with this disease - even travelling down the road is tiring enough!

This petition also allows those who are concerned about the disease for instance walkers, dog lovers, hunters, fisherman etc. to also sign it and add their concerns.

Hope that explains a few things anyway - I have no worries at all if people don't want to sign or would rather worry about swine flu but those that have chosen to help - THANKYOU!!

Tick Talk · 17-05-2009 6:41pm

We have hit the great 2-5-0 - wahay!!! Will be keeping the petition open for a few weeks longer due to an up and coming article being published in the Irish Farmer's Journal - thought it would be great if the article highlights the rising problem in Ireland and then a petition makes it way to Dept. of Health pretty soon after.

Am currently looking for people willing to complete a questionnaire on their Lyme experiences in Ireland. This would be totally kept anonymous - no names, ages, addresses will be required or quoted. If anyone would like a copy of the questionnaire drop us a line.

Let's raise our glasses of mineral water (non sulphite, non coloured, non alcoholic - let's not overdo it(!)) and toast the momentous occassion

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Lyme-Disease-Ireland

Testing samples

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