Discussion: Recurrent fever? New tick-borne disease

The NYTimes is reporting that a new bacteria called "Borrelia miyamotoi" and carried by deer ticks, is being studied as a cause for recurring fevers. Lyme disease, also carried by the ticks, has long been known to cause fatigue and joint pain...but not fevers.

...While most Lyme victims are cured by a two-week course of antibiotics, some have symptoms that go on for years and believe they have persistent infections that the antibiotics did not reach. Most medical authorities...take the position that “chronic Lyme disease” does not exist...They oppose the solution demanded by some self-proclaimed victims: long-term intravenous antibiotics...

So if you seem to be constantly fighting off a recurring feverish state, you might wish to have your doctor investigate this new bacteria. But I'd have to be pretty sick before I'd demand "long-term intravenous antibiotics."

The solution "demanded by ... self-proclaimed victims" is supported by perhaps 20% of the medical establishment and by data (I'll post references). The data is new and it's only a matter of time for the CDC and the insurance companies to get on board.

>Lyme disease, also carried by the ticks, has long been known to cause fatigue and joint pain...but not fevers. <
I have had fever every time I was bitten by a tick, maybe it wasn't Lyme, but the antibiotics for 2 weeks worked great.

The initial acute phase of Lyme is typically characterized by non-respiratory flu-like symptoms - basically fevers without the chest crap. Had them numerous times. These symptoms are actually more common than the 'tell-tale' bulls-eye rash which only manifests in a percentage of cases. If you catch it here, a 2-3 week course of antibiotics usually takes care of it. But if it is misdiagnosed or the first round doesn't clear it up, it can become chronic, but the symptoms shift to an array of immune defense symptoms (muscular, skeletal, neurological) which are harder to ascribe specifically to Borrelia which is why many in the medical community say chronic lyme doesn't exist. (It 'must' be something else)

There are also a number of other tick borne diseases such as Ehrlichiosis and Babesiosis which frequently occur as co-infections along with Borreliosis (Lyme Disease). Luckily the initial course of antibiotics generally takes out the whole complex of organisms, but most Lyme literate doctors will test for the other diseases as well as Borrelia when narrowing down a case of chronic lyme. It doesn't suprise me in the least that there may be other causal organisms such as this new Borrelia species in that mix...

I'll let you know whom they find in me. Haven't got to that stage yet, only confirmed that I am CDC-positive after many years as negative.

http://www.underourskin.com/ is compelling.

"I have had fever every time I was bitten by a tick"
i seem to be a bit prone to collecting ticks (on a recent camping trip i sustained 14 tick bites, while the 5 other people hiking only encountered 2 or 3) and have had adverse reactions to their bites.
i'm not picking on anyone, but i think something simple is being overlooked here:
whether the tick carries Lyme's or any other infection or not, it's still injecting poisons and antigens into your system, and they are going to adversely affect you. a fever or two, or swelling or a rash could just as likely be caused the bite and poisons itself.
this new bacteria is cool though.
i can tell you it is hard to find new bacteria. they are about a thousand times smaller than a human skin cell, and often refuse to live anywhere outside their host. possibly what causes the long term lyme's condition?