Tick bites are a form of transmission of Lyme disease and the most well-known, however they are not the only form of transmission. Mosquito, fleas, bedbugs and other biting insects have also been known to carry Lyme related pathogens as well other infecting microbes.

Mosquitos in particular many times carry malarial pathogens, such as bartonella. They can also carry viruses such as West Nile viruses. There was a study in Czechoslovakia done on 4,898 vectors; 26 species of mosquitos, black flies and tabinid flies. 23% found Lyme disease spirochetes by way of dark field microscopy, viewed in the guts of these vectors, most of them, mosquitos. Vectors inhabiting marshy areas or lakes have been found more likely to carry these pathogens.

Ticks will carry viruses, some of which are deadly; also, spirochetes, parasites and other malarial pathogens. In the French Ardennes, a study was conducted on 267 Ixodes ricinusfemale ticks. High-throughput real-time PCR tests were conducted on the ticks for the presence of 37 pathogens. This does not include the possibility of millions of other pathogens. PCR tests detect only specified pathogens in each test. Results match by genetic expression and on a DNA level. Results in this study presented all ticks carried at least 1 micro-organism out of the 37 pathogens tested for. 45% of the infected ticks also carried co-infections, some of them up to 8 co-infections of the 37 tested for. Symbiont/pathogen and pathogen/pathogen relationships were also studied. Results showed, among pathogens tested for, strong associations between Borrellia garinii and Borrellia afzelii. No other interactions between other symbionts or pathogens demonstrated significance. Again, this study did not account for any other pathogen other than the 37 tested for. All of which tested for were found. This suggests a strong potential for more existing co-infections in Ixodes ricinus. In another study, symbiotic relationships existed between all pathogens and its host, Ixodes, tick. At bite sites, immune responses were studied. Results demonstrated biochemical agents of tick saliva favored transmission of pathogens rather than immune response. This suggests tick saliva contains biochemical properties that may suppress the immune system as well as other things. 

Ticks, vectors and other biting insects can bite and transmit pathogens to any host and cause infection. They can also be picked up from one animal and transmitted to another. Being that Lyme disease spirochetes and co-infections can live anywhere and everywhere in the body, eating meat from an infected animal that has not been cooked can be potentially be transmitted to another host by eating the uncooked meat. There is also knowledge that even dead bacteria is also considered toxic and can cause symptoms.

 Therefore, assuming the nature of life, degeneration and death due to pathogenic involvement leads us to consider animals carry undesirable infecting microbes. Even when killed by being cooked, they can still be considered toxic. Depending on the amount of meat consumption, may question the actual health benefit of meat due to this theory.

I have personally seen borellia spirochetes and treponema spirochetes in the saliva of infected people under phase contrast microscopy. The potential for spirochetes and co-infections to be transmitted from one persona’s saliva to another is not only likely, but obviously probable. The mouth is said to be the most unsanitary part of the body. Banfield Hospital found Lyme disease increased in dogs by 21% in 2013. The saliva of infected animals licking people’s faces is something to consider regarding transmission. Saliva infected with Borrellia or other pathogens getting into the mucus membrane of the eyeball, nose and or mouth can be transmitted.

Research studies and data shows Lyme disease pathogens and co-infections have been transmitted via blood transfusion. Another specific study confirmed spirochete Borrellia burgdorferi infection survived blood transfusion processes and 48 days of storage in plastic packs.

A study confirmed many species of spirochetes, including unidentified and unnamed types in samples of mud, marsh water and soil. Samples have been collected from preserved soil samples for up to 4 years. When re-wetted and placed in petri dishes, even after 4 years, many spirochetal organisms survived. Spirochetes found were “Leptospira, Spirochaeta halophile, Spirochaeta, bajacaliforniensis, Spirosymplokos deltaeiberi, Treponema and unnamed spirochetes.” All of which are known to be pathogenic. Teal, et al

The Department of Geosciences from the University of Massachusetts did a study confirming the same species of pathogenic Lyme related spirochetes in the soil of marshy areas in the East coast and West coast of the United States as well the other areas around the globe. Like Borrellia species only thought to exist in New England, these spirochetes were at once thought to only exist on the Alfacs Peninsula in Spain, at the delta of the Ebro River. Other studies have confirmed spirochetes in lake water and river water. This concludes cosmopolitan distribution for spirochetes. 

A study by the Department of Biology and Environmental Science in 2014 found 11 out of 13 and 12 out of 14 people with a positive diagnosis with Lyme disease contained the Lyme Borrellia burgdorferi pathogen in vaginal and seminal fluids. These results suggest Lyme disease may be transmitted via intimate connection.

Many case studies have been done confirming fetal transmission with Lyme disease, Treponemas and other infections from mother to fetus. Some results manifested with stillbirths; others with various ranges of deformities, heart failure and devastating illness. Spirochete transmission has also been found possible from mother to infant, by PCR testing of mother’s milk.

The Arkansas Medical Society and others published reviews confirming oral, sexual and

infected open wound transmission of spirochetes associated with Lyme related disease.

 Based on studies and research, we now know the transmission of Lyme disease pathogens have the potential to be transmitted from biting insects, such as ticks, mosquitos, fleas, tabinid, black and sand flies and other biting insects; as well possible from exposure from marshy areas, utero, breast feeding, blood transfusions, oral, sexual and open wound.

Based on knowing that spirochetes, other microbes and pathogens are part of the natural environment, we can only contemplate what has not been researched and found possible for transmission of Lyme disease pathogens. Many people know bugs are airborne in many if not every breath we take; in everything we eat and many times the water we drink, the water we swim in and the ground we walk on. Nothing is sterile in nature. We have more bacteria in our bodies than we do their own body cells. Keeping good healthy bacteria abundant and keeping the bad microbes under control, otherwise known as maintaining a healthy microbial balance, is the art. McDonald

References:

Rochlin I, Ninivaggi DV, Benach JL. Malaria and Lyme disease - the largest vector-borne US epidemics in the last 100 years: success and failure of public health. BMC Public Health. 2019;19(1):804. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7069-6.