Wednesday 01-20-16

Lyme disease–carrying ticks are now in half of all U.S. counties

The ticks that transmit Lyme disease, a debilitating flulike illness caused by Borrelia bacteria, are spreading rapidly across the United States. A new study shows just how rapidly. Over the past 20 years, the two species known to spread the disease to humans have together advanced into half of all the counties in the United States.

Lyme disease cases have tripled in the United States over the last 2 decades, making it the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. The disease now affects around 300,000 Americans each year. If diagnosed early—a rash commonly appears around the site of the tick bite—Lyme can be effectively treated with antibiotics, but longer term infections can produce more serious symptoms, including joint stiffness, brain inflammation, and nerve pain.

To get a comprehensive map of where the two species—the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus)—were living, Rebecca Eisen and colleagues from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Fort Collins, Colorado, combined data from published papers with state and county tick surveillance data going back to 1996. They counted reports of tick sightings in each of the 3110 continental U.S. counties to determine whether those counties hosted an established population or just a few individuals. Ticks were considered “established” when sightings of at least six ticks, or two of the three life stages, had been reported in a year.

Their results, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, show that the blacklegged tick has undergone a population explosion, doubling its established range in less than 2 decades. It is now reported in 45.7% of U.S counties, up from 30% in 1998. Blacklegged ticks are found in 37 states across the eastern United States. The rarer western blacklegged tick, restricted to just six states, has shown only modest increases in established populations, from 3.4% to 3.6% of counties. Combined, these two Lyme disease vectors

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are now found in half of all U.S. counties.

“Since the late 1990s, the number of counties in the northeastern United States that are considered high-risk for Lyme disease has increased by more than 320%,” Eisen says. “The tick is now established in areas where it was absent 20 years ago,” she adds.

(top) D.T. Dennis et al., J. Med. Entomol. (1998); (bottom)R. J. Eisen et al., J. Med. Entomol. (2016)

Perhaps most worrying, the tick-dense northeast is where Lyme disease is most common. Although the blacklegged tick is found from Florida to Minnesota, 95% of confirmed cases come from just 14 states in the northeast and upper Midwest. “Although our map shows a wide distribution … the risk of people getting Lyme disease is not equal across areas of the country,” Eisen says.

A study published in PLOS ONE last year might hold the answer. Parasitologist Isis Arsnoe from Michigan State University and colleagues found that populations of blacklegged ticks behave differently in the north and the south of the United States. Nymphs of the blacklegged tick in the north are bolder and more active in seeking out hosts, a behavior known as questing. Arsnoe and his team found that that tick nymphs originating from Wisconsin and Rhode Island were 20 times more likely to emerge from leaf litter, putting them in the path of passing humans, than nymphs from Tennessee and Florida. "Questing behavior is a key factor affecting the risk of tick bites,” Arsnoe explains. "Ticks that stay buried in the leaves are not likely to have an opportunity to bite passing humans—and unless they bite they cannot transmit disease.” Arsnoe is concerned that the ticks found in the north may also expand into southern states, taking their questing behavior with them.

But despite the wide distribution of the vectors, a tick’s chances of coming into contact with a human are still relatively low. Avoiding areas of thick vegetation, using a strong repellent, and bathing after hiking are usually enough to avoid contact, CDC says. Eisen says that the most important thing now will be to carefully monitor the spread of the blacklegged tick, so that that people can educate themselves about the potential disease vectors in their area and take steps to protect themselves.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/lyme-disease-carrying-ticks-are-now-half-all-us-counties

The Feds want speed limiters and surveillance devices installed in every car, truck and bus

image credit: whitewraithe.wordpress

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called on commercial bus and truck manufacturers to install data recorders often referred to as "black box" recorders.

NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said that despite “more than a decade of recommendations by the NTSB,” federal regulators at the U.S. Department of Transportation had not required them in large motor vehicles.  If you didn't know nearly every car manufactured after 2005 has a black box, the NHTSA has an entire page dedicated to Event Data Recorders.

According to the Sacramento Bee the American Bus Association (ABA) has expressed support for the installation of data recorders. Of course they support the NTSB's drive to surveil every bus, they receive $12 million in grants from DHS every year!

The ABA has received $300 million in grants from DHS since 2003. DHS calls it the "Over-The-Road Bus Security Grant Program"

"This program overseen by organizations in the Department of Homeland Security made available to private operators between ten and twelve million dollars a year for bus security grants."

But that's not all, they also receive $3 million a year in DHS grants called the "Intercity Bus Security Grant Program." "Since 2003 over $99 million in grants have been awarded to the motorcoach industry by DHS through the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program (IBSGP)."

Click here, here & here to read about the ABA's close relationship with DHS.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is working closely with DHS to implement speed limiter devices and tracking devices in every vehicle. Click, here, here & here to read about SAE's close relationship with DHS.

Ford's new S-Max car comes standard equipped with a speed limiter device.
The S-Max can read signs with its traffic sign recognition system and adjusts for speed accordingly. And it doesn't need to pull down the brake to slow down the car.

"The system does not apply the brakes but smoothly controls engine torque by electronically adjusting the amount of fuel delivered," the company said in a press release.

It's only a matter of time before speed limiter cars are the 'norm' in America!

Sean McNally, a spokesman for the American Trucking Associations (ATA), said that the industry trade group “supports the use of many technologies, including event data recorders, that can positively impact safety.”  There's that same tired old excuse, its for safety, believe us! It's for profit and surveillance.

Click here, here & here to read about the ATA's close relationship with DHS.

In the DOT's "Playing It Safe - NHTSA Update" they reveal how the government wants EVERY
vehicle to be connected wirelessly.

It's called the "U.S. DOT Connected Vehicle Program" it's a vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication (tracking) system! Click here and here to get the latest news and updates about the program.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has written numerous articles describing the privacy dangers of "connected cars".

 

Talking cars will tell the government your speed and location:

The Drug Enforcement Administration is building a massive highway license-plate-camera program to spy on millions of innocent drivers  Traffic cameras everywhere are taking pictures of our license plates. And police can tap into that database, “putting a wealth of information in the hands of local officials who can track vehicles in real time on major roadways.”

Ford Global VP Jim Farley said last year “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you’re doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," he told attendees.

Page 48 lists The NTSB's objectives:

- Gain user acceptance information from uninitiated drivers. In other words tell the public it's for their safety, over and over until they believe it.

- Estimate safety system effectiveness. In other words publish numerous B.S. independent studies claiming it will increase driver safety.

The ATA and Road Safe America petitioned our government to require the installation of speed limiting devices on heavy trucks. The "NHTSA published a grant notice on January 3, 2011 announcing our intention to propose a new FMVSS that would require the installation of speed limiting devices on heavy trucks."

It should come as no surprise that Road Safe America works with DHS. Click here & here to read more. FYI, Road Safe America founder Stephen Owings is the chairman of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee which has close ties to DHS, click here & here to find out more. Deb Owings is a Director of the Virginia Motorcoach Association which has close ties to DHS.

To find out more read "Homeland Security And The Trucking Industry" and "Safety Impacts of Speed Limiter Device Installations on Commercial Trucks and Buses".

Our government is spying on our cars:

 

http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-feds-want-speed-limiters-and.html