ABSTRACT
There are numerous tick-borne infections, which include viral (TBE), parasitic (babesiosis) and bacterial diseases. Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis) is the most common tick-borne disease in France. In temperate climates such as in France, ticks bite humans between March and October. Prevention relies on adequate clothing and on repellents. The latter are reviewed in this work. Repellents may be natural, made from eucalyptus, tomato and coconut, or synthetic, among which the most widely used is DEET (N,N,-Diethyl-m-toluamide). Newer, synthetic repellents exist such as IR3535 which, as well as being less toxic, also exhibits greater efficacy against ticks. Some repellents are used on the skin, while others, like permethrin, which is actually an insecticide, may be applied to clothing.
Subject(s)
Tick Bites/prevention & control , Tick Control/methods , Tick-Borne Diseases/prevention & control , Acaricides , Animals , DEET , France/epidemiology , Humans , Insect Repellents , Primary Prevention/methods , Protective Clothing , Seasons , Secondary Prevention/methods , Tick Bites/epidemiology , Tick Bites/microbiology , Tick Bites/virology , Tick-Borne Diseases/transmissionABSTRACT
We report a case of blood culture-negative tricuspid infective endocarditis revealed after tick bite by repeated pulmonary infection during one year due to septic pulmonary emboli in a 67-year-old farmer woman. Tricuspid vegetation and pulmonary emboli are calcified. Lyme serology is negative. Serologic test and PCR analysis are positive to Bartonella henselae. The evolution is favorable after antibiotic and anticoagulant treatment. Infective endocarditis due to B. henselae is an exceptional complication of cat scratch disease. You have to think about in case of blood culture-negative endocarditis with calcified valvular lesions even without cat bite, tick seems to be vector of the bacteria.