Is STARI Lyme?

I will got on a limb; I think a short branch.  Lone star ticks transmit Lyme disease. My patients have pointed this out to me for quite some time.

 We have to ask the question, what is Lyme disease?

The answer is a little complicated.

Willie Burgdorer discovered the famous spirochete granting him "medical immortality." The spirochete we associate with Lyme is Borrelia burgdorferi. Over the past few decades the Lyme epidemic has spread throughout the US and become global.

But not all Lyme is the same.

Our standard Lyme germ is designated strictly Lyme:  B. burgdorferi (sensu strictu). Other forms of the bacteria causing Lyme disease(or something like it) are still called Borrelia burdoreri even if when they are a different species of Borellia. We do this by adding the suffice "sensu lato," meaning it is Lyme in a looser way. So bacteria with names like: B. garinii, B. afzelli, B. japonicum are called Borrelia burgdorferi (in the looser sense).

Normally a bacteria is only allowed to have one species name.  Scientists are particular about the way the group living organisms in a particular taxonomy.  KINGDOM, PHYLUM, CLASS, ORDER, FAMILY, GENUS, SPECIES.  Strains are variations within the same species.

With Lyme disease, we have made an exception and attach an extra species name in honor of our friend Willie Burdorfer.

Mainstream medicine informs that  STARI or Master's disease, caused by the lone star tick is no cause for alarm because it is not Lyme disease.

The particular bacterial cause of STARI has at times been elusive. But, some species of Borellia have been identified in STARI cases.  The first was B. lonestari , currently not considered one of the Lyme sensu lata species. More recently two Lyme "sensu lato" species have been connected to STARI:  B. adnersoni and B. americanum.  So STARI can be Lyme even by the CDC definition.

I think they need to update their website.

The rash seen with STARI is more dramatic than that seen with standard Lyme is more like to cause the classic "bull's eye" appearance. In other words: STARI is more Lyme than Lyme --  at least with regards to the rash.

Maybe STARI explains some sero-negative Lyme disease.

STARI is said to be milder than Lyme. Are we sure?

Anyway, it seems to me that B. lonestari should be part of the Lyme sensu lato family.

But we are cautioned to avoid bites from the lone star ticks because this may lead to meat allergy. True.

As Ixodes scapularis (deer tick) invades from the north and Amblyomma americanuum invades from the south, they both converge here, in the mid-Atlantic. 

It can be hard to tell the ticks apart.  Adult female lone stars have a distinctive white spot on their backs.  Nymphs cause most disease and are hard to tell apart.