Study Suggests Relationship Between Tick-related Disease and High LDL Cholesterol Level
In the July 9, 2007 issue of ScienceDaily it was reported about a study that suggested there was a relation between those individuals who had high LDL cholesterol levels and those same category of individuals contracting tick-related disease. The study specifically stated that those with high cholesterol might be much more susceptible to a particular disease that is transmitted by ticks. The study was done on mice, not humans so the results are “suggested”.
The study involved the Anaplasma phagocytophilum, bacterium that in humans causes the granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), disease which carries with it flu-like symptoms. The study proved what the scientists had suspected, which was that Anaplasma phagocytophilum depends on its host’s store of cholesterol for its survival.
Cholesterol in Humans:
Typically, our blood cholesterol levels rise as we advance in age. Anyone who sustains a tick bite should seek prompt antibiotic therapy from a medical professional. Based on this study, it would also be beneficial for individuals at risk for high cholesterol levels to take action to not only detect what their actual cholesterol levels are, but to lower LDL cholesterol levels if they are higher than healthy expected levels.
HGA:
Experts predict that HGA is on the rise in the U.S., based on the history of 400 to more than 1,000 cases of the disease seen each year. HGA is transmitted by the bite of the lxodes scapularis (deer tick).
Males tend to be affected more by HGA than females and the elderly have a higher incidence of degree of sickness, even death from HGA.
HGA starts with a tick bite with the individual presenting for medical treatment usually within a week of being bitten.
The usual symptoms are fever, headache, malaise, rigors, nausea, vomiting, confusion and a rash.
The Study and the results:
The study lasted for about a month. The study involved several mice from two groups.
One group ate a diet high in cholesterol, and the other group ate a diet with normal cholesterol levels.
After consuming these diets for a month, certain mice from each of feeding groups were infected with A. phagocytophilum.
The researchers collected blood samples from each mouse ten days later and also harvested each animal’s spleen and liver.
Researchers determined the extent of the infection based on the amount of bacteria found in each tissue sample from each source.
Each of the organs (spleen and liver) filter blood, with the liver producing and storing cholesterol, the theory that the researchers has was that they might find higher concentrations of bacteria in these two organs.
Study results showed that Anaplasma phagocytophilum levels were 10 times higher in those mice that in the study were predisposed to high blood cholesterol levels (diet) because they ate the high-cholesterol diet versus any other group of mice, including the ones that were predisposed (by eating) a normal-cholesterol diet.
Bacterium levels were highest in the blood and the spleen but were quite low in the liver of any of the mice.
The study showed that cholesterol levels increased x4 in the mice that were fed the high-cholesterol diet and that were predisposed to high cholesterol. The study also found that the cholesterol levels remained normal in the mice where the cholesterol level had a predisposition but where the mice were fed the normal-cholesterol diet.
Studies done on mice can only have conclusions drawn that are compared to humans and not state that the results would conclusively be the same for humans. It is normal for studies pertaining to disease in humans to be conducted on mice as results can easily be constructed to reflect what may be possible to expect in humans.
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