Ancient Evidence and Early Descriptions of Lyme-like Illness

These diseases - West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - are named for the places where outbreaks happened. But they're also all things you get from being bitten by mosquitoes or ticks.

Research:

• Balasubramanian, Chandana. “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF): The Deadly Tick-borne Disease That Inspired a Hit Movie.” Gideon. 9/1/2022. https://www.gideononline.com/blogs/rocky-mountain-spotted-fever/
• Barbour AG, Benach JL2019.Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent. mBio10:10.1128/mbio.02166-19.https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02166-19
• Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “History of Lyme Disease.” https://www.bayarealyme.org/about-lyme/history-lyme-disease/
• Caccone, Adalgisa. “Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes.” Yale School of Medicine. 8/28/2017. https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/ancient-history-of-lyme-disease-in-north-america-revealed-with-bacterial-genomes/
• Chowning, William M. “Studies in Pyroplasmosis Hominis.("Spotted Fever" or "Tick Fever" of the Rocky Mountains.).” The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 1/2/1904. https://archive.org/details/jstor-30071629/page/n29/mode/1up
• Elbaum-Garfinkle, Shana. “Close to home: a history of Yale and Lyme disease.” The Yale journal of biology and medicine vol. 84,2 (2011): 103-8.
• Farris, Debbie. “Lyme disease older than human race.” Oregon State University. 5/29/2014. https://science.oregonstate.edu/IMPACT/2014/05/lyme-disease-older-than-human-race
• Galef, Julia. “Iceman Was a Medical Mess.” Science. 2/29/2012. https://www.science.org/content/article/iceman-was-medical-mess
• Gould, Carolyn V. “Combating West Nile Virus Disease — Time to Revisit Vaccination.” New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 388, No. 18. 4/29/2023. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2301816
• Harmon, Jim. “Harmon’s Histories: Montana’s Early Tick Fever Research Drew Protests, Violence.” Missoula Current. 7/20/2020. https://missoulacurrent.com/ticks/
• Hayes, Curtis G. “West Nile Virus: Uganda, 1937, to New York City, 1999.” From West Nile Virus: Detection, Surveillance, and Control. New York : New York Academy of Sciences. 2001. https://archive.org/details/westnilevirusdet0951unse/
• Jannotta, Sepp. “Robert Cooley.” Montana State University. 10/12/2012. https://www.montana.edu/news/mountainsandminds/article.html?id=11471
• Johnston, B L, and J M Conly. “West Nile virus - where did it come from and where might it go?.” The Canadian journal of infectious diseases = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses vol. 11,4 (2000): 175-8. doi:10.1155/2000/856598
• Lloyd, Douglas S. “Circular Letter #12 -32.” 8/3/1976. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/departments-and-agencies/dph/dph/infectious_diseases/lyme/1976circularletterpdf.pdf
• Mahajan, Vikram K. “Lyme Disease: An Overview.” Indian dermatology online journal vol. 14,5 594-604. 23 Feb. 2023, doi:10.4103/idoj.idoj_418_22
• MedLine Plus. “West Nile virus infection.” https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007186.htm
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. “History of Rocky Mountain Labs (RML).” 8/16/2023. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/rocky-mountain-history
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.” https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/rocky-mountain-spotted-fever
• Rensberger, Boyce. “A New Type of Arthritis Found in Lyme.” New York Times. 7/18/1976. https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/18/archives/a-new-type-of-arthritis-found-in-lyme-new-form-of-arthritis-is.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock
• Rucker, William Colby. “Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.” Washington: Government Printing Office. 1912. https://archive.org/details/101688739.nlm.nih.gov/page/
• Sejvar, James J. “West Nile virus: an historical overview.” Ochsner journal vol. 5,3 (2003): 6-10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3111838/
• Smithburn, K.C. et al. “A Neurotropic Virus Isolated from the Blood of a Native of Uganda.” The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Volume s1-20: Issue 4. 1940.
• Steere, Allen C et al. “The emergence of Lyme disease.” The Journal of clinical investigation vol. 113,8 (2004): 1093-101. doi:10.1172/JCI21681
• Steere, Allen C. et al. “Historical Perspectives.” Zbl. Bakt. Hyg. A 263, 3-6 (1986 ). https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/281837/1-s2.0-S0176672486X80912/1-s2.0-S0176672486800931/main.pdf
• World Health Organization. “West Nile Virus.” 10/3/2017. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/west-nile-virus
• Xiao, Y., Beare, P.A., Best, S.M. et al. Genetic sequencing of a 1944 Rocky Mountain spotted fever vaccine. Sci Rep 13, 4687 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31894-0

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