August 8, 2007

outbreak@who.int

To whom it may concern,

I am reporting a serious tick-borne infection that I believe originated locally in the mid 70's in the central interior of British Columbia. I believe many residents including myself were infected with this specific strain of Lyme borreliosis and several friends and acquaintances succumbed to it. At onset, this disease had a fairly high mortality rate but tended to weaken or burn itself out as it passed through a small variety of hosts and/or vectors.

The most obvious result of this disease is the small mammal decline where the outbreak occurred. The disease can be traced 100 miles northward which is an excellent study area as it is sparsely inhabited compared to the world at large. The cause of this decline remains speculative as the only event that fits the time frame of the decline is a local outbreak of Brucellosis.

I am not the only one who has seen the severe small mammal decline. Please consider sending a researcher to document that we have a problem; then we can go on to learn what happened and ultimately develop a test for this strain of infection. I will be more than happy to help you get started; please feel free to let me know what I can do to help launch this research.

Our local small mammals are the canaries to our health.

Sincerely,

Ron Gerhardi

I have taken the liberty of posting this letter on the BC Lyme information site under "Research". Google lymeinbc

Return to: Research