I have spent twenty years trying to understand how, in 1985, I contracted Lyme disease 100 miles to the north of Fraser Lake in an area that had no deer to support a tick population. My dog and others also contracted the symptoms of Lyme in an area that is currently thought to be non-endemic for this bacterial infection.

The only logical conclusion is that we had an outbreak of Lyme borreliosis that was not recognized as a treatable infection. I do believe that we lost residents to this infection. I can only conclude that the key to this enigma is the obvious decline of our local snowshoe hares. I would like to share my knowledge and speculation with you.

Lyme borreliosis is not a new disease; it is the knowledge of this disease that is new. Dr. Willy Burgdorfer discovered the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease in 1982. In 1984 the infection was named after him, Borrelia burgdorferi. Since then, Lyme has been found in museum specimens and has been documented to travel on migratory birds. Lyme has been around for a long time; we just have to learn to recognize the symptoms.

At the time when others, our pets, and I became ill I noticed the declining hare population from here to Manson Creek where I contracted this infection while gold mining.

How could this happen? While researching our cattle problem I found that the local ranchers herd was quarantined for Brucellosis in 1976. This fits the time frame of the hares' disappearance.

My research shows that Brucellosis may have jumped a species thus infecting our hares who were living with the disease we call Lyme and co-infections. We did not previously notice Lyme because the hare tick, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris is host specific and rarely bites man.

Here is a possible scenario. Brucellosis killed our hares but before they died the hares tick was infected. Ticks need a blood meal to survive and having lost their host will take a blood meal from the small mammals, infecting them with this morphed pathogen. This is one of the rare times that hare ticks may infect humans. Hare ticks are known to attach to migratory birds and I believe this is how the disease came to me while I was working at Manson Creek, 100 miles to the north. I know that hare ticks will attach themselves to mice because I have removed them and had them properly identified in the US.

At the time of my infection mice were on the high point of their cycle and I could not keep them out of the cabin where I was living at the time. One mouse I trapped had so much blood all over itself and the trap that I burned both. I now realize that the striker on the trap may have squashed an engorged tick. At that point, I had a mouse and an engorged tick in the cabin where I became infected, both who may have been infected with Lyme. There is also some information of questing ticks getting a blood meal from an engorged tick that may have dropped off a mouse in a cabin. There is a soft-bodied tick, Ornithodoros hermsi that is known to frequent log cabins and houses with cracks for them to hide in. O. hermsi may get infection from a mouse as it survives by being a fast feeder, minutes compared to hours by known Lyme inducing ticks. My US testing in the late 80's and later BC testing backs up this method of transmission of Lyme disease.

From the preceding, you can understand how important it is to keep mice out of houses, especially if you live near a pocket of hares or chipmunks. I have also had another local tick, (Ixodes angustus) identified but have not found them in large enough numbers to be much of a problem.

The above is why I feel that we have a serious infection on our small mammals that is not a big problem right now but this is about to change. We have all seen the destruction caused by our mountain pine beetle, now experts speculate that another threat is coming. Ixodes scapularis, an aggressive human biting tick is moving northward due to our warmer winters. At the time of the 1985 outbreak I can confidently say that we did not have a resident Lyme transmitting tick on our deer because I did the research. Ixodes scapularis will move infection from our small mammals to us by getting a ride on the deer. This will make our lives a little more difficult as it will mean daily tick checks when in tick habitat, which is everywhere in the interior of BC. This will mean learning and recognizing symptoms of Lyme, as early treatment is how to co-exist with this infection. At this time I am aware of only one doctor in BC who treats this infection and he is forced to use US testing because BC testing is very inaccurate, adding another expense to the patient on top of traveling to Hope where this doctor has his practice.

It is mind boggling to understand the many symptoms this disease can cause. Dr. Charles Christ, a Lyme disease treating doctor in the US has on his website- "Lyme borreliosis can cause any symptom and any disease. (Ron's note, for my model I would like to add the words "to flare") People who have not been healthy need to consider this infection as a possibility if they are trying to find the cause of their medical problems". In addition, the ticks that transmit Lyme can also carry several co-infections, some of which may be harder to treat than Lyme.

I firmly believe that if we learn what happened to our hares we will have a better understanding of the disease called Lyme. Our snowshoe hares are our "canaries"; they are telling us there is a problem so we need to understand their problem. I walk almost every day through rabbit habitat, and for the first time since this 20-30 year decline, I did not see one hare track this winter.

Will residents from Nadleh to Ormond Creek please write a letter to our Regional District representative, Ralph Roy, and tell him you would like to scientifically understand what happened to our local snowshoe hares? Please also send a copy to John Rustad, our local MLA. If you do not like writing letters you can just sign this letter and send it in the mail.

I am asking for your support. I have tried to get research started and have so far failed. To my knowledge, no community has ever been warned of an impending outbreak of Lyme disease. It is in our best interest to discover what happened to our hares as this may result in a test, specific to our local infection.

Thank you for your help,

Ron Gerhardi

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