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An astronomer's mysterious malady became a golden opportunity for a medical entomologist
June 8, 2009 | 5
Larry Webster's health troubles began after cleaning rodent feces and nesting material from the building that houses the century-old Snow Solar Telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
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Medical entomologist Tom Schwan of the Rocky Mountain Laboratory led the team that identified Larry Webster's illness as relapsing tick fever.
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This soft-bodied tick ( Ornithodoros hermsii) is the same species that bit Larry Webster on the ankle, transmitting the spirochete bacteria ( Borrelia hermsii ) that causes relapsing fever....[More]
An aerial view of the tick country around Mount Wilson Observatory, which is nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains outside Los Angeles.
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5 Comments
Add Commentgoes to prove again that you cannot rely on doctors speaking "ex cathedra." You must take control of your own health and use them as tools.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose doctors need a good ticking off...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWebster is obviously a very gifted scientist - curious and able to pose solvable questions that satisfy his curiosity and extend our knowledge. The observatory (or Schwan's laboratory, or some Californian museum of science) should have a memorial to the pair of them as a shining example of civic science in action.
I forgot to add that I live in Sweden, and here the ticks don't need a vector to infect people with borelia. They treat us just like any other warm-blooded animal (cat, dog, deer, etc) and attach themselves when we brush against them in the long grass etc where they lie in wait.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIsn't it time we begin to name the doctors who DON'T listen as well as the ones that do. The only difference between doctors and God is that God doesn't think He's a doctor. If doctors can't treat it in 10 minutes or less by tossing out a prescription, then they don't want to deal with it. I was frequently misdiagnosed for 5 years, had an unecessary knee operation and a "rare" autoimmune disease before I diagnosed myself from the internet with Borrelia burgdorferi, Lyme disease. Finally found a Lyme-literate doctor in S.F. We don't have Lyme in northern California either. If I, neither a doctor nor a scientist, could figure it out, why can't they???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow. I worked as a volunteer at Mt Wilson from 1997 to 2007. I guess I was lucky not to get infected...
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