SUNY: Mice with Lyme exhibit "illness behavior" (Depression, Not-Enough-Sex-itis, Mousehausen's)
Mort Zuckerman
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Subject: SUNY: Mice with Lyme exhibit "illness behavior" (Depression,
Not-Enough-Sex-itis, Mousehausen's)
Date: Aug 29, 2010 5:26 AM
It's a sad thing. Now the mice
have learned the "what to talk
about at cocktail parties,"
"Lyme paranoia," and Munchausen's
routine:
http://www.actionlyme.org/UN_PETITION.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/MUNCHAUSENS.htm
and "The mommy-mice are putting ticks
on their children while they sleep":
http://www.actionlyme.org/MCSWEEGAN_AND_MUNCHAUSENS.htm
I hope there's time to add this to
the DSM-V. Lyme Hysteria has even
"psychologically induced symptoms in mice":
http://www.actionlyme.org/LISA_MASTERSON_UK_BAGGED_STALKED_HARASSED.htm
=======================================
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20796206
J Anim Ecol. 2010 Aug 26. [Epub ahead of print]
Linking disease and community ecology through behavioural indicators:
immunochallenge of white-footed mice and its ecological impacts.
Schwanz LE, Brisson D, Gomes-Solecki M, Ostfeld RS.
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, PO Box AB, Millbrook, NY 12545,
USA.
Abstract
Summary 1. Pathogens and immune challenges can induce changes in host
phenotype in ways that indirectly impact important community
interactions, including those that affect host-pathogen interactions.
2. To explore host behavioural response to immune challenge, we
exposed wild white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) to an immunogen
from an endemic, zoonotic pathogen, the spirochete Borrelia
burgdorferi. White-footed mice are a major reservoir host of Lyme
disease (LD) spirochetes in northeastern USA and an abundant member of
forest communities. The activity patterns, foraging behaviour, and
space use of white-footed mice have implications for population growth
rates of community members upon which mice incidentally prey (i.e.
gypsy moths and native thrushes), as well as potentially determining
host-vector encounter rates and human risk of LD. 3. Immunochallenge
led to specific humoral (antibody) and cellular (i.e. elevated
neutrophils and eosinophils) immune responses, supporting use of the
immunogen as a surrogate for pathogenic infection. 4. Immunochallenged
mice had reduced wheel-running activity early in the night when
measured in the lab. However, mouse activity, as measured by track
plates in natural field experiments, did not differ between mice
exposed to the immunogen and unexposed mice. 5. Foraging behaviour of
wild mice in the field - assessed with giving-up densities of seed at
artificial feeding stations - was affected by exposure to the
immunogen. Whereas immunochallenge did not influence whether foraging
mice gained information on patch quality while foraging, it led to
reductions in predator avoidance during foraging, suggesting that the
proportion of space used by foraging mice may be greater as a result
of immunochallenge. This increased space use is predicted to increase
encounter rates with patchily distributed LD vectors (ticks) and with
incidental prey items. 6. Thus, immunochallenge in white-footed mice,
and potentially pathogenic infection, have the potential to indirectly
impact community interactions, including those important for pathogen
transmission.
KMDickson