He bought the amber thirty years ago in the dominican Republic while searching for the ancient origins of diseases. He saw the tick five years ago and when he looked with a microscope he saw the tick was full of fossilized bacteria. The disease most likely came from its mother, and Mr. Poinar says neither the tick or the disease has changed much since then. Just as a comparison Homo sapiens have been fossil dated to two hundred thousand years old.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/29/6442555/bacteria-in-ancient-tick-similar.html
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Great article! I further researched into this and found that according to Poinar there was no blood in the larval tick, this shows it probably became infested with the bacteria from its mother, rather than from feeding on an infected rodent. Lyme disease infects tens of thousands of people each year. Ticks pick up the bacteria feeding on the blood of infected rodents, and pass them on to people when the ticks bite.
ReplyDeleteThis study does not surprise me. I would imagine that most parasitic bacteria are nearly the same age as their host.However, the same is not true for viruses. The West Nile Virus which 'relies' on the mosquito has only been around for 1,000 years while the mosquito has for 80 million years
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