Deer to Human Blood disease transfer?

[IslandTractor]

I don't think you can acquire Lyme disease from deer blood. It is transmitted through a tick bite. Deer carry the tick but don't transmit the disease directly to humans. It might be theoretically possible to transmit via a blood infusion but I'm not aware of it being documented. There are some other illnesses associated with deer (erlichiosis comes to mind) and there has been some concern about ?Mule deer in the west with regard to Mad Cow Disease but I am not aware of any human transmission there either. If you want to read up on the subject the proper term for animal to human transmission of disease is "Zoonosis" and you could google it.

 

[SteelDust]

I don't think you can acquire Lyme disease from deer blood. It is transmitted through a tick bite. Deer carry the tick but don't transmit the disease directly to humans. It might be theoretically possible to transmit via a blood infusion but I'm not aware of it being documented. There are some other illnesses associated with deer (erlichiosis comes to mind) and there has been some concern about ?Mule deer in the west with regard to Mad Cow Disease but I am not aware of any human transmission there either. If you want to read up on the subject the proper term for animal to human transmission of disease is "Zoonosis" and you could google it.

The status of "mad cow" in the deer and elk of the west can be found by doing a google search for "chronic wasting disease". It can only be transfered by coming in contact with the brain or spinal fluid of an infected animal. Game departments are advising people to no longer eat brains. They have check stations up here for CWD (they take a core sample of brain material), but to date there have been no cases up here. It can be transfered to humans and is called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

I usually just wash my hands really well after dressing an animal. I figure you come into worse things in everyday life.Also, I don't split the pelvic bone, as that's where most injuries occur.

 

[CurlyDave]

Well, I went in to Palo Alto Medical Foundation today, The usual place I go. My usual Dr. was out, but another one (a young woman) felt that Lyme disease was a very remote possibility. I am not as convinced of that as she was, but the nick was very small, and I did force it to bleed.

She gave me a tetanus shot and sent me on my way.

So far , no symptoms of Lyme, so I may be fine.

I am not convinced that it is only transmitted by tick bites. The bacteria is in the deer blood. A tick bites the deer and ingests contaminated blood. Then the tick bites a human and the bacteria transmit to the human. It seems to me, that if the bacteria are present in the deer blood, they could be transmitted directly to human blood without the tick intermediate.

Sure, the tick intermediate is the most common transmission mode, but if no one has ever looked for direct blood contamination as a transmission mode, it is a sure thing that it has never been found. This doesn't mean it can't happen, just that it has not been looked for carefully.

I do carry a first aid kit, but a few ounces of hand sanitizer will soon find its way into the kit.

 

[IslandTractor]

I am not convinced that it is only transmitted by tick bites. The bacteria is in the deer blood. A tick bites the deer and ingests contaminated blood. Then the tick bites a human and the bacteria transmit to the human. It seems to me, that if the bacteria are present in the deer blood, they could be transmitted directly to human blood without the tick intermediate.

Sure, the tick intermediate is the most common transmission mode, but if no one has ever looked for direct blood contamination as a transmission mode, it is a sure thing that it has never been found. This doesn't mean it can't happen, just that it has not been looked for carefully.

You are correct that it has not been studied very carefully. Any study would be quite difficult. You'd need to have hunters exposed to deer blood who were not exposed to ticks. Pretty hard to do considering the deer and ticks are in the same environment and that many people exposed to the nymph form of the deer ticks don't know they have been exposed/bitten.

On the brighter side, Lyme is not that easy even for a tick bite to transmit as it requires quite a few hours (24 is the general figure used) of tick bite to raise your risk.

I think your doctor did the right thing and because this is a very low risk situation it is best to just watch. Remember that unnecessary use of antibiotics has both direct (side effects) and indirect (increased bacterial resistance in your community) downsides so it is best to do without when possible.