Ontario County Lyme Support Group

10/19/2026

By Jenn Barrett, JD, MBA When I was diagnosed with multiple tick-borne diseases as a young adult, I often felt overwhelmed. I had difficulty understanding

10/19/2026

For Project Lyme Board member Isabel Rose, an afternoon spent playing in a leaf pile as a child led to decades of searching for answers. 🍂

In her Substack piece “The Nightmare in the Leaf Pile,” Isabel recalls finding a tick after playing outside at age 8. Soon afterward, she developed a high fever, stiff neck, and other symptoms that her doctor dismissed as the flu.

A growing number of mysterious symptoms followed her into adulthood. Isabel writes that she was 48 when she and her two children were finally diagnosed with Lyme disease plus Bartonella and Babesia.

Today, she leads Project Lyme’s moms’ support groups, helping other mothers find community while navigating their families’ care. 💚

For Isabel, sharing what happened is a way to help other parents understand that tick bites can happen in the fall, too.

🔗 Read Isabel’s essay on Substack: https://beyondtherx.substack.com/p/the-nightmare-in-the-leaf-pile-393

🔗 Learn more about Isabel’s free online support groups for moms on our website: https://projectlyme.org/event/mothers-against-lyme/

Mothers Against Lyme

10/19/2026

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Could persistent infections play a role in breast cancer? What does the research show? 🌿

Emerging research is investigating whether certain bacteria and viruses may contribute to breast cancer development or influence how cancer cells behave.

🔬 LYME DISEASE (Borrelia burgdorferi)
A 2024 study reported *B. burgdorferi* in breast cancer tissue, while laboratory studies published in 2021 and 2023 found effects on cancer-cell migration, invasion, and gene expression. These findings warrant further investigation, but do not establish that Lyme disease causes breast cancer.

🔬 BARTONELLA
Preliminary research has reported *Bartonella henselae* in samples from patients with inflammatory breast cancer. Other research has identified Bartonella-associated microbial signals in breast tumors. These findings are intriguing but limited, and a causal relationship has not been established.

What about other infections?
Researchers have also investigated Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), human papillomavirus (HPV), mouse mammary tumor virus–like sequences (MMTV), bovine leukemia virus (BLV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Some studies and meta-analyses report associations with breast cancer, but findings are inconsistent, and the role of these infections remains unresolved.

Why does this matter?Chronic infection, inflammation, immune dysregulation, and changes in cellular signaling are all biologically relevant areas of cancer research. Understanding whether specific infections contribute to cancer risk—or affect tumor behavior—could open important avenues for future investigation.

The next steps are independent replication, rigorous testing methods, and longitudinal studies establishing whether infection precedes cancer development.

Scientific curiosity matters. So does following the evidence. These findings do not prove that any of these infections causes breast cancer.



Sources:
- Borrelia burgdorferi in invasive breast cancer tissues (2024)
- Borrelia burgdorferi invasion of mammary epithelial cells (2021)
- Bartonella and inflammatory breast cancer (2012 conference abstract)
- The viral origins of breast cancer (2024 review)

10/19/2026

REMINDER: THERE IS NO SAFE MINIMUM ATTACHMENT TIME FOR TICKS!

🔬 Researchers found that infected Gulf Coast ticks transmitted R. parkeri to mouse subjects within one hour of attachment. This bacterium causes a form of spotted fever rickettsiosis, a different illness from Lyme disease, and it spread quickly to the lymph nodes and internal tissues.

The researchers studied mice, so we still don’t know how quickly this bacterium passes to people. The one-hour finding also doesn’t tell us how fast other tick-borne infections spread, but it is significant to note that potentially deadly Powassan virus, though rare, can be transmitted by a deer tick in 15 minutes.

Avoiding tick bites to the best of your ability is the ideal preventative strategy to decrease your chances of contracting tick-borne infections. If you find an attached tick, remove it promptly. Don’t assume there’s no risk just because it hasn’t been there long.

🔗 Read more in the Bioengineering article: https://bioengineer.org/tick-borne-rickettsia-reaches-host-skin-within-an-hour-of-a-bite/

🔗 Get more information on how to prevent tick bites on our website: https://projectlyme.org/resource/preventing-lyme-disease/

10/17/2026

10/17/2026

Alpha-gal syndrome is yet another illness connected to ticks that's continuing to emerge in Kentucky.

10/17/2026

🔬 Where are people likely to encounter Lyme-carrying ticks in the western U.S.? New research offers clues.

Researchers studying 7 western states identified 76 counties with potentially suitable habitats for young western blacklegged ticks, called nymphs, that seek hosts and carry Lyme disease bacteria. At least one model flagged each county, with suitable habitats concentrated mostly in central and northern California and coastal Oregon and Washington.

That doesn’t confirm infected nymphs in every flagged county or tell us how risk varies within or between counties. However, the findings do help identify where more tick surveillance is needed.

For communities looking for clearer information about local Lyme risk, that’s a useful next step. 💚

🔗 Read the study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13071-026-07730-5

10/17/2026

10/17/2026

We have a feeling these comments could help with your next tick check. 👇

Behind the knee. Along the hairline. Between the toes. Even places that make you wonder, how did it possibly get there?

Ticks can be easy to miss, and hearing where others have found them might put a new spot on your radar.

So we’re asking the people who know firsthand: Where’s the most unexpected place you’ve ever found one?