Persistent infection a Religious Belief? WG Co-Chair Says Yes
SEP 3, 2020 —
The following letter was sent to Eugene Shapiro, member of the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group and defendant in the Lisa Torrey vs IDSA racketeering lawsuit with Cc: to the Group. I have asked the TBDWG to acknowledge this letter, to be included in the records and request a response from Shapiro and/or Dr. Walker, Chair of the Working Group. Perhaps you could prompt the TBDWG to demand a response from Shapiro and Walker who believe persistent infection is a “Religious Belief.”
Email: tickbornedisease@hhs.gov
———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: eugene shapiro <eugene.shapiro@yale.edu>, “tickbornedisease@hhs.gov” <tickbornedisease@hhs.gov>
Cc: (98 Undisclosed recipients)
Date: 09/02/2020 11:28 AM
Subject: Contentious 9 Hour WG Meeting: Persistent infection a Religious Belief? WG Co-Chair Says Yes
Contentious 9 Hour WG Meeting: Persistent infection a Religious Belief? WG Co-Chair Says Yes
https://lymediseaseassociation.org/government/federal-government/govt-departments-a-policies/hhs-tbd-working-group/contentious-9-hour-wg-meeting-persistent-infection-a-religious-belief-wg-co-chair-says-yes/
July 14, 2020
“Dr. Walker said there is “emphasis on belief…almost religious belief that it’s a persistent infection” and at various times said they probably didn’t have Lyme to start with.”
Sept 2, 2020
Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital
1 Park Street
Ste West Pavilion – 2nd Floor
New Haven, CT 06504
Attn: Eugene Shapiro, MD
Dr. Shapiro,
Below is an excerpt from my recent letter to the editor published in the BMJ. Could you please explain your motivation for suppressing evidence of persistent infection after extensive antibiotic treatment and then claiming there is no evidence?
Please hit “reply all” as I have carbon copied the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. I am sure everyone is interested in your response.
Excerpt from the BMJ Letter to the Editor:
Re: Lyme borreliosis: diagnosis and management
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1041/rr-1
In reference to “persistent infection after extensive antibiotic treatment,” an astute fifth grader with access to PubMed could find the following short list of publications: (there are actually hundreds) [1]
I would like to call attention to the following 1995 study from Stony Brook Lyme clinic. I understand the patient received thirteen spinal taps, multiple courses of IV and oral meds, and relapsed after each one, proven by CSF antigens and/or PCR. The only way this patient (said to be a physician) remained in remission was to keep her on open ended clarithromycin- was on it for 22 months by the time of publication.
1. Seronegative Chronic Relapsing Neuroborreliosis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7796837
Lawrence C.a · Lipton R.B.b · Lowy F.D.c · Coyle P.K.d
aDepartment of Medicine, bDepartment of Neurology, and cDivision of Infectious Diseases, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and dDepartment of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, NY., USA
Eur Neurol 1995; 35:113–117 (DOI:10.1159/000117104)
Abstract
We report an unusual patient with evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection who experienced repeated neurologic relapses despite aggressive antibiotic therapy. Each course of therapy was associated with a Jarisch-Herxheimer-like reaction. Although the patient never had detectable free antibodies to B. burgdorferi in serum or spinal fluid, the CSF was positive on multiple occasions for complexed anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies, B. burgdorferi nucleic acids and free antigen.
___________________________________________________
Let’s review another early publication where persistent infection was recognized:
May 13, 1988
2. Fatal Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome in a Patient With Lyme Disease
Michael Kirsch, MD; Frederick L. Ruben, MD; Allen C. Steere, MD; et al
JAMA. 1988;259(18):2737-2739. doi:10.1001/jama.1988.03720180063034
Abstract
A dry cough, fever, generalized maculopapular rash, and myositis developed in a 67-year-old woman; she also had markedly abnormal liver function test results. Serologic tests proved that she had an infection of recent onset with Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent that causes Lyme disease. During a two-month course of illness, her condition remained refractory to treatment with antibiotics, salicylates, and steroids. Ultimately, fatal adult respiratory distress syndrome developed; this was believed to be secondary to Lyme disease.
3. Granulomatous hepatitis associated with chronic Borrelia burgdorferi infection: a case report
http://www.labome.org/research/Granulomatous-hepatitis-associated-with-c
The patient had active, systemic Borrelia burgdorferi infection and consequent Lyme hepatitis, despite antibiotic therapy. Spirochetes were identified as Borrelia burgdorferi by molecular testing with specific DNA probes.
4. Culture evidence of Lyme disease in antibiotic treated patients living in the Southeast.
http://danielcameronmd.com/culture-evidence-of-lyme-disease-in-antibioti
Rudenko and colleagues reported culture confirmation of chronic Lyme disease in 24 patients in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. All had undergone previous antibiotic treatment
5. DNA sequencing diagnosis of off-season spirochetemia with low bacterial density in Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi infections.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968274
Faulty/misleading antibody tests landed a sixteen year old male in a psychiatric ward when his lab results did not meet the CDC’s strict criteria for positive results. His Western blot had only four of the required five IgG bands. Subsequent DNA sequencing identified a spirochetemia in this patient’s blood so his psychiatric issues were a result of neurologic Lyme disease misdiagnosed by antiquated/misleading serology. This patient was previously treated with antibiotics.
6. The Long-Term Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi Antigens and DNA in the Tissues of a Patient with Lyme Disease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963883/
Autopsy tissue sections of the brain, heart, kidney, and liver were analyzed by histological and immunohistochemical methods (IHC), confocal microscopy, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and whole-genome sequencing (WGS)/metagenomics. We found significant pathological changes, including borrelial spirochetal clusters, in all of the organs using IHC combined with confocal microscopy.
7. Persistent Borrelia Infection in Patients with Ongoing Symptoms of Lyme Disease
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/6/2/33
“This pilot study recently identified chronic Lyme disease in twelve patients from Canada. All of these patients were culture positive for infection (genital secretions, skin and blood) even after multiple years on antibiotics so there was no relief from current antimicrobials. Some of these patients had taken as many as eleven different types of antibiotics.”
________________________
Persistent infection after extensive antibiotic treatment has been identified through the use of direct detection methods in academic centers and autopsy findings yet the average patient cannot obtain these tests to justify how sick they are with their chronic active infection. Serology cannot be used to gauge treatment failure or success which makes it the ideal tool for concealing persistent infection.
Serology has allowed the 30-year dogma to persevere [2] whereas direct detection methods are exposing the exact opposite.
We are dealing with a life-altering/life-threatening infection with faulty/misleading antibody tests, inadequate treatment, no medical training and absolutely no disease control whatsoever; a public health disaster. And what was the reason for the mishandling of this coexisting pandemic you might ask?
A chronic relapsing seronegative disease does not fit the vaccine model. The rush to create a vaccine here in the United States promoted the denial of persistent infection and focusing on the acute stage of disease hides the horribly disabled.
Questions: Is there a reason why Prof Kullberg did not include my seven references of persistent infection in his BMJ article?
Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH USA
References
[1] 700 articles LYME Evidence of Persistence (personal Dropbox storage area)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n09sk90eo6xz7ua/700%20articles%20LYME%20Eviden
[2] Lyme Disease Is Hard to Catch And Easy to Halt, Study Finds
New York Times By GINA KOLATA Published: June 13, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/13/us/lyme-disease-is-hard-to-catch-and-eContentious 9 Hour WG Meeting: Persistent infection a Religious Belief? WG Co-Chair Says Yes – Lyme Disease AssociationPat Smith Describes Pre-Meeting Effort to Minimize Lyme. Below in For the Record are the written comments LDA President Pat Smith, a… https://lymediseaseassociation.org
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 