Archive for March, 2021

The Many Variants of Fauci’s Mutating COVID Advice

https://www.aier.org/article/the-many-variants-of-faucis-mutating-covid-advice/

The Many Variants of Fauci’s Mutating Covid Advice

March 23, 2021

In an explosive Senate hearing on March 18, Dr. Anthony Fauci clashed with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over a subject that has characterized much of the White House health adviser’s recent commentary on Covid-19: the specter of reinfection, caused by one of the emerging variants of the virus.

Several recent studies suggest that both natural and vaccine-induced immunity to Covid-19 is robust at least for the medium term, and even those hinting at possible reinfections suggest it is a rare phenomenon mainly afflicting people with severely weakened immune systems.

Fauci nonetheless maintains that reinfections, particularly from the South African variant of the virus, are not only commonplace but justify maintaining a suite of restrictive nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing regulations – perhaps even for another year.

Paul pressed Fauci to cite the scientific literature supporting this claim, to no avail. Instead, Fauci deflected the question by repeating platitudes about masks and exaggerating a recent study about reinfections. According to Fauci, previously recovered people who “were exposed to the variant in South Africa” reacted “as if they had never been infected before. They had no protection.”

A Danish study that Fauci later referenced to justify this assertion made no such claim about reinfection being widespread. Quite the contrary, its authors concluded:

“that protection against repeat SARS-CoV-2 infection is robust and detectable in the majority of individuals, protecting 80% or more of the naturally infected population who are younger than 65 years against reinfections.”

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

Fauci must go.  Emperor of NIAID for 7 presidencies, he is not to be trusted for anything and has far too much power, making more money than the president of the U.S.

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Category:

Activism, Viruses

4 Experts on COVID Lockdowns & Masks

http://  Approx. 12 Min

Gupta, Kulldorff, Bhattacharya, and Atlas on COVID Lockdowns

March 18, 2021

Roundtable with the Governor of Florida

Again, we can be very thankful for Sweden and Florida for standing against the unbelievable tsunami and accepted narrative so we have real-time, real-life comparisons.

The evidence is in: masks and lockdowns do not work and never did.  

Both are failed experiments that need to be abandoned.

http://  Approx. 7 Min

On Masks

March 18, 2021

For more on lockdowns:

For more on masks:

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Viruses

Targeting Multicopy Prophage Genes for the Increased Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato, the Causative Agents of Lyme Disease, in Blood

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.651217/full

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Front. Microbiol., 15 March 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.651217

Targeting Multicopy Prophage Genes for the Increased Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato (s.l.), the Causative Agents of Lyme Disease, in Blood

Jinyu Shan1*†, Ying Jia1†, Louis Teulières2, Faizal Patel1and Martha R. J. Clokie1*
  • 1Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
  • 2PhelixRD Charity 230 Rue du Faubourg St Honoré, Paris, France

The successful treatment of Lyme disease (LD) is contingent on accurate diagnosis. However, current laboratory detection assays lack sensitivity in the early stages of the disease. Because delayed diagnosis of LD incurs high healthcare costs and great suffering, new highly sensitive tests are in need. To overcome these challenges, we developed an internally controlled quantitative PCR (Ter-qPCR) that targets the multicopy terminase large subunit (terL) gene encoded by prophages that are only found in LD-causing bacteria. The terL protein helps phages pack their DNA. Strikingly, the detection limit of the Ter-qPCR was analytically estimated to be 22 copies and one bacterial cell in bacteria spiked blood. Furthermore, significant quantitative differences was observed in terms of the amount of terL detected in healthy individuals and patients with either early or late disease. Together, the data suggests that the prophage-targeting PCR has significant power to improve success detection for LD. After rigorous clinical validation, this new test could deliver a step-change in the detection of LD. Prophage encoded markers are prevalent in many other pathogenic bacteria rendering this approach highly applicable to bacterial identification in general.

Introduction

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common tick-born disease with approximately 476,000 patients in the United States annually during 2010–2018 (Kugeler et al., 2021). LD is caused by a group of bacteria classified together as the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex, that comprises a clade of more than 20 species including B. burgdorferisensu stricto (s.s.) which dominates in United States, and B. garinii and B. afzelii which are prevalent in Europe and Asia. The LD-causing bacteria are generally transmitted to humans after they are bitten by ticks of the Ixodes family infected with LD causing Borrelia. However, recent reports have raised concerns over Borrelia transmission through blood transfusion based on observations that Borrelia can survive and circulate in the human bloodstream (Pavia and Plummer, 2018).

Currently, LD diagnosis is based on the overt clinical manifestation of disease in the form of erythema migrans (EM) skin lesions, commonly known as a ‘bull’s-eye’ rash and a history of tick exposure. Although EM lesions occur in 70 to 80% of infected individuals, only a third of these patients develop the classic ‘bull’s-eye’ rash, and many other types of skin lesions can occur which are easily confused with EM (Chaaya et al., 2016). In addition to the EM uncertainty, other common symptoms of LD such as fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and perceived cognitive dysfunction largely overlap with an array of other diseases, including other tick-borne diseases. One such example is Relapsing Fever (RF), which is caused by close relatives of the LD-causing bacteria, such as Borrelia miyamotoi(Wormser et al., 2019). The two Borrelia ‘groups’ responsible for LD and RF have caused great concern and clinical confusion, as they are morphologically similar and present with almost indistinguishable clinical symptoms (Bergström and Normark, 2018). Despite this, they respond to different antibiotics and treatment regimens (Koetsveld et al., 2017). Another example of confusion surrounding LD is the co-infection caused by Bartonella spp. This genus of bacteria is emerging as an increasingly common human infection (Anderson and Neuman, 1997). Much of the controversy surrounding LD and co-infections with Bartonella and/or B. miyamotoi is due to the lack of a reliable and sensitive diagnostic method to detect and distinguish between the three groups of bacteria, the LD and RF causing Borrelia and Bartonella (Schutzer et al., 2019). Therefore, laboratory tests to determine and distinguish between LD and co-infections play a vital role in the correct diagnosis and consequent treatment with different antibiotics.

Scientists have faced several challenges with LD detection including patients presenting with a delayed antibody response and a low number of Borrelia cells typically found in human clinical samples (Moore et al., 2016). Although it is particularly difficult to diagnose LD early, it is critical, as it is far easier to treat the disease when it is detected at an early stage (Theel et al., 2019). Bacteria-targeting approaches, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detecting the Borrelia chromosomal DNA, can potentially identify early LD but is relatively insensitive detecting only between 30-50% of positive cases, and is therefore deemed to have little clinical utility (Schutzer et al., 2019). The reasons behind the poor sensitivity of the current PCR methods in Lyme detection are twofold; first, the current PCRs target Borrelia genomic DNA regions that have only one copy in each bacterium, such as the bacterial 16S rRNA gene, RecA gene, and the 5S-23S intergenic regions (Brettschneider et al., 1998; Liveris et al., 2012; Waddell et al., 2016; Lohr et al., 2018; Schutzer et al., 2019). Second, at least some Borrelia species are ‘tissue-bound’ and are only transiently found circulating in the blood (Liang et al., 2020).

In response to these diagnostic challenges, we adopted a novel approach, taking advantage of the fact that most pathogenic bacteria carry multiple complete or partial prophages (phages associated with bacteria) (Argov et al., 2019). These prophage sequences can form the bases of a template from which quantitative PCR (qPCR) primers and probes can be designed. It is known that Borrelia carry a large number of linear and circular plasmids (comprising between 33-40% of the Borrelia genome), among which the cp26 and cp32, and the lp54 linear plasmid, are evolutionarily stable (Casjens et al., 2017). Of these paralogous plasmids, cp32 has been experimentally determined to be a Borrelia burgdorferi prophage thus it is highly likely that many of its homologs are also prophages (Eggers and Samuels, 2000).

In this paper we have demonstrated for the first time in Borrelia-related diagnostics that it is possible to overcome the sensitivity challenges associated with LD detection. We highlight the potential of our test to discriminate between healthy volunteers, early LD, and late LD patients. We present data from a systematic and comprehensive study that evaluate the use of the multicopy phage terminase large subunit (terL) gene as a molecular marker for the detection of Borrelia species. The analytical performance of the terL-targeting qPCR (referred to as Ter-qPCR) was thoroughly evaluated, and the test was shown to be able to detect one single Borrelia cell from blood samples. The diagnostic potential was evaluated using a set of blood and serum samples collected from healthy volunteers and individuals who were clinically diagnosed with LD.

In summary, we demonstrate that a quantitative phage-based PCR has the potential to change the diagnosis of LD from blood samples. This approach of detecting bacteria-specific phages may be applicable to infections other than LD such as sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa etc. (Minasyan, 2019), as long as suitable phages are identifiable.

Results and Discussion

Each Borrelia species has a distinct amount of species specific variation in its prophage sequences; thus these prophages can be used as a proxy to identify the bacteria because of the tight correlation between them and the exact prophages found in each Borrelia host. As there are multiple prophages per Borrelia cell, the detectable signal is higher for prophages than bacteria. Furthermore, evidence suggests that Borrelia prophages can be released outside the Borrelia cells following encounters with stressors such as antibiotics (Eggers and Samuels, 2000). In this study, we confirmed that Borrelia prophages can escape from the bacterial host cell in a spontaneous manner. Taking advantage of the multicopy and free movement of Borrelia prophages, the approach to target prophages instead of bacteria will bypass the cryptic and tissue-bound feature that typifies human Borrelia infections (Liang et al., 2020). Thus, we have a greater chance of detecting the prophages in blood even when the bacteria may not be present or present in extremely low numbers. In this sense, prophages are somewhat analogous to Borrelia ‘footprints’.

(See link for full article)

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**Comment**

Important excerpt:

Borrelia Strains and Cultures

The Borrelia strains used in this study are listed in Table 1.

  • Ten strains were provided by Professor Sven Bergström, Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, Sweden. Seven strains were purchased from the Pasteur Institute and DSMZ (German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH).
  • Two strains were provided by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States, and
  • two by Cecilia Hizo-Teufel from the German National Reference Centre for Borrelia. 

For more: 

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing

Stand for Health Freedom’s Peer-Reviewed Position Paper & Petition to Investigate the CDC

https://standforhealthfreedom.com

In a special live report in February, Stand for Health Freedom revealed that our ongoing state of emergency has been largely fueled by bad data that has been compromised at the hands of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now, an independent research team that has dedicated more than 20,000 hours into investigating all aspects of COVID-19 has found strong evidence of willful misconduct by the CDC and others.

This is outlined in a new peer-reviewed position paper, “COVID-19: Restoring Public Trust During A Global Health Crisis.”

Citizens from coast to coast have been living under dire circumstances for more than a year now. We all deserve to know if crimes have been committed throughout the COVID-19 crisis. As such, we are calling on advocates nationwide to urge Assistant United States Attorneys to impanel a special grand jury to investigate the CDC’s conduct during COVID-19.

Very simply, a grand jury is a group of citizens that has been empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges are warranted. Grand juries exist as a means for Americans to exercise oversight over all three branches of government during extraordinary times.

With your help, we can convene one and uncover the truth.

This new position paper digs deep into the COVID-19 crisis and reveals multiple examples of alleged willful misconduct by the CDC.

This new position paper digs deep into the COVID-19 crisis and reveals multiple examples of alleged willful misconduct by the CDC.

Transparency is a hallmark of a democratic society and cannot be ignored, diminished or negotiated away during times of emergency. Let’s restore it now by signing this petition and urging assistant U.S. attorneys nationwide to convene a special independent grand jury investigation into the CDC’s conduct during COVID-19.

This is truly one of the most important actions of your lifetime! Please be sure to sign — and encourage 10 friends to take action, too.

In solidarity,
Stand for Health Freedom

To Sign the Petition: https://standforhealthfreedom.com/action/cdc-grand-jury-investigation/

We are just $688.52 away from meeting our matching grant goal of $13000 by the end of the day (March 31st). Can you donate now and help us meet our full match potential?  https://nationalhealthfreedomaction.org/donate-now/

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Category:

Activism, Viruses

Coming Soon – Vaccine Passports Will Determine Where You Can Go & What You Can Do

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/coming-soon-vaccine-passports/

Coming Soon — Vaccine Passports Will Determine Where You Can Go and What You Can Do

The Biden administration is partnering with private companies to develop a vaccine passport system, claiming it’s the only path to normalcy, but critics warn passports will steal people’s liberty and data.
Businesses and venues can scan and validate your pass to ensure you meet any COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirements for entry.

The Biden administration and private companies are working to develop vaccine passports that would allow Americans to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID as the country opens, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The initiative, driven largely by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has gained momentum as a growing number of companies and venues — from movie theaters, restaurants and music venues to cruise lines and sports teams — have said they will require proof of vaccination before opening their doors.

The passports are expected to be free and available through smartphone apps, which would display a scannable code similar to an airline boarding pass. Americans without smartphone access would be able to print out the passports, developers have said.

The White House declined to answer questions about the passport initiative, instead pointing to public statements made by Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator during a March 12 press briefing:

“As we increase the number of people vaccinated, we know some people may have a need to demonstrate that they are vaccinated … our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy.”

According to CNN, multiple government agencies are engaged in conversations and planning, coordinated by the White House, as this kind of system will play a role in many aspects of life, including potentially the workforce.

One of the most significant hurdles facing federal officials is the number of passport initiatives already underway. The Biden administration this month identified at least 17, according to slides obtained by The Washington Post.

One initiative  — a global effort led by the World Health Organization and a digital pass devised by IBM — is being tested in New York state and is rapidly moving forward as the White House deliberates how best to track shots and avoid the perception of a government mandate to be vaccinated.

On Friday, New York was the first to launch a digital vaccine passport system known as Excelsior Pass that residents can use to prove they’ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for infection, reported USA TODAY.

The New York system, built on IBM’s digital health pass platform, is the first-in-the-nation certification and will be used at dozens of events, including arts and entertainment venues. A venue will scan the QR code, which will generate either a green check or a red X.

The new pass is part of a growing but disjointed effort to provide vaccine “passports” or  certifications, so people won’t have to hang onto a dog-eared piece of paper, worry about privacy issues or forgeries, or pay money to prove they’re not contagious.

According to NPR, New York described the pass this way:

“Businesses and venues can scan and validate your pass to ensure you meet any COVID-19 vaccination or testing requirements for entry. Along with your pass, you’ll be asked to show a photo ID that shows your name and birth date to verify that the Pass belongs to you. Adults may hold passes for accompanying minors.

“Once you and your party enter an establishment, you will still be asked to follow state and CDC guidance regarding social distancing, face coverings and hand hygiene.”

Participation in Excelsior Pass is voluntary, but New Yorkers will have to show alternate proof of vaccination or testing, such as another mobile application or paper form, directly at a business or venue.

Both Madison Square Garden, which is part of the pilot’s program phase, and Times Union Center will begin using the passes by early April with other businesses and venues expected to follow.

The state hopes to eventually link tickets to the Excelsior Pass, so people going to an event at Madison Square Garden, for example, will be able to link their admission and health passes.

But, according to Dr. Naomi Wolf, founder and CEO of Daily Clout, the passport violates people’s liberty.

Last night on “The Next Revolution” with Steve Hilton on Fox News, Wolf said:

“I am not overstating this. I can’t say it forcefully enough. This is literally the end of human liberty in the west if this plan unfolds as planned. Vaccine passports sound like a fine thing if you don’t understand what these platforms can do …

“It’s not about the vaccine. It’s not about the virus. It’s about your data. And once this rolls out you don’t have a choice about being part of the system. What people have to understand is that any other functionality can be loaded onto that platform with no problem at all. What that means is that it can be merged with your Paypal account, with your digital currency, Microsoft is already talking about merging it with payment plans. Your networks can be sucked up. It geolocates you wherever you go. Your credit history can be included. All of your medical history can be included.”

Wolf isn’t the only one slamming vaccine passports. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) said in a statement to Fox News:

“Vaccine credentials would be a complete government overstep. Individuals in America have a personal responsibility for their health,” said Sessions. “Implementing a ‘vaccine passport’ runs the risk of undermining public trust and substantially limiting normal day-to-day essential activities.

“As a leader, I have chosen to be vaccinated – that was my own decision.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) also blasted the idea on Twitter, declaring the measure “unconstitutional.”

Other countries are racing ahead with their own passport plans, with the European Union pledging to release digital certificates that would allow for summer travel, according to the Washington Post.

On March 23, The Defender reported that the European Union was set to vote on a vaccination travel digital certificate, “Green Passport,” which would provide proof of vaccination and negative COVID test.

The pass would include information on the brand of the vaccine, date and place of inoculation and the number of doses administered, as well as information from a lab or hospital confirming negative test results. Holders of the certificate (a QR code on a phone app or on paper) would be exempt from quarantine and other restrictions. The document would be common to all EU citizens and would allow bilateral deals between EU countries and non-member states.

On March 25, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) agreed to fast-track voting on the European Commission’s plan to create a bloc-wide travel pass that confirms COVID vaccination, immunity or testing status in an effort to push the rollout of certificates by June.

According to Politico, to achieve the ambitious timeline, MEPs voted to use an urgent procedure — bypassing relevant parliamentary committees, individual MEPS, debate and the need for a report.

Green group co-president Philippe Lamberts said in Wednesday’s plenary meeting that speeding up the process could sow “considerable distrust” among citizens.

Sophie in ‘t Veld, member of the European Parliament, wrote on Twitter that bypassing parliamentary scrutiny was an “abuse of an emergency situation” and amounted to “blackmail.”

But MEPs still voted in favor of the fast-track option by a wide margin — 468 to 203. Sixteen parliamentarians abstained.

Some in the UK are raising concerns with vaccination passports. According to an opinion piece in The Guardian, Israel, Estonia, Sweden and Denmark are all countries that have introduced, or plan to introduce, vaccine passports for domestic use — but they already have a national ID card system in place.

“If we are to follow their example, we would first need an evidence-based explanation as to how vaccine passports will help to stop the spread of the virus,” Stephanie Hare, an independent researcher and broadcaster, wrote.

Days ago in the UK it was reported that the vaccine passport was simply a “nudge” to push supposedly vaccine-hesitant young people to get the jab, but it is really a scheme that is nothing less than a national ID card by stealth, Hare wrote.

Data on vaccine passports could be used by the police, just as Singapore’s authorities admitted in January to using contact-tracing data.

Hare said “we don’t even know if vaccine passports would help stop the spread of the virus, how long immunity lasts, to what extent vaccines reduce transmission, or by how much, or whether this varies depending on which vaccine we’ve had.”

We don’t know how much such a system would cost, how we would know if it represented good value for the money or whether our resources would be better invested in other solutions. Hare said answers are needed to these questions, as well as an explanation from the government as to why it has done a U-turn on vaccine passports.

“We cannot abandon our civil liberties for such trickery,” Hare said. “Far better to address any problem of vaccine hesitancy directly. Consent implies choice. Excluding people from society unless they get vaccinated is not a real choice.”

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Megan Redshaw's avatar

Megan Redshaw

Megan Redshaw is a freelance reporter for The Defender. She has a background in political science, a law degree and extensive training in natural health.

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© [3/29/21] Children’s Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children’s Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children’s Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children’s Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.

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**Comment**

In case you think this is a far off entity:

http://  Approx. 25 min

‘A Shot Across the Bow’ From Israel

Ilana Rachel Daniel came with an emotional outcry for international help from Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. At record speed, the government is vaccinating the entire population – including pregnant women and children – against the coronavirus.

“Civil rights are put aside and people are not allowed participation in multiple places in society unless they’ve been vaccinated or in some places of work, after repeated PCR testing every 2-3 days,” told Ilana to Flavio Pasquino in the BLCKBX studio via a live stream connection, who tracked down Ilana after an – even – more emotional audio clip on Telegram. Ilana talks about the Green Pass, the Freedom Bracelet, the mRNA vaccine and human rights violations.

“Reminiscent of Fascism,” said Ilana Rachel who emigrated from the US to Jerusalem some 25 years ago. Ilana Rachel is active in Jerusalem as a health advisor, activist and information officer for a new political human rights party (Rappeh) that is heavily opposed by the regime. Censored ruthlessly in both mainstream and social media and with members of the party thwarted in their daily lives.

To hear more from Ilana Rachel Daniel please join her Telegram Channel https://t.me/joinchat/UfvFcFg3ath4IqUe​.  This is an official platform to find more info about Rappeh: https://peakd.com/@rappeh​ The facebook group has been removed and the site can no longer be found, but through this newspaper article you can find some information about the activities of her and the party; https://www.jewishpress.com/multimedi…​

BLCKBX is a Dutch YouTube platform including a website https://blckbx.tv​ with a sharp focus on society matters. We are critical and seeking for truth in a investigative way but we don’t want to polarise the debates. If you want to support our work please donate what ever you can so we can maintain the important work.

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Category:

Activism, vaccines, Viruses