Study: Association of Pathogens & Biofilms With Alzheimer’s Disease – But Wormser Repeats ‘No Evidence’ Mantra

An Association of Pathogens and Biofilms with Alzheimer’s Disease

^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Giuseppantonio Maisetta

Received: 16 December 2021 / Revised: 23 December 2021 / Accepted: 24 December 2021 / Published: 28 December 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antimicrobial Testing (AMT))

As one of the leading causes of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a condition in which individuals experience progressive cognitive decline. Although it is known that beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposits and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) of tau fibrils are hallmark characteristics of AD, the exact causes of these pathologies are still mostly unknown. Evidence that infectious diseases may cause AD pathology has been accumulating for decades. The association between microbial pathogens and AD is widely studied, and there are noticeable correlations between some bacterial species and AD pathologies, especially spirochetes and some of the oral microbes. Borrelia burgdorferi has been seen to correlate with Aβ plaques and NFTs in infected cells. Because of the evidence of spirochetes in AD patients, Treponema pallidum and other oral treponemes are speculated to be a potential cause of AD. T. pallidum has been seen to form aggregates in the brain when the disease disseminates to the brain that closely resemble the Aβ plaques of AD patients. This review examines the evidence as to whether pathogens could be the cause of AD and its pathology. It offers novel speculations that treponemes may be able to induce or correlate with Alzheimer’s disease.

Just a few weeks prior to this paper, another paper found Bb co-localizing with amyloid markers in Alzheimer’s Disease brain tissues. Important excerpts:

But, just a month prior to this paper, infamous Lyme denialist Gary Wormser essentially states ‘Nothing to see here,’ regarding a connection between Lyme disease and Alzheimer’s and Lewy Body dementia:

Abstract

The role that microorganisms might have in the development of Alzheimer’s disease is a topic of considerable interest. In this article we discuss whether there is credible evidence that Lyme disease is a cause of Alzheimer’s disease and critically review a recent publication claiming that Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto infection, the primary cause of Lyme disease in the United States, may cause Lewy body dementia.

We conclude that no convincing evidence exists that Lyme disease is a cause of either Alzheimer’s disease or Lewy body dementia.

Somethings never change.

For more:

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf Lyme advocate Carl Tuttle sent a letter to the Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Infectious Diseases regarding the Wormser publication. Excerpt:

Any threat to the established narrative is met with staunch opposition as we see in the case of B. burgdorferi infection and possible connection to Alzheimer’s disease. Establishing this connection turns Lyme disease into something far more sinister proving that our public health officials have been asleep at the wheel while the disabled patient population and advocacy groups have been shouting from the rooftops for decades. [4]

Madison Area Lyme Support Group