Madison Area Lyme Support Group

Please see the following email addressed to Dr. Adriana Marques, Chief of the NIAID Lyme Disease Studies Unit regarding her recent viewpoint published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The Editorial Staff was Cc’d on this email.

Senior Editor Courtney Malo, Ph.D. responded to my inquiry and is posted below followed by my final comment.

Photo of Marques was found on the following NIH site:
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/adriana-marques-md

Inquiry to Adriana Marques:

———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: “amarques@niaid.nih.gov” <amarques@niaid.nih.gov>
Cc: “osmith@aaas.org” <osmith@aaas.org>, “mnorton@aaas.org” <mnorton@aaas.org>, “ccharneski@aaas.org” <ccharneski@aaas.org>, “cmalo@aaas.org” <cmalo@aaas.org>, “bberry@aaas.org” <bberry@aaas.org>, “dhallberg@aaas.org” <dhallberg@aaas.org>, “dneuhofer@aaas.org” <dneuhofer@aaas.org>, “mogle@aaas.org” <mogle@aaas.org>
Date: 11/14/2024 9:54 AM EST
Subject: Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue

SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

13 Nov 2024

Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue
ADRIANA MARQUES
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.ado2103

“There have been five randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trials addressing the question of whether additional antibiotic treatment benefits patients with PTLDS or symptoms attributed to Lyme disease.”

“The results of these trials showed that prolonged antibiotic treatment had no lasting benefit while having potential serious risks.”

Adriana Marques, M.D.
Lyme Disease Studies Unit
NIH Main Campus, Bethesda, MD

Dr. Marques,

For the record there are many infections requiring long-term antibiotics so why Klempner stopped his NIH funded antibiotic treatment trials for Lyme after “12 weeks” and then claimed no benefit makes absolutely no sense whatsoever:

From the following peer-reviewed publication:

Benefit of intravenous antibiotic therapy in patients referred for treatment of neurologic Lyme disease
https://www.dovepress.com/benefit-of-intravenous-antibiotic-therapy-in-patients-referred-for-tre-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-IJGM

Infections requiring long-term antibiotics: [See chart in the publication above with 8 examples ranging from 6mo to 5yrs]

In 1991 the Lyme disease organism, Borrelia burgdorferi, was grown from the cerebrospinal fluid of Lyme patient Vicki Logan at the Centers for Disease Control in Fort Collins, Colorado despite prior treatment with intravenous antibiotics. The patient died when the insurer refused additional IV antibiotics. Here is a copy of Logan’s CDC positive culture report for your review.

(Vicki Logan’s Chronic Lyme Autopsy results Page #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

There are 700 peer-reviewed publications referencing persistent infection and in a 2018 study all patients were culture positive 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.

Thirty-four years ago Dr. Allen Steere identified chronic Lyme disease which should have set off a red flag prompting an immediate search for better antimicrobials but then did a 180° as he became principal investigator (PI) of the Phase 3 clinical trial for the first Lyme disease vaccine. So all the eggs were put into the vaccine basket while a campaign was orchestrated to discredit the sick and disabled patient population along with the courageous clinicians attempting to help these patients. Apparently, a chronic relapsing seronegative disease did not fit the business model of patent royalties, vaccine development and pharmaceutical profits.

Here is Dr. Steere’s 1990 publication summary for your review:

The New England Journal of Medicine 

Published November 22, 1990

Chronic neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199011223232102

The chart below summarizes Lyme research funded by the NIH and only 2.5% has been allocated for treatment: [Click on link to view the chart]

Question:

Is there a reason why these facts/references/lab reports are missing from your viewpoint published in Science Translational Medicine?

A response to this inquiry is requested.Carl Tuttle
Independent Researcher
Hudson, NH USA

Cc: Orla M. Smith, Ph.D. Editor, Science Translational Medicine

Editorial Staff

Melissa Norton, M.D.

Catherine A. Charneski, Ph.D.

Courtney S. Malo, Ph.D.

Brandon Berry, Ph.D.

Dorothy L. Hallberg, Ph.D.

Daniela Neuhofer, Ph.D.

Molly Ogle, Ph.D.

Response from Senior Editor Courtney Malo, Ph.D.

———- Original Message ———-
From: Courtney Malo <cmalo@aaas.org>
To: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
Cc: “Marques, Adriana (NIH/NIAID) [E]” <amarques@niaid.nih.gov>, Orla Smith <osmith@aaas.org>
Date: 11/14/2024 11:26 AM EST
Subject: Re: Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue

Dear Dr. Tuttle,

Thank you for your email in response to the viewpoint “Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue” published in Science Translational Medicine.

We suggest that you submit your comments as an eLetter via our website. To do so, please go to the paper under discussion (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.ado2103 and navigate to the “eLetters” option at the very bottom of the page. Our eLetters platform provides a dynamic and rapid way for readers to provide feedback on the papers we publish and to elicit discussion.

Sincerely,
Courtney Malo

Courtney Malo, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Senior Editor

Science Translational Medicine

cmalo@aaas.org |  https://www.science.org/journal/stm

My final reply:

———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: Courtney Malo <cmalo@aaas.org>
Cc: “Marques, Adriana (NIH/NIAID) [E]” <amarques@niaid.nih.gov>, Orla Smith <osmith@aaas.org>, “mnorton@aaas.org” <mnorton@aaas.org>, “ccharneski@aaas.org” <ccharneski@aaas.org>, “bberry@aaas.org” <bberry@aaas.org>, “dhallberg@aaas.org” <dhallberg@aaas.org>, “dneuhofer@aaas.org” <dneuhofer@aaas.org>, “mogle@aaas.org” <mogle@aaas.org>
Date: 11/16/2024 8:15 AM EST
Subject: Re: Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue

On 11/14/2024 11:26 AM EST Courtney Malo <cmalo@aaas.org> wrote: “We suggest that you submit your comments as an eLetter via our website.”

Dear Dr. Malo,

Thank you for responding to my email. Is my submitted eLetter in the process of being screened?

I would like to call attention to the following 1992 Science article that was listed directly below Dr. Marques’ published viewpoint:

Furor at Lyme Disease Conference: Patient-support groups got a dozen rejected papers reinstated at a Lyme disease meeting, angering researchers who had turned the work down as unscientific
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1604309

Excerpt:

To some authors of the controversial abstracts the grudging acceptance is too little too late, from a close-minded research community. “If [a finding] is not part of a controlled study, they ignore it,” says Long Island internist Burascano.

Dr. Malo,

Isn’t that exactly what I am questioning 32 years later? I am asking Marques why the peer-reviewed references I provided are missing from her published viewpoint:

My question to Marques:

“Is there a reason why these facts/references/lab reports are missing from your viewpoint published in Science Translational Medicine?”

It would appear that the act to suppress evidence of chronic Lyme disease spans three decades. How many lives have been destroyed resulting from inadequate treatment?

It is not uncommon for these corresponding authors to ignore serious inquires. One example is from my 2020 BMJ Letter to the Editor below. It should be noted that the corresponding author refused to respond to my inquiry after multiple requests from Editor-in-Chief Dr. Fiona Godlee.

Letter to the Editor of the BMJ published June 2020 
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1041/rr-1

Dr. Malo…. Has your journal been used as a podium to broadcast the long-established dogma while omitting evidence of persistent infection after extensive antibiotic treatment?

Respectfully submitted,
Carl Tuttle