http:// Approx. 15 Min
Nov. 18, 2025
Dr. Brian J. Balin, Professor of Neuroscience and Neuropathology and Director of the Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), shares how decades of research have revealed a possible infectious origin to Alzheimer’s disease.
His pioneering discovery that the respiratory bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae infects brain tissue helped establish the Pathogen Hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease.
His continuing work explores how tick-borne microbes—including Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Bartonella, and Babesia—interact with other pathogens to drive neuroinflammation and cognitive decline.
Dr. Balin discusses how pathogens such as Chlamydia pneumoniae, Borrelia burgdorferi, Bartonella, and Babesia have been detected in Alzheimer’s brain tissue; evidence that microbes may enter the brain through the olfactory system or blood-brain barrier, initiating inflammation, amyloid buildup, and tau pathology; and findings from his collaboration with Galaxy Diagnostics and Nicole Bell, identifying polymicrobial infections—including Babesia otocoli, a species previously thought to affect only deer—in human brain tissue.
He explains how 3D brain organoids and animal models reveal infection-driven neurodegeneration, why infection must be viewed as part of the exposome—the lifetime accumulation of environmental exposures—and how future treatments such as immune-modulating drugs, antimicrobials, and phage therapy could change care.
This episode underscores how microbes, including those transmitted by ticks, may play a significant role in neuroinflammation, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Recorded live at the 2nd Annual Alzheimer’s Pathobiome Initiative (AlzPI) and PCOM Symposium (October 2025) at Ohio University, Dublin, Ohio.
Learn more at AlzPI.org. Listen to Tick Boot Camp Podcast Episode 406 “Pathobiome – Interview with Nikki Schultek” and Episode 101 “The Young Gun – Interview with Alex (Ali) Moresco” at TickBootCamp.com
For Dr. Balin’s publications and ongoing research, visit pcom.edu.
For more:
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2024/10/22/kris-kristoffersons-shocking-tale-of-lyme-induced-alzheimers/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/03/borrelia-hiding-in-worms-causing-chronic-brain-diseases/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2022/09/19/ahead-of-the-curve-interview-with-dr-alan-mcdonald/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/03/chronology-of-research-on-lyme-disease-dementia-alzheimers-parkinsons-autism/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/09/researchers-identify-herpes-1-chlamydia-pneumoniae-several-types-of-spirochaete-as-major-causes-of-alzheimers/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/18/a-bug-for-alzheimers/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/08/09/dr-paul-duray-research-fellowship-foundation-some-great-research-being-done-on-lyme-disease/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2021/11/22/could-an-80-year-old-drug-cure-alzheimers-disease/
- https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2025/10/15/ivermectins-accidental-breakthrough-parkinsons-alzheimers/
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 