Author Archive

Paralyzed by Lyme, They Were Helped With Combo Treatments

https://www.lymedisease.org/remission-from-lyme-paralysis/

Paralyzed by Lyme, they were helped with combo treatments

By Lonnie Marcum

July 19, 2023

A new study from France looks at the use of combination antibiotics and anti-parasitic treatments in patients with limb paralysis as a result of tick-borne infections, including Lyme disease.

Approximately 70% of the patients in this study showed complete remission of symptoms after long-term treatment—a statistic that lines up with the MyLymeData treatment study.

The paper entitled, Complete Remission in Paralytic Late Tick-Borne Neurological Disease Comprising Mixed Involvement of Borrelia, Babesia, Anaplasma, and Bartonella: Use of Long-Term Treatments with Antibiotics and Antiparasitics in a Series of 10 Cases was published in Antibiotics.

The inclusion criteria for this study required a score of 4 or more on the Kurtzke EDSS disability scale; positive blood tests for one or more tick-borne pathogen (including Borrelia burgdorferi, Babesia, Anaplasma or Bartonella); and chronic general symptoms including fatigue, pain, and cognitive deficits lasting six or more months.

The Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS) is a tool commonly used to quantify the level of disability in patients with multiple sclerosis. The EDSS grades six bodily functions, including visual, brain, bowel/bladder and sensory functions, as well as the patients’ ability to walk and take care of themselves.

All 10 of the patients that qualified for this study were severely disabled with partial or complete paralysis in at least one limb. Five of the 10 required a wheelchair for mobility, and four required assistive devices like walking sticks to get around.

Complete remission for 7 out of 10

Following extended treatment, seven out of 10 patients (70%) showed complete remission of symptoms. Among the nine patients with positive Borrelia serology (along with co-infections), 77% obtained complete remission.

The treatment administered varied according to the patient’s infection profile. The majority of the patients received repeated oral regimens of azithromycin-doxycycline and azithromycin-doxycycline-rifampin plus a minimum of three 35-day cycles of IV ceftriaxone. The eight patients co-infected with Babesia (a parasite) were also administered anti-parasitic cycles of atovaquone–azithromycin. The mean duration of treatment was 20 months +/- 6 months. (Trouillas 2023)

Historically, patients with late-stage Lyme disease have poor outcomes to single regimens of 10-day IV ceftriaxone. (I’ve previously written about brain inflammation, and small fiber neuropathy found in patients with continuing symptoms after short-term treatment for Lyme disease.)

And we have decades of strong evidence that under-treatment with single antibiotics is consistent with persistent infection in animal studies. (Embers 2012)

Two weeks isn’t enough

As far back as 1990, Dr. Allen Steere co-authored a paper on patients with persistent late-stage neurological Lyme disease.

In this paper Dr. Steere and his co-authors state:

Months to years after the initial infection with B. burgdorferi, patients with Lyme disease may have chronic encephalopathy, polyneuropathy, or less commonly, leukoencephalitis. These chronic neurologic abnormalities usually improve with antibiotic therapy.
…
Six months after a two-week course of intravenous ceftriaxone (2 g daily), 17 patients (63 percent) had improvement, 6 (22 percent) had improvement but then relapsed, and 4 (15 percent) had no change in their condition.
…
Six months after treatment, more than one third of the patients either had relapsed or were no better. In addition, more than half had previously received antibiotic therapy thought to be appropriate for their stage of disease and still had progression of the illness. The likely reason for relapse is failure to eradicate the spirochete completely with a two-week course of intravenous ceftriaxone therapy. (Logigian 1990)

MyLymeData

In fact, the MyLymeData study validates that longer antibiotic treatment durations are associated with moderate to a very great deal of improvement. (Johnson 2020)

MyLymeData is currently the largest observational study of patients using real-world data to analyze the response to treatment of chronic Lyme disease patients. The majority of patients (57%) reported treatment durations of four or more months,

The results of this new French study demonstrate the importance of clinicians being able to continue treatment until a patient’s symptoms have resolved. It is clear, at least in this study, that the presence of co-infections greatly compounds one’s disease progress and treatment options.

LymeSci is written by Lonnie Marcum, a Licensed Physical Therapist and mother of a daughter with Lyme. She served two terms on a subcommittee of the federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. Follow her on Twitter: @LonnieRhea  Email her at: lmarcum@lymedisease.org.

References

Embers ME, Barthold SW, Borda JT, Bowers L, Doyle L, Hodzic E, et al. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Rhesus Macaques following Antibiotic Treatment of Disseminated Infection. PLoS ONE. 2012;7(1):e29914. Available at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029914.

 Johnson, L.; Shapiro, M.; Stricker, R.B.; Vendrow, J.; Haddock, J.; Needell, D. Antibiotic Treatment Response in Chronic Lyme Disease: Why Do Some Patients Improve While Others Do Not? Healthcare 2020, 8, 383. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/8/4/383

Logigian EL, Kaplan RF, Steere AC. Chronic neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. 1990 Nov 22;323(21):1438-44. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199011223232102. PMID: 2172819.

Trouillas P, Franck M. Complete Remission in Paralytic Late Tick-Borne Neurological Disease Comprising Mixed Involvement of Borrelia, Babesia, Anaplasma, and Bartonella: Use of Long-Term Treatments with Antibiotics and Antiparasitics in a Series of 10 Cases. Antibiotics. 2023; 12(6):1021. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12061021

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Category:

Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, research, Treatment

Report Shows Children Have Suffered Seizures After COVID Jab

https://thevaccinereaction.org/2023/07/some-children-suffered-seizures-following-mrna-covid-shots/

Some Children Suffered Seizures Following mRNA COVID Shots

by Rishma Parpia

Published July 4, 2023

Risk & Failure Reports

child suffering a seizure

A 2023 analysis published by researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the journal Pediatrics compared vaccine adverse outcomes following administration of Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 shot and Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax mRNA COVID-19 shot among recipients under five years old for a period of 1-21 days post-vaccination, compared to outcomes among those vaccinated 22-42 days post-vaccination. The authors reported that 104 children under the age of five suffered seizures after receiving an mRNA COVID shot.1

Although the study authors said that safety surveillance of more than 245,000 mRNA COVID shot doses over a period of nine months did not detect a safety signal for any outcome during the 21 days after vaccination, the data did show many adverse outcomes in absolute terms.2 3

Researchers leading the study used a process known as Rapid Cycle Analysis (RCA) to examine adverse vaccine outcomes of mRNA COVID shots on children under the age of five.4 RCA methods used in the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) were developed to conduct population-based monitoring of potential outcomes associated with a vaccine in near real-time by examining outcome rates in recent vaccine recipients during risk intervals in relation to rates during comparison intervals. Any associations between a vaccine and adverse outcomes produced by this approach are considered statistical signals that indicate the need for further investigation into the safety of a vaccine.5

The first period of 1-21 days, known as the “primary risk interval,” is believed to be the time-period that vaccinated people are more likely to experience adverse events. The period from 22-42 days is known as a comparison interval.6 Even though it is an assumption that adverse events that occur more than 21 days after vaccination are not associated with the vaccine received, according to William Schaffner, MD, a professor of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University, said:

The idea for the events that occur in the latter period is that ‘it’s too late for them to be associated with a vaccine.’7

The analysis examined specific events that fit one or more of 23 specified outcomes, including seizures, myocarditis, appendicitis, Bell’s palsy, encephalitis, etc. following mRNA COVID shots.8

The analysis examined data available from June 18, 2022 to Mar. 18, 2023. 135,005 doses of Comirnaty were given to children six months to four years of age and 112,006 doses of Spikevax were given to children six months to five years of age in the VSD population.9

Study Finds Severe Adverse Outcomes in Children Following COVID Vaccination

One hundred and four children under six years of age suffered a seizure within 42 days of an mRNA COVID shot. In the first 21 days, 38 recipients of Comirnaty shots suffered seizures and 23 recipients of Spikevax shots experienced seizures. In the second period of 22-42 days following vaccination, 24 Comirnaty shot recipients suffered seizures and 19 Spikevax shot recipients experienced seizures.10

Appendicitis, Bell’s palsy, encephalitis, myelitis, or encephalomyelitis, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), immune thrombocytopenia, Kawasaki disease, pulmonary embolism, hemorrhagic stroke, transverse myelitis and venous thromboembolism were detected in at least one child 1-42 days following mRNA COVID vaccination.11

Downplaying the significance of the serious immune and neurological disorders reported in children after mRNA COVID shots, Dr. Schaffner said:

We know that if you follow a half million children over the period of the year, some bad stuff is going to happen to some of those children.12

NVIC Calls For Vaccine Safety Studies by Independent Researchers

Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), said that independent researchers should be conducting safety studies to compare outcomes from vaccinated and unvaccinated people. She stated:

The VSD is a government-maintained database that cannot be viewed by the public and is not easily accessible to independent researchers for oversight on or replication of study findings.13

Fisher added:

Where are the independent, methodologically sound COVID vaccine studies conducted by researchers who are not paid by government or industry that evaluate all morbidity and mortality outcomes in young children who do and do not receive mRNA COVID vaccines? That’s the study parents want to see done.

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**Comment**

If you need an example of why studies can not be trusted at face-value, look no further.  To assume that a side effect that shows up on day 22 is somehow magically NOT caused by a vaccine demonstrates perfectly the insanity being touted as “science.”

Arbitrary cut-offs have been occurring in Lymeland for over 40 years and make no logical sense whatsoever, yet are accepted as science.

Category:

Activism, vaccines

Misinformed FDA Gives NEW ‘Misinformation’ Warning & Deborah Birx Now CEO of Big Pharma Company

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/rumor-control  Go here for FDA article & video

http://  Approx. 9 Min

FDA Doubles Down With New ‘Misinformation’ Warning

July 17, 2023

The FDA is apparently concerned about E-Cigarettes, Sunscreens, Dietary Supplements, health information that isn’t FDA “approved,” pushing the propaganda of the ‘broad protection’ of the COVID injections, and consumers not falling for false claims.

They also want you to know what the FDA does for you:  promotes and protects your health and regulates medications, despite evidence to the contrary.  They also want you to know how to report ‘misinformation’ online as they are THE source of trusted information.  They list platforms such as FB, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, and WhatsApp that you can report ‘misinformation’ to.

Meanwhile: The government has come under scrutiny for coordinating (colluding) with social media companies.

FDA Truth:

  • Nearly 50% of the billions of the FDA’s income comes from user fees: the very companies it regulates.
  • Top FDA officials are in a revolving door and zigzag between the FDA and Big Pharma.  The fact former White House Coronavirus Task Force Advisor Deborah Birx has now become the CEO of Armata Pharmaceuticals is a perfect example.  The California-based pharmaceutical company said it is currently “developing and advancing a broad pipeline of natural and synthetic phage candidates.  But what’s really interesting is that in October 2022, Birx was named a member of the Federal Advisory Board for Palantir – a software company specializing in data analytics and data integration. TechCrunch previously reported, “As of 2013, Palantir was used by at least 12 groups within the US Government including the CIA, DHS, NSA, FBI, the CDC, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, Special Operations Command, West Point, the Joint IED-defeat organization and Allies, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”
  • Europe has banned many FDA approved food products for being harmful.
  • The FDA is guilty of misinformation.
  • The FDA continually misleads the public.
  • The FDA shields Big Pharma from liability.
  • The FDA is guilty of approving ineffective and dangerous drugs & therapeutics.
  • The FDA interferes with doctors’ ability to practice medicine.
  • The FDA continually attacks & shuts down anything it considers a threat to its monopoly.
  • Big Pharma uses FDA backchannels to get their drugs approved.
  • The FDA ignores the lack of safety and effectiveness in the COVID injection and has done nothing to update labeling or warn the public and actually pushes them as well as boosters for children.
  • Doctors and experts have actually sued the FDA for misinformation and trial data.
  • The FDA ignores natural immunity.
  • The FDA mocked those who used ivermectin and called it horse dewormer when it has been used safely in humans for decades:
  • In insider doesn’t even recognize the FDA anymore and states it’s become nothing more than “partisan shills and bullies seeking only to enrich themselves while selectively ignoring public health and hard scientific findings for the purpose of blindly serving the Biden White House. In turn, they relegate Americans to a terrifying, science-defying agenda.”
  • Foreign organizations laugh at U.S. medical and scientific leadership which is completely bought out by vested interests.

Category:

Activism

Lyme Disease & the Pursuit of a Clinical Cure

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1183344/full

REVIEW article

Front. Med., 24 May 2023
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy
Volume 10 – 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1183344

Lyme disease and the pursuit of a clinical cure

Heather Adkison and Monica E. Embers*
  • Division of Immunology, Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University Health Sciences, Covington, LA, United States

Lyme disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States. Many aspects of the disease are still topics of controversy within the scientific and medical communities. One particular point of debate is the etiology behind antibiotic treatment failure of a significant portion (10–30%) of Lyme disease patients. The condition in which patients with Lyme disease continue to experience a variety of symptoms months to years after the recommended antibiotic treatment is most recently referred to in the literature as post treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) or just simply post treatment Lyme disease (PTLD). The most commonly proposed mechanisms behind treatment failure include host autoimmune responses, long-term sequelae from the initial Borrelia infection, and persistence of the spirochete. The aims of this review will focus on the in vitro, in vivo, and clinical evidence that either validates or challenges these mechanisms, particularly with regard to the role of the immune response in disease and resolution of the infection. Next generation treatments and research into identifying biomarkers to predict treatment responses and outcomes for Lyme disease patients are also discussed. It is essential that definitions and guidelines for Lyme disease evolve with the research to translate diagnostic and therapeutic advances to patient care.

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Translation:  TIME FOR CHANGE!

Thankfully the study authors point out the following:
  • Without intervention, Bb establishes a persistent/chronic infection in both its reservoir and non-reservoir hosts.  
  • Controversy regarding chronic infection revolves around whether Bb can persist after antibiotics and whether they are capable of causing the symptoms patients experience.
  • There are many bacterial species associated with persistent infections in humans including: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and B. burgdorferi (109).
  • Bacterial tolerance is different from resistance in that bacteria are not actively growing in the presence of the antibiotic and there is no heritable genetic change in the persistent bacteria’s genome (110, 111).
  • The stress response and other mechanisms allow bacteria, including Borrelia, to survive lethal conditions such as limited nutrients, extreme pH levels, and the presence of certain antibiotics.
  • Drug-induced bacterial persisters show a biphasic killing curve and the regrown persister cells have the same minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) to the administered antibiotic as the original population but a higher minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) (112).
  • Several independent studies have demonstrated that Bb can form drug-tolerant persister cell in vitro.
  • In vivo studies of Bb antibiotic persistence often use different parameters that can make comparisons between two or more studies difficult.
  • It is likely that lack of consensus of definitions and diagnosis lead to the treatment controversy.
  • Despite treatment controversy, a biostatistical review of the literature found that retreatment of LD with antibiotics may be beneficial in certain cases (163).
  • Since research for PTLD revolves around autoimmunity, immune-mediated factors, and/or persistent infection, most drugs fit into one of three categories: immune therapies, pathogen specific inhibitors, or antibiotics.
  • Studies screening drug libraries have revealed:
    • disulfiram has demonstrated borreliacidal activity both in vitro and in vivo (174–176)
    • vancomycin may have efficacy against stationary Bb based upon cultures and evaluation in SCID mice (177)
    • hygromycin A has shown efficacy against Bb, without disturbing the gut microbiome like so many broad-spectrum antibiotics, in vitro and in an in vivo mouse assay, but it’s use in preventing persistent infections was not determined (178)
    • drug combinations such as daptomycin or artemisinin, cefoperazone, and doxycycline as well as the combination sulfachlorpyridazine, daptomycin, and doxycycline have shown evidence of in vitro activity against Bb persisters and round bodied forms (117, 172). Azlocillin and cefotaxime are effective in in vitro killing against Bb persisters induced by doxycycline, which appear to be more tolerant to other antibiotics (179).
    • daptomycin or daunomycin, doxycycline, and cefuroxime have had success in sterilizing in vitro Bb biofilm-like microcolonies (180, 181).
    • dapsone, used in treatment of leprosy, has had success when combined with other antibiotics in killing biofilm-like Bb (182), and dapsone has had positive effects in a small PTLD and co-infection clinical study (183).
    • oregano, cinnamon bark, clove, and various flowers, grasses, and berries, as well as natural compounds such as those found in bee venom and its component melittin have demonstrated potential in vitro growth inhibition against Bb and its various forms (184–188) but need further research to determine the safety and efficacy of, and the composition and activity of the exact compounds found.
  • Curative treatment during early LD stages is a key to solving the current PTLD public health problem.
  • It is likely that more than one mechanism is involved in antibiotic treatment failure that leads to PTLD.
  • The current treatment guidelines are dependent upon the immune system’s ability to clear persistent spirochetes and conditional to the surviving spirochetes being non-viable and not enough to sustain a prolonged immune response.
  • In order to make PTLD a thing of the past, personalized medicine is required as well as the need to evolve and progress with scientific discoveries and innovations.  

Category:

Herbs, Lyme, research, Treatment

Powassan Virus Persistence After Acute Infection

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.00712-23

Powassan virus persistence after acute infection

Authors: 
Sam R. Telford, Anne L. Piantadosi
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00712-23
6/20/23
Survivors of Powassan encephalitis often have persistent neurological disease. A new mouse model replicates some elements of the human disease and demonstrates the presence of viral RNA in the brain as well as myelitis more than 2 mo after the acute infection. The related tick-borne encephalitis and West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease (WNND) also have common neurological sequelae, and models for these better-studied diseases provide evidence for prolonged virus, RNA, and inflammation in some cases, in addition to damage from the acute encephalitic disease. A better understanding of the biological basis for persistent signs and symptoms after Powassan encephalitis, currently a rare disease, could benefit from further studies of the more prevalent flaviviral encephalitides.
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**Comment**
Unfortunately, the acknowledgment of this will be for a future lucrative vaccine – not treatments or things that will actually help patients.

Please note that Wisconsin is a hot-spot for Powassan.  Read this article on how Powassan IS NOT RARE, yet the CDC continues to state it is.

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Category:

research, Ticks, Viruses