Author Archive

IDSA Guidelines Ignore Psychiatric Consequences of Lyme Disease

https://www.lymedisease.org/bransfield-psychiatric-lyme-disease/

Focus – Opinions and Features

LymeDisease.org
27 AUG 2021

Bransfield: IDSA guidelines ignore psychiatric consequences of Lyme disease

Dr. Robert Bransfield delivered the following public comment at the recent meeting of the federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.

I’m a psychiatrist from New Jersey, who has treated thousands of Lyme disease patients over the past thirty years. I have also performed research. Three issues I would like to raise:

*A recent study unequivocally proves Lyme disease causes mental illnesses.

*This Working Group needs to be more attentive to the psychiatric symptom from TBD.

*The IDSA guidelines fail to recognize this causal association.

I recommend the following

The Working Group needs to gather and share information on psychiatric symptoms caused by Lyme/TBD.

Since the IDSA guidelines fail to recognize this causal association, they are outdated and the committee needs to recommend that all federal references and links to their guidelines must be removed.

To expand:

A recent article using the 7 million patients in the Danish nationwide database was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the number one psychiatric journal in the world. It proved the causal association between Lyme and any mental disorder, affective disorders, suicide attempts and death by suicide.

There are 400 other peer-reviewed journal articles proving the causal association between tick-borne diseases and psychiatric symptoms and 73 with dementia. Mental illness is the major cause of disability and death from tick-borne disease.

Psychiatric findings from TBD can include

  • developmental disorders
  • autism spectrum disorders
  • affective disorder
  • depression
  • anxiety disorders
  • addiction
  • opioid addiction
  • cognitive impairments
  • dementia
  • suicidality
  • violence
  • other impairments
This has caused chronic disability and deaths from suicides, drug overdoses, auto accidents and homicides.

This working group needs input from psychiatrists who understand tick-borne diseases and psychoimmunology. Addressing the causal association between tick-borne diseases and psychiatric symptoms and sharing this information with legislators and the public is critical.

When the psychiatric morbidity, mortality and disability are adequately considered, it greatly shifts risk/benefit clinical decision making involving diagnosis and treatment.

The American Psychiatric Association guidelines recognize this association, but the IDSA guidelines fail to consider the psychiatric consequences of Lyme disease. Therefore, these guidelines are outdated, unscientific, and hazardous.

The Working Group needs to recommend that all federal government links and references to these guidelines be removed.

Robert Bransfield, MD, DLFAPA, a past president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, is an internationally recognized expert in how Lyme disease affects mental health.

Dr. Bransfield’s list of 473 peer-reviewed articles that support the evidence of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases causing neuropsychiatric illness: List of citations

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**Comment**

Dr. Bransfield is a true pioneer when it comes to psychiatric manifestations of Lyme/MSIDS.  He has fought long and hard on this arena.  He’s a rock star in my book.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research

Lyme Disease-Causing Bacteria Spotted on Routine Blood Films

https://news.mayocliniclabs.com/2021/08/11/rare-lyme-disease-causing-bacteria-spotted-on-routine-blood-films/

Rare Lyme Disease-Causing Bacteria Spotted on Routine Blood Films

Eye on Innovation features exciting advances taking place at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. This monthly series shines a spotlight on recently developed tests and highlights how Mayo Clinic translates ideas and discoveries into testing resources that improve diagnosis and care for patients across the globe.

The bacterium was revealed through Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ polymerase chain reaction (PCR) blood test for Lyme disease (Test ID: PBORR). That PCR testing is the preferred method for differentiating between the two bacteria. People who have B. mayonii infection also may test positive with the Lyme disease serology test (Test ID: LYME), but the test will not distinguish a B. mayonii infection from a B. burgdorferi infection.

It’s long been known that Lyme disease is caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected black-legged tick (otherwise known as the deer tick). The understanding for many years was that one species of bacteria was the main culprit behind Lyme disease in the United States: Borrelia burgdorferi.

But in 2016, researchers at Mayo Clinic discovered a new species of bacteria that causes Lyme disease. They named it Borrelia mayonii, after Mayo Clinic’s founders, Drs. William and Charles Mayo.

A key difference that has been noted between B. mayonii and B. burgdorferi is that B. mayonii spirochetes are found at high levels in peripheral blood, whereas B. burgdorferi spirochetes are not. Researchers surmised that meant the B. mayonii spirochetes potentially could be found on routine peripheral blood smears.

http://

Borrelia mayonii, Aug. 18, 2021

“IT IS IMPORTANT FOR PATHOLOGISTS AND LABORATORIANS TO KNOW THAT SPIROCHETES OF BORRELIA MAYONII CAN OCCASIONALLY BE SEEN ON ROUTINE PERIPHERAL BLOOD SMEARS,” SAYS BOBBI PRITT, M.D., CHAIR OF MAYO’S DIVISION OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND THE PAPER’S LEAD AUTHOR. “OTHERWISE, THEY WOULD PROBABLY ASSUME THAT THE SPIROCHETES WERE FROM THE BORRELIA SPECIES THAT CAUSE RELAPSING FEVER, WHICH IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM LYME DISEASE.”

Because B. mayonii has only been found in the Upper Midwest of the United States, it remains a rare cause of Lyme disease and may frequently go undetected. Understanding that its spirochetes can occasionally be visualized in routine blood films may raise awareness and recognition of the uncommon bacterium, and it could point the way to more consistent and accurate diagnosis of this cause of Lyme disease.

That proved to be true earlier this year when staff in Mayo Clinic’s Division of Clinical Microbiology observed several spirochaetes on thin blood films from a specimen that had tested PCR positive for B. mayonii. The bacteria were confirmed to be B. mayonii through genome sequencing. The findings were published in July in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

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**Comment**

Since Borrelia miyamotoi is not a reportable illness to the CDC, no one has any clue about prevalence, and despite authorities continually stating it’s “rare,” reports are coming in continually that it’s highly likely to be a much bigger problem than ‘authorities’ believe.  Also, despite their statement that Bm has only been found in the upper midwest in the U.S., California ticks have carried Bm for a long time, and there are reports of it worldwide.

It was recently discovered that:

For more:

Category:

Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), research, Testing

Holes in Reporting of Breakthrough COVID Cases Hamper CDC Response

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/25/cdc-pandemic-limited-data-breakthroughs

Holes in reporting of breakthrough Covid cases hamper CDC response

The agency originally tried to track all infections in vaccinated people, from mild to severe. But in May it decided to focus on the most severe cases.
A patient, who is on oxygen as she recovers from Covid, talks to her husband, who also contracted Covid and is being kept alive with the help of an oxygenation machine.
In Louisiana, where cases are still surging, health officials had counted 14,650 breakthrough infections as of last week. | Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

By ERIN BANCO

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using outdated and unreliable data on coronavirus breakthrough infections to help make major decisions, such as who gets booster shots, according to three officials with direct knowledge of the situation.

The agency originally tried to track all infections in vaccinated people, from mild to severe. But in May it decided to focus on the most severe cases, saying that would allow it to better monitor overall conditions and make more informed, targeted policy decisions.

Forty-nine states are now regularly sending CDC information on hospitalized breakthrough patients. But more than a dozen told POLITICO that they do not have the capacity to match patients’ hospital admission data with their immunization records.Instead, those states rely on hospital administrators to report breakthrough infections. The resulting data is often aggregated, inaccurate and omits critical details for teasing out trends, such as which vaccine a person received and whether they have been fully vaccinated, a dozen state officials said.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

The concern with the article is that the underlying reason for it has to do with the desire to centralize ALL health data into one source, giving way too much power to a singular agency that can then be used against citizens.

  • President Biden is calling for a “new biomedical research agency modeled after the U.S. military’s “high-risk, high-reward” Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, that would operate under the guise of treatments for chronic diseases, but which, if implemented, would merge national security with health security
  • The plan would suck up masses of private data from “Apple Watches, Fitbits, Amazon Echo and Google Home” and other consumer electronic devices, as well as information from health care providers to determine if an individual might be likely to commit a crime.  (“Minority Report”, anyone?)
  • The plan also would work toward merging “biology, engineering and computer science to harness the power of natural systems for national security” along with “advancements in biotechnology, supercomputing, big data and artificial intelligence” to accomplish its goals.
  • In the interests of national safety, the Department of Defense wants everyone to have biometric wearables that could monitor 165 different biomarkers using an algorithm that could “recognize an infection or virus around 48 hours before the onset of symptoms.”
  • Ultimately, promoters of the technology want to “develop tools to record, mark and manipulate precisely defined neurons in the living brain” that are determined to be linked to an “abnormal” function or a neurological disease.  Source
  • And as of Aug. 14, 2021 the Department of Homeland Security considers anyone who opposes the government’s COVID measures is considered a “Terror Threat.” The bulletin states:

“These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.”

Summary of COVID reporting article:

  • Gaps in data prohibit the ability to interpret data properly
  • There are some jurisdictions that don’t have access to “vaccination” data – which means breakthrough infections are likely much higher than is being reported
  • The patchwork of public health agency data systems often can’t communicate with each other and is currently overloaded
  • Federal & state officials state it will take years for the U.S. to rebuild its public-health infrastructure
  • There are concerns of the effectiveness of the injections on variants and whether it actually causes more severe disease
  • The majority of breakthrough infection data is coming through state health departments via hospitals
  • There are often errors in these data, including missing info. on vaccination status, what injection they received, and if they are fully “vaccinated”
  • There is significant lag-time (sometimes more than 2 weeks) in reporting from states to the CDC as physicians must do it manually
  • Data from hospitals is incomplete and spotty
  • State health officials state breakthrough infections is greater than what hospitalization count show and new infections continue to rise
  • As of last week, the CDC said it had received reports of 9,716 patients with breakthrough infections who were hospitalized or had died
  • In Louisiana, health officials counted 14,650 breakthrough infections as of last week. That’s up 4,700 from the week before — the biggest one week jump since Louisiana began tracking breakthrough infections
  • A Louisiana authority states she doesn’t have reliable data to estimate what percentage of all of the breakthrough infections have led to hospitalization
  • An adviser to Alabama’s health dept. states they are attempting to track ALL breakthrough infections regardless of hospitalization status but that the task is too overwhelming some weeks
  • Local health officials in Wyoming state it’s unclear whether they have enough staff to track breakthrough infections beyond the updates sent by hospitals
  • Critics of Biden’s push for boosters state CDC breakthrough infection data shows waning immunity to the shots – nullifying justification for boosters
  • CDC fires back it has “undisclosed” data on breakthrough infections that supports boosters.  This data supposedly shows strong protection against hospitalization and death but that effectiveness in preventing infection is waning.
  • Best quote:
“We don’t have a clear understanding of what the data actually says about the Delta variant, transmission and boosters,” one of those officials said.
Bingo.

Unfortunately, these corrupt public health ‘authorities’ have vested interests in all of this and don’t do anything without reasons that benefit them but that have nothing to do with public health.

Category:

Activism, vaccines, Viruses

Support Dr. Oosterhuis

https://doctors4covidethics.org/supporting-dr-oosterhuis/  Sign Petition Here

Supporting Dr Paul Oosterhuis

Dr. Paul Oosterhuis is an Australian anaesthetist with over thirty years experience, including in critical care and resuscitation, who urgently needs your support. He is facing a hearing by the Medical Board of NSW for posting information on social media regarding COVID-19.

His posts relate to early treatment and prophylaxis, PCR tests, and risk-benefit calculations regarding COVID-19 vaccination and lockdowns (scroll down for details). His hearing is on September 3rd. Please help him by signing and sharing this petition.

We are practicing doctors and allied health professionals and/or scientists and academics and/or members of the public and/or represent professional organisations. We support the right of Dr Oosterhuis, and that of all doctors, to offer informed medical opinions on COVID-19 and to discuss the available evidence on COVID-19 interventions.

As doctors we too have advised and continue to advise  patients and the general public about the medical management of COVID-19 disease and vaccination on the basis of good science. As members of the public we reserve the right to receive honest information, opinion and advice from our doctors, free from government interference.

* All names of Australian health professionals will be verified but will not be provided to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) in view of AHPRA’s current role in persecuting Australian doctors. Australian signatories will be represented only by their Initial and state, e.g Dr A QLD.

In Wisconsin:

Category:

Activism, vaccines, Viruses

The Added Battle For Lyme Patients: Coinfections

https://holtorfmed.com/articles/lyme-disease/the-added-battle-for-lyme-patients-co-infections?

The Added Battle for Lyme Patients: Co-infections

Holtorf Medical Group

Lyme disease is slowly gaining the recognition it deserves as a complex and serious illness that can cause severe health problems if not treated early and properly.

Learn more about Lyme disease and its symptoms here

However, it is important to note that oftentimes Lyme disease patients are not just fighting the Lyme bacteria, but also other co-infections. More specifically, part of the complication with Lyme disease is that, when bitten by a tick, people can be exposed to other pathogens that also carry illnesses. These are called co-infections. A survey of chronic Lyme-infected individuals found:

  • 50% had at least one co-infection
  • while almost 30% had at least two

So, if you have Lyme disease, there is a chance some of your symptoms may be due to a co-infection.

Below we outline two of the most common Lyme co-infections, their respective symptoms, and how to receive a proper diagnosis:

Bartonella

First reported in 1990, bartonellosis is caused by an infection of Bartonella bacteria. These harmful bacteria are capable of infecting a wide array of organisms.

Bartonella bacteria are most commonly spread by fleas, ticks, and lice. There are several different types of this bacteria. For instance, sand flies in South America carry one strain of Bartonella while human body lice, globally, carry another. Today, scientists have detected 29 different strains of this bacteria with approximately 15 that are capable of causing bartonellosis in humans.

Once Bartonella has infected the body, they primarily occupy the inside lining of blood vessels, specifically, red blood cells, macrophages, and endothelial cells. Until recently, it was believed that cases of bartonellosis tended to be mild, acute, and had little risk of contributing to further disruption. However, doctors have started finding that Bartonella may result in chronic infection.

Depending on the strain of Bartonella, symptoms may vary slightly. Bartonella henselae causes “cat scratch disease” and is associated with a bump or blister at the point of infection, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, headaches, fever, and body aches.

Carrion’s disease (Bartonella bacilliformis) is linked to miliary lesions that ulcerate or bleed, fever, joint pain, and liver and spleen enlargement.

Bartonella quintana’s trench fever causes a fever, rash, bone pain (predominantly in the shins, neck, and back), enlarged lymph nodes, encephalitis, and eye infections.

As Bartonellosis commonly affects the skin, a streak-like rash is perhaps the most indicator of this infection. Other indicators of the condition include: tremors, neurological issues, blurred vision, numbness in the extremities, and psychiatric manifestations.

When Bartonella is attacking an immune system weakened by Lyme, it is possible to develop a more severe manifestation of bartonellosis. Bartonellosis can lead to endocarditis (heart infection) and bacillary angiomatosis (tumor-like masses caused by an infection in blood vessels).

Because bartonellosis can affect multiple bodily systems, it is often misdiagnosed or dismissed by standard practitioners. Proper diagnosis of Bartonella can be conducted through a variety of testing measures including Western Blot, IFAs (Indirect Immunofluorescent Assay), and others.

Babesia

Babesia is a parasite similar to malaria. Both fall into the category of piroplasm, which are organisms that infect red blood cells. Infection of babesia is called babesiosis and is the most common Lyme co-infection as well as the most common piroplasm infection among humans.

The first Babesia species was discovered in 1888 by Hungarian pathologist, Victor Babes. Since then, over 100 distinct strains of Babesia have been identified, but only a few are considered human pathogens. In fact, babesiosis has long been recognized as a disease of cattle and other animals but the first human case was not documented until 1957. A young Croatian farmer was infected with Babesia and died shortly after of kidney failure. By the 1960s, babesiosis cases were documented in North America, and the bacteria is recognized as a serious and potentially harmful human pathogen.

The strain of Babesia that most often affects humans is Babesia microti. Like Lyme, babesia may be transferred via tick. However, it can also be transmitted from mother to unborn child through the transfusion of contaminated blood. This quality makes babesia an exceptionally sinister threat.

Symptoms of babesiosis share several similarities with Lyme. However, it may be distinguished with an initial high fever and chills. Progression of the infection brings with it symptoms including fatigue, headache, sweating, muscle aches, chest and hip pain, and shortness of breath, or air hunger. Fortunately, symptoms of babesiosis tend to be mild and non-life-threatening. However, the mildness of the symptoms also means that the condition is often overlooked until symptoms become more severe.

Because Babesia targets red blood cells, babesiosis is often linked to a condition called hemolytic anemia. Hemolytic anemia is characterized by red blood cells dying at a faster rate than the body can produce new ones. Symptoms include: confusion, dark-colored urine, rapid heart rate, heart murmur, dizziness, fatigue, pale skin, jaundice, and swelling of the spleen and liver.

Unfortunately, when babesia goes untreated, it can lead to more severe complications, especially for immunocompromised individuals.

Because symptoms of babesiosis are largely non-specific, especially early on, it is easily missed by standard practitioners. A blood test is required to check for signs of a Babesia infection. It is also important to check if there are other conditions present with babesiosis such as Lyme disease for optimal treatment.

Final Thought

Patients treated at Holtorf Medical Group have seen an average of 7.2 different physicians prior to their visit to our center, without experiencing significant improvement.

At Holtorf Medical Group, our physicians are trained to utilize cutting-edge testing and innovative treatments to uncover the root cause of your symptoms and treat the source. If you are experiencing symptoms of Lyme disease, a co-infection, or if you have been previously diagnosed, but aren’t getting the treatment you need, call us at 877-508-1177 to see how we can help you!

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For more:

Category:

Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme