Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category

A Bold Plan Against Lyme And Other Tick-borne Diseases

https://www.lymedisease.org/keber-ahern/

A bold plan against Lyme and other tick-borne diseases

tick that carried Lyme disease

By Barbara Keber, MD, and Holly Ahern

We need a national public-private strategy that abandons our current low-impact approach to diseases brought by ticks.

If you have not yet suffered with Lyme disease or one of the illnesses associated with the bite of a tick, you probably know someone who has — or who will. This growing public health threat requires a strong national response that advances research to improve prevention, diagnostic testing and treatment.

Specifically, we need a multibillion-dollar, national public-private partnership — an initiative that must address more than just Lyme disease and must go beyond the current low-impact strategy of telling the public to beware of ticks, wear white socks or shower after being outdoors.

The partnership should include federal agencies, pharmaceutical companies, state health departments, universities, laboratories and medical centers. And it should include patient representatives.

This is a serious threat. Diseases carried by ticks can cause life-altering disorders — joint and muscle pain, permanent neurological disorders, profound fatigue, memory loss, headaches and death. And the societal and treatment costs of these illnesses and lost productivity is in the billions.

Although Lyme disease is the most prevalent and best known of the various diseases ticks can transmit to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists at least 13 illnesses caused by ticks. The CDC has reported a dramatic increase in all tick-borne diseases.

Lyme disease cases have grown from the first identified case in 1975 to more than 300,000 new cases per year. Other tick-borne diseases have increased by more than six-fold between 2004 and 2017, from about 2,700 cases per year to more than 16,000. The CDC has acknowledged that “the United States is not fully prepared to control these threats.”

Three priorities

The first priority to prevent tick-related illnesses, regardless of cost, is to develop a vaccine against all tick-borne diseases.

A second priority is to improve diagnostic tests. Currently, treatment decisions hinge on the results of blood tests that more than 50 percent of the time can’t accurately identify patients who have Lyme disease, discriminate between active infection or past infection, or identify the presence of other tick-borne illnesses.

Based on the results of current blood tests, medications may not be prescribed to people that would be helpful, or they may be provided with unnecessary medications. From a health care perspective, this is unacceptable.

A third priority is to improve environmental control measures, such as more effective yet safe tick-killing products, repellents for humans and pets, and new approaches to landscape barriers that go beyond mulching the perimeter of one’s lawn.

Barriers include anything from fencing to keep out animals that carry ticks to anything that creates separation between wooded or high-grass areas and those areas where people play or work outdoors.

The Tick Borne Disease Working Group, created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, submitted its report to the HHS secretary and Congress in December. Now, the public must demand that its recommendations — filling gaps in the areas of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment — be approved at a faster pace.

The occurrence and consequences of tick-borne diseases are increasing and this increase will continue unless we find big solutions to this big problem.

Barbara Keber, MD, practices family medicine in Glen Cove, NY, and is president of the New York State Academy of Family Physicians. Holly Ahern is an associate professor of microbiology at SUNY Adirondack, and was a member of the Testing and Diagnostic Subcommittee of the Tick Borne Disease Working Group.

________________

**Comment**

I’m extremely wary of the first priority outlined here of developing a vaccine against all tick-borne diseases “at all costs.” First, when you study how vaccines work, you understand they are created to evoke an immune response by causing inflammation. This is also what Lyme/MSIDS does.

It seems counter productive to me, a mere layman, to do both at the same time.

We are also armed with the knowledge that vaccines can activate latent infections. How many of the unsuspecting public have latent infections?  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/24/gardasil-and-bartonella/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/02/scottish-doctor-gives-insight-on-lyme-msids/

Also, from my understanding, trying to hit all the variations, species, and subtypes of these pathogens would be akin to trying to create a vaccine for the flu, which is constantly changing and is a moving target. The flu vaccine is never effective: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/10/cdc-admits-flu-vaccine-failed-91-of-the-time-against-current-flu-strain/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/23/influenza-vaccines-dengue-like-disease/

If we are serious about this pandemic, work should be gone into:
  • accurate testing
  • appropriate treatment
  • how it’s transmitted (congenital, breast milk, sexually, other bugs, etc)
  • how it survives (persistence)
  • how to make this affordable (getting insurance companies to pay)
  • the various ways it presents (symptomology)
  • doctor education
  • the synergistic effects of all the pathogens on the human body

Category:

Activism, Lyme, vaccines

UK Lyme Disease Cases ‘Three Times Higher Than Estimated’

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/916256

UK Lyme Disease Cases ‘Three Times Higher Than Estimated’

Tim Locke

August 01, 2019

Current annual estimates of confirmed Lyme disease cases are between 2000 and 3000 in England and Wales, according to Public Health England.

However, research published in BMJ Open suggests the real figure for the tick-borne disease could be three times higher and may reach more than 8000 this year although an expert has urged caution, saying the findings could be an overestimation.

A second study published in the same journal supported targeted public health intervention at identified Lyme disease hotspots.

General Practice Data

The research team analysed anonymised data from Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) between 2001 and 2012. This covered around 8.4 million individuals from 658 general practices – around 8% of the UK population.

Lyme disease diagnoses were categorised as

  • Diagnosed clinically (1702, 42%)
  • Suspected and treated (1913, 47%)
  • Possible and treated (468, 11%)

Summers saw the highest number of Lyme disease cases and the largest amount were in Scotland. This was thought to be due to the popularity of hiking, and a rainier climate. The regions coming second and third for Lyme disease incidence were South Central England and South West England, but cases were seen in all areas.

CPRD recorded cases rose from 60 in 2001 to 595 in 2012, and a UK-wide estimate of 7738 for 2012.

Unsurprising Findings

“I wasn’t very surprised, because plenty of people have been suggesting that the incidence is higher than has been estimated,” one of the study authors, retired doctor Victoria Cairns from Oxford told Medscape News UK.

With some diseases, incidence can rise along with public and medical awareness of symptoms. However, “There’s more I think,” Dr Cairns said: “Every year there is more.”

The new research paper doesn’t speculate about the reasons for the growth in cases. “Other people have speculated that it’s climate change, Dr Cairns said. “There are all sorts of explanations. Partly, climate change is warmer. In some places, there are more deer so ticks are feeding off different animals, so that could be part of it.”

She has a personal interest in the subject: “I have had Lyme disease, quite a long time ago.”

She documented it – and post-Lyme disease symptoms – in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2005.

_________________

For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/  Warm winters are lethal to black legged ticks.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/ticks-on-the-move-due-to-migrating-birds-and-photoperiod-not-climate-change/

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks

Fort Detrick Lab Shut Down After Failed Safety Inspection; All Research Halted Indefinitely

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/fort-detrick-lab-shut-down-after-failed-safety-inspection-all/article_

Fort Detrick lab shut down after failed safety inspection; all research halted indefinitely

By Heather Mongilio hmongilio@newspost.com

Updated

USAMRIID
The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick.  News-Post file photo

All research at a Fort Detrick laboratory that handles high-level disease-causing material, such as Ebola, is on hold indefinitely after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the organization failed to meet biosafety standards.

No infectious pathogens, or disease-causing material, have been found outside authorized areas at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

The CDC inspected the military research institute in June and inspectors found several areas of concern in standard operating procedures, which are in place to protect workers in biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories, spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden confirmed in an email Friday.

The CDC sent a cease and desist order in July.

After USAMRIID received the order from the CDC, its registration with the Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees disease-causing material use and possession, was suspended. That suspension effectively halted all biological select agents and toxin research at USAMRIID, Vander Linden said in her email.

The Federal Select Agent Program does not comment on whether a program such as USAMRIID is registered and cannot comment on action taken to enforce regulations, Kathryn Harben, a spokeswoman for the CDC, wrote in an email.

“As situations warrant, [Federal Select Agent Program] will take whatever appropriate action is necessary to resolve any departures from regulatory compliance in order to help ensure the safety and security of work with select agents and toxins,” Harben said in the email.

The suspension was due to multiple causes, including failure to follow local procedures and a lack of periodic recertification training for workers in the biocontainment laboratories, according to Vander Linden. The wastewater decontamination system also failed to meet standards set by the Federal Select Agent Program, Vander Linden said in a follow-up email.

“To maximize the safety of our employees, there are multiple layers of protective equipment and validated processes,” she said.

Vander Linden could not say when the laboratory would be able to continue research.

“USAMRIID will return to fully operational status upon meeting benchmark requirements for biosafety,” she said in an email. “We will resume operations when the Army and the CDC are satisfied that USAMRIID can safely and consistently meet all standards.”

USAMRIID has been working on modified biosafety level 3 procedures and a new decontamination system since flooding in May 2018. This “increased the operational complexity of bio-containment laboratory research activities within the Institute,” she said.

At the time of the cease and desist order, USAMRIID scientists were working with agents known to cause tularemia, also called deer fly or rabbit fever, the plague and Venezuelan equine encephalitis, all of which were worked on in a biosafety level 3 laboratory. Researchers were also working with the Ebola virus in a biosafety level 4 lab, Vander Linden said.

Of the pathogens, Ebola, bacteria Yersinia pestis (plague), and bacterium Francisella tularensis (tularemia) are on the list of the Health and Human Services select agents and toxins. The three are considered Tier 1 agents, which pose a severe public health and safety threat.

Venezuelan equine encephalitis also falls under the Federal Select Agent Program, according to the Code of Federal Regulations.

The military research institute is looking at each of its contracts to see what will be affected by the shutdown. USARMIID work outside the lab is not expected to be affected, including on Ebola, Vander Linden said.

“We are coordinating closely with the CDC to ensure that critical, ongoing studies within bio-containment laboratories are completed under appropriate oversight and that research animals will continue to be cared for in accordance with all regulations,” she said in an email. “

Although much of USAMRIID’s research is currently on hold, the Institute will continue its critical clinical diagnostic mission and will still be able to provide medical and subject matter expertise as needed to support the response to an infectious disease threat or other contingency.”

According to the Code of Federal Regulations, which also lists required training, records and biosafety plans, Federal Select Agents Program registration can be suspended to protect public health and safety. It is not clear if this is why the USAMRIID registration was suspended.

The code also gives the Department of Health and Human Services, under which the CDC falls, the right to inspect any site and records, without prior notifications. Vander Linden said in the email that the CDC inspected USAMRIID several times over the past year, both unannounced and on a regularly scheduled basis.

USAMRIID will work to meet requirements set by the Army and the CDC and have its suspension lifted, Vander Linden said.

“While the Institute’s research mission is critical, the safety of the workforce and community is paramount,” she said.

“USAMRIID is taking the opportunity to correct deficiencies, build upon strengths, and create a stronger and safer foundation for the future.”

_______________________

And perhaps do a lot of paper shredding……

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/06/kris-newby-responds-to-telfords-criticism-of-bitten/  In this link, investigative journalist Kris Newby explains:

The Army explained:“In 1953, the Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick established a program to study the use of arthropods for spreading anti-personnel BW agents. The advantages of arthropods as BW carriers are these: they inject the agent directly into the body, so that a mask is no protection to a soldier, and they will remain alive for some time, keeping an area constantly dangerous.” Source: U.S. Army Chemical Corps, “Summary of Major Events and Problems (Fiscal Year 1959),” Rocky Mountain Arsenal Archive.

Burgdorfer, the discoverer of the Lyme bacterium, was a key member of this project team. He worked on weaponizing ticks and teamed up with fellow tick expert James Oliver at the Ft. Detrick bioweapons headquarters to develop ways to mass produce infected ticks so that they could be dropped from airplanes on enemy territory. These claims are backed up by interviews with these scientists, as well as with extensive government documentation from multiple reliable sources, all listed in BITTEN…

And after my interview, I verified his claims with recently released documents, including a 1962 Memorandum to the NIH Director that says that Dr. Burgdorfer, “was engaged for 3 years on classified projects (Army) from which findings could not be published because of their impact on national defense.”

The institute, which has about 900 employees, studies germs and toxins that could be used to threaten the military or public health. It also investigates disease outbreaks and carries out research projects for government agencies, universities and drug companies, which pay for the work.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/13/deadly-germ-research-is-shut-down-at-army-lab-over-safety-concerns/

Excerpt:

The select agents and toxins list is found here. According to the NBACC website, the facility conducts research on pathogens for which there is no vaccine or treatment.  https://www.selectagents.gov/SelectAgentsandToxinsList.html

INTERESTINGLY, THE FOLLOWING FROM THE LIST ARE TRANSMITTED BY TICKS:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/31/tick-expert-admits-to-working-on-ticks-dropping-them-out-of-airplanes/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/04/lyme-disease-amendment-passes-house-tells-dod-ig-to-investigate-the-bioweaponization-of-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/19/biological-warfare-experiment-on-american-citizens-results-in-spreading-pandemic/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/21/got-15-minutes-the-officially-ignored-link-between-lyme-plum-island/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/24/microbiology-professor-im-convinced-lyme-disease-is-transmittable-from-person-to-person/

Category:

Activism, Uncategorized

Kris Newby Responds to Telford’s Criticism of BITTEN

Kris Newby responds to Telford’s criticism of BITTEN

Dr. Sam Telford is an infectious diseases researcher at Tufts University. He recently published an article dismissing concerns about possible connections between Lyme disease and the US government’s past biowarfare research.

Author Kris Newby responds.

Open letter to Dr. Telford:

I’m the author of “BITTEN: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons,” and I’d like to discuss some of the points you raised in your article in “The Conversation.”

First, I heartily agree that the Lyme bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, would be an “unlikely weapon.” This organism reproduces very slowly and it can’t be mass produced in large volumes like other tick-borne agents, such as tularemia.

The evidence laid out in BITTEN leads us to believe that a different organism, likely a rickettsia-viral hybrid, was made more virulent by military scientists and that Willy was asked to cover it up. As with this article, the Lyme bacterium, first described in a journal in 1982, appears to be a convenient misdirection to what the military doesn’t want us to see.

I strongly disagree your statement that “the most important characteristics of a biowarfare agent is its ability to quickly disable target soldiers.” In 1953 the U.S. biological weapons program started weaponizing fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes by infecting them with either lethal or slow-acting incapacitating microbes, depending on the military objective.

The Army explained: “In 1953, the Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick established a program to study the use of arthropods for spreading anti-personnel BW agents. The advantages of arthropods as BW carriers are these: they inject the agent directly into the body, so that a mask is no protection to a soldier, and they will remain alive for some time, keeping an area constantly dangerous.” Source: U.S. Army Chemical Corps, “Summary of Major Events and Problems (Fiscal Year 1959),” Rocky Mountain Arsenal Archive.

Burgdorfer, the discoverer of the Lyme bacterium, was a key member of this project team. He worked on weaponizing ticks and teamed up with fellow tick expert James Oliver at the Ft. Detrick bioweapons headquarters to develop ways to mass produce infected ticks so that they could be dropped from airplanes on enemy territory. These claims are backed up by interviews with these scientists, as well as with extensive government documentation from multiple reliable sources, all listed in BITTEN.

You go on to say: “That Burgdorfer alluded to biowarfare or biodefense programs in interviews toward the end of his life should not be construed as an admission of participation in top-secret work.”

OK, but read BITTEN to evaluate the strength of the evidence. I filmed Burgdorfer detailing these bug bomb programs and it was no “prank.” He had also made these claim to others over the years. And after my interview, I verified his claims with recently released documents, including a 1962 Memorandum to the NIH Director that says that Dr. Burgdorfer, “was engaged for 3 years on classified projects (Army) from which findings could not be published because of their impact on national defense.”

I have publicly posted many of these supporting documents, and I look forward to carrying on this conversation, and possibly even adding a new discussion topic to your class on Biosecurity.

Click here to view the BITTEN files:  https://www.documentcloud.org/public/search/Project:%20%22BITTEN%20files%22

Respectfully, @krisnewby

__________________

Telford’s article:  https://theconversation.com/no-lyme-disease-is-not-an-escaped-military-bioweapon-despite-what-conspiracy-theorists-say-120879

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/19/biological-warfare-experiment-on-american-citizens-results-in-spreading-pandemic/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/27/lyme-biowarfare-4-video-series/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/31/tick-expert-admits-to-working-on-ticks-dropping-them-out-of-airplanes/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/21/got-15-minutes-the-officially-ignored-link-between-lyme-plum-island/

Category:

Activism, Lyme

ILADS Scientific Conference – Registration Now Open

20th Annual ILADS Scientific Conference
Join us in Boston – Registration is Now Open!

We invite you to join us at the 20th Annual International Lyme and Associated Diseases (ILADS) Scientific Conference in Boston from October 31 – November 3, 2019. This year’s conference showcases best practices in the clinical care of patients with Lyme disease and related infections, presents the latest research and trends in treating tick-borne diseases and explores major themes including:

  • How persistent infections and host responses interact to cause chronic disease
  • An introduction to novel antimicrobial strategies in Lyme treatment
  • The role of Big Data in the future of patient care

Conference Highlights:

  • Choose one of two day-long, pre-conference tracks:  Lyme Fundamentals or Exploratory Treatments for Tick-Borne Diseases
  • Daily breakfast chats or networking breakfasts
  • Morning plenary sessions
  • Poster viewing and awards presentation
  • Friday and Saturday afternoon Practical Skills Expansion (PSE) breakout sessions
  • Exhibits by more than 50 vendors showcasing products and services relevant to medical professionals who treat tick-borne diseases

For additional information and a more detailed agenda, please visit ilads.org.

Register before September 7 to receive our early registration discount. We look forward to seeing you at this exciting event!

Register here: https://www.ilads.org/ilads-conference/boston-2019/?

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Treatment