Dr. Cameron discusses Babesia in his new ebook “An Expert’s Guide on Navigating Lyme disease.” Support his work by buying a copy of his ebook. This book summarizes his understanding of Lyme disease based on his first 600 Lyme disease science blogs and 35+ years of treating Lyme disease patients.
The book includes over 200 published Lyme disease cases.
Human babesiosis is a potentially fatal tick-borne disease caused by intraerythrocytic Babesia parasites. The emergence of resistance to recommended therapies highlights the need for new and more effective treatments. Here we demonstrate that the 8-aminoquinoline antimalarial drug tafenoquine inhibits the growth of different Babesia species in vitro, is highly effective against Babesia microti and Babesia duncani in mice and protects animals from lethal infection caused by atovaquone-sensitive and -resistant B. duncani strains. We further show that a combination of tafenoquine and atovaquone achieves cure with no recrudescence in both models of human babesiosis. Interestingly, elimination of B. duncani infection in animals following drug treatment also confers immunity to subsequent challenge. Altogether, the data demonstrate superior efficacy of tafenoquine plus atovaquone combination over current therapies for the treatment of human babesiosis and highlight its potential in providing protective immunity against Babesia following parasite clearance.
Americans Warned About Travel to Mexico Due to ‘Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever’
An advisory has been issued for Americans traveling to parts of Mexico, warning them of a potentially deadly disease called Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Americans are being advised to exercise caution when traveling to Mexico, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issuing a travel advisory due to reports of an illness known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which can be deadly.
“There have been reports of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) in people traveling to the United States from Tecate, in the state of Baja California, Mexico,” the CDC said in the advisory, which was issued on Dec. 8.
The CDC said there are reports of the disease being found in urban areas in some states in northern Mexico (including Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo León). However, the illness isn’t exclusive to those regions, the CDC noted in its warning.
Bacteria that causes the disease isn’t spread from person to person but through ticks, the agency said. (See link for article)
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**Comment**
The article mentions that there is also an increase in Babesiosis.
EXCLUSIVE – Woman, 38, whose undiagnosed Lyme disease left her ‘MINUTES from death’ reveals how plant-based diet nearly DESTROYED her body – before she turned to strict carnivore regimen that completely cured her symptoms
Angela Lerro, 38, from Los Angeles, stopped eating most meat and fish in 2013
She began fainting up to 20 times a day and suffering from anaphylaxis
Angela learned her diet was killing her after being diagnosed with Lyme disease
A woman who was advised to follow a plant-based diet after being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a mastectomy has opened up about how shunning meat almost killed her while she was suffering from undiagnosed Lyme disease.
Angela Lerro, 38, from Los Angeles, stopped eating most meat and fish and lived mainly on vegetables and colorful salad dishes for three years after undergoing surgery in 2013.
But instead of feeling better, she began fainting up to 20 times a day, breaking out in hives and rashes, and suffering from heightened anxiety and anaphylaxis. She became so bloated, she looked pregnant.
The reiki master was told it was post-cancer ailments, but her symptoms were actually caused by undiagnosed Lyme disease, which she’d been unknowingly battling for over 30 years. (See link for article)
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**Comment**
This is quite the journey this poor woman has lived. I pray something within will help someone out there who has barked up every tree but still hasn’t found any answers – or should I say THE answer?
As always, this is not medical advice. Make sure you are working with an experienced Lyme literate doctor. But, as is often the case with Lyme/MSIDS, we simply have to experiment.
Angela went on the “Lion Diet” otherwise known as the “ultimate elimination diet,” to reduce inflammation. Angela believes that ruminant fat, meat, and organs contain the most bioavailable nutrients the body can absorb and use. She states borrelia feed off gluten, grains, and sugar and when they are consumed they create inflammation. When she ditched her low-histamine paleo diet for bison, veal, lamb, and venison many of her symptoms disappeared within three months. She no longer fainted and her mobility improved.
I too have improved dramatically with diet; however, diet really didn’t appear to be a problem until later – after I had treatment for 5 years. Now, could a dietary switch have helped? Possibly, but as you know – it’s nearly impossible at times to distinguish what is doing what. It wasn’t until I developed a very painful Baker’s Cyst and what appeared to be “arthritis” that I got serious about diet. I’m happy to report that I’ve experienced great improvement by ditching gluten, most dairy (except hard cheeses and whipping cream), and trying valiantly to eliminate sugar. That last one is the tough one for me. 🙂
Babesiosis is a tick-borne illness. These patients may have signs of a systemic inflammatory response, but abscess formation is unusual. Multiple abscesses in a patient with confirmed babesiosis is very rare, so concurrent infection by another pathogen should be considered.
Case presentation
We report a 42-year-old male patient who had fever, chills, joint pain, abdominal pain, and altered mental status after a possible tick bite on his right foot while fishing in a river. The laboratory tests, including a blood smear, suggested babesiosis. Imaging studies showed multiple brain and spleen abscesses due to Staphylococcus aureus based on the results of a blood culture and next-generation sequencing. The patient eventually recovered after treatment with azithromycin, fosfomycin, and vancomycin.
Conclusion
Concurrent bacterial infection can occur in a patient with babesiosis. Additional tests should be performed when a babesiosis patient presents with signs inconsistent with Babesia infection. Prompt and appropriate treatment is necessary and may be life-saving for these patients.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 