Archive for the ‘Bartonella’ Category

Bartonella & Sudden-Onset Adolescent Schizophrenia a Case Study

https://news.ncsu.edu/2019/03/bartonella-schizophrenia/

Case Study: Bartonella and Sudden-Onset Adolescent Schizophrenia

March 18, 2019
Alumni Gateway near sunset.

In a new case study, researchers at North Carolina State University describe an adolescent human patient diagnosed with rapid onset schizophrenia who was found instead to have a Bartonella henselae infection. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that Bartonella infection can mimic a host of chronic illnesses, including mental illness, and could open up new avenues of research into bacterial or microbial causes of mental disorders.

Bartonella is a bacteria most commonly associated with cat scratch disease, which until recently was thought to be a short-lived (or self-limiting) infection. There are at least 30 different known species of Bartonella, and 13 of those have been found to infect human beings. The ability to find and diagnose Bartonella infection in animals and humans – it is notorious for “hiding” in the linings of blood vessels – has led to its identification in patients with a host of chronic illnesses ranging from migraines to seizures to rheumatoid illnesses that the medical community previously hadn’t been able to attribute to a specific cause.

In a case study published in the Journal of Central Nervous Disease, an adolescent with sudden onset psychotic behavior – diagnosed as schizophrenia – was seen and treated by numerous specialists and therapists over an 18-month period. All conventional treatments for both psychosis and autoimmune disorders failed. Finally a physician recognized lesions on the patient’s skin that are often associated with Bartonella, and the patient tested positive for the infection. Combination antimicrobial chemotherapy led to full recovery.

“This case is interesting for a number of reasons,” says Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt, Melanie S. Steele Distinguished Professor of Internal Medicine at NC State and lead author of the case report. “Beyond suggesting that Bartonella infection itself could contribute to progressive neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, it raises the question of how often infection may be involved with psychiatric disorders generally.

“Researchers are starting to look at things like infection’s role in Alzheimer’s disease, for example. Beyond this one case, there’s a lot of movement in trying to understand the potential role of viral and bacterial infections in these medically complex diseases. This case gives us proof that there can be a connection, and offers an opportunity for future investigations.”

Co-authors of the study include NC State research associate professor Ricardo Maggi and research technician Julie Bradley, psychiatrist Dr. Rosalie Greenberg, rheumatologist Dr. Robert Mozayeni, and pediatrician Dr. Allen Lewis. Funding was provided by the College of Veterinary Medicine Bartonella/Vector Borne Disease Research Fund.

“Bartonella henselae Bloodstream Infection in a Boy With Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome”

DOI: 10.1177/1179573519832014

Authors: Ed Breitschwerdt, Ricardo Maggi, Julie Bradley, North Carolina State University; Rosalie Greenberg, Medical Arts Psychotherapy Associates; Robert Mozayeni, Translational Medicine Group; Allen Lewis, Sancta Familia Center for Integrative Medicine

Published: Journal of Central Nervous System Disease

Abstract:
Background: With the advent of more sensitive culture and molecular diagnostic testing modalities, Bartonella spp. infections have been documented in blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid specimens from patients with diverse neurological symptoms. Pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) is characterized by an unusually abrupt onset of cognitive, behavioral, or neurological symptoms. Between October 2015 and January 2017, a 14-year-old boy underwent evaluation by multiple specialists for sudden-onset psychotic behavior (hallucinations, delusions, suicidal and homicidal ideation).
Methods: In March 2017, Bartonella spp. serology (indirect fluorescent antibody assays) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, DNA sequencing, and Bartonella enrichment blood culture were used on a research basis to assess Bartonella spp. exposure and bloodstream infection, respectively. PCR assays targeting other vector-borne infections were performed to assess potential co-infections.
Results: For 18 months, the boy remained psychotic despite 4 hospitalizations, therapeutic trials involving multiple psychiatric medication combinations, and immunosuppressive treatment for autoimmune encephalitis. Neurobartonellosis was diagnosed after cutaneous lesions developed. Subsequently, despite nearly 2 consecutive months of doxycycline administration, Bartonella henselae DNA was PCR amplified and sequenced from the patient’s blood, and from Bartonellaalphaproteobacteria growth medium enrichment blood cultures. B. henselaeserology was negative. During treatment with combination antimicrobial chemotherapy, he experienced a gradual progressive decrease in neuropsychiatric symptoms, cessation of psychiatric drugs, resolution ofBartonella-associated cutaneous lesions, and a return to all preillness activities.
Conclusions: This case report suggests that B. henselae bloodstream infection may contribute to progressive, recalcitrant neuropsychiatric symptoms consistent with PANS in a subset of patients.

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**Comment**

Pandora’s Box is just beginning to be opened.  Expect to hear a lot more about Bartonella….

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/03/bartonella-treatment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/10/neurological-presentations-of-bartonella-henselae-infection/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/02/neurological-and-immunological-dysfunction-in-two-patients-with-bartonella-henselae-bacteremia/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/03/encephalopathy-in-adult-with-cat-scratch-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/11/29/bartonella-seizures/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/07/fox-news-bartonella-is-the-new-lyme-disease/

 

 

Category:

Bartonella, Psychological Aspects, research

Raising Red Flag Over Lyme

https://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/the-sun/raising-red-flag-over-lyme/

Raising red flag over Lyme

Eagle Lake resident warns public to take disease seriously

BY MARCH 1, 2019

TICONDEROGA | Todd Condon creates art on his iPad, not necessarily because he prefers to, but because the joints in his fingers have seized up to the point that he cannot grip brushes and pens. He still has good days, which to him means getting to the grocery store and back without incident, or being relatively free of painful flare-ups that leave him virtually immobile.

All because of a tick no bigger than a celery seed.

Condon contracted Lyme disease three years ago, and the illness has become chronic largely, he says, because of a lengthy delay in its diagnosis. Doctors wrote off his condition to joint maladies or fibromyalgia and balked at his repeated requests for advanced blood work.

His joints and head throbbed, he was tired all the time, and he lost coordination and was easily confused.

“Everybody who knew me said, ‘What’s wrong with this guy?’” Condon said. “The scary thing was, I didn’t know myself.”

‘WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?’

For 25 years, Condon, of Eagle Lake, had worked for International Paper in Ticonderoga, but the disease eventually overcame his ability to do the job he loved. By this time he knew what was dogging him, having finally been availed of a specialist who performed the blood work Condon had wanted two years before.

The results were sobering. Not only did he have Lyme, he tested positive as well for West Nile disease and Bartonella, co-infections likely spread by the same tick.

Had Condon gotten the blood tests when he wanted, things might have been different. But now the condition had worked its way into his nervous system and advanced to the point that treatment was far less effective.

Physicians poured on the antibiotics, six months’ worth of pills taken twice daily and, when that didn’t work, prescribed a half-hour a day’s worth of intravenous drugs for a month. That didn’t work either.

“If the antibiotic isn’t doing anything, what do you do now?” he said.

RAISING AWARENESS

Condon says he still has hope, if not relief. His other goal is to raise awareness of Lyme and help people who are in chronic pain, no matter what the cause. To that end he has started a Chronic Pain and Illness Support Group that meets at the Ticonderoga Hospital on the second Sunday of every month at 7 p.m.

“All are welcome to attend,” he said. “It’s a place where people can share their stories and feel they have a caring and supportive environment.”

Meanwhile, he sifts through medical and social-media sites hoping to find evidence of a cure.

SEVERE SPIKE

Lyme was relatively unknown in the Adirondacks, until climate change expanded the range of the deer tick that carries it. According to research by Lee Ann Sporn, a professor at Paul Smith’s College, Essex County saw a severe spike in Lyme disease beginning in 2012.

But scientists and physicians have been dismayed this year that the New York Senate has to date failed to provide for a continuance of the funding that has paid for baseline research — an indication that Lyme is still not garnering the attention it should.

In a statement sent to the Senate in support of funding, Dr. Russ Hartung, emergency physician at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh, said research into tick populations and infection rates provide critical guidance to the medical community.

He also said the seriousness of the illness is still understated.

“The general public may not realize that Lyme causes more than just achy joints and a rash,” he wrote. “It can cause critical illness like cardiac disease and meningitis, and the other tick-borne pathogens can be even worse.”

According to Spron’s research, “it’s a coin flip” as to whether a tick is a carrier or not, so it’s best to assume that any tick bite is cause for concern. Checking for ticks after being out in the bush is critical, since if the tick is pulled off within 24 hours, the disease, studies indicate, probably has not had time to be transmitted. Tick bites are also more dangerous in July and August than in the spring and fall.

WALKING EXHIBIT

Condon believes Lyme is still going undiagnosed and that too many in the medical and insurance industries still treat it as a phantom disease. It can be hard to find doctors that have a good, up-to-date understanding of Lyme, he said.

“I don’t think it’s gotten the proper attention,” he said. “If you don’t catch it quickly, you can get in trouble.”

Lyme is also insidious because it can come with co-infections and can show up differently in different people. Someone might be infected, but show no symptoms. And when they do show, those symptoms can vary radically, making diagnosis more difficult.

“You have to be your own advocate,” Condon said. “Find a doctor who is Lyme literate.”

Patients need to be careful too that the physician’s care will be covered by insurance, since companies sometimes balk at paying for Lyme treatments.

Condon said he’s a walking exhibit of the need for early treatment.

“It’s been three years of hell,” he said. “It feels like my joints are being torn apart on the inside. Things that people take for granted become a struggle. I just hope the word spreads far enough that people know what to do, and that no one else gets to this point.”

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**Comment**

  1. We still don’t know everything about why some become chronically ill, and while delays in diagnosis are a factor, treatment failures have been documented since the beginning:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/22/why-mainstream-lyme-msids-research-remains-in-the-dark-ages/
  2. There is also the issue of there being more subsets of patients besides “acute” and PTLDS:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/
  3. Until the pleomorphic and polymicrobial nature of Lyme/MSIDS is recognized, patients are doomed:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/
  4. Blood tests for Lyme/MSIDS is abysmal, missing over half of all cases.  There has been a concerted suppression of microscopy and other forms of testing:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/12/direct-diagnostic-tests-for-lyme-the-closest-thing-to-an-apology-you-are-ever-going-to-get/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/27/should-lyme-patients-rico-lawsuit-include-yale/
  5. Climate change has NOTHING to do with this:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/ticks-on-the-move-due-to-migrating-birds-and-photoperiod-not-climate-change/

“The authorities have been using tick expansion and climate change to get research dollars. Climate change is a popular topic right now, and that is a great source of funding for related research. However, any research on ticks and climate change is inconclusive––in essence, there is no validity. The long-range, futuristic projections and statistical models are bogus science because blacklegged ticks have already been found in northern Canada. In fact, we documented blacklegged ticks on migratory songbirds in northern Alberta dating back to 1998. Any allocation of government funding for ticks and climate change research is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money. It will not help Lyme disease patients one iota.”  Independent Canadian tick researcher, John Scott

Few LLMD’s take insurance forcing patients to pay expensive long-term bills out of pocket. Insurance companies are the ones coming after doctors who dare to treat in a way that is outside the CDC guidelines of essentially 21 days of doxycycline:  https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/01/29/1059800/-Wisconsin-Lyme-doctor-gets-reprieve?  Once they flag a doctor they nit-pick until they find any little thing:  https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/chronic-lyme-vip-daniel-cameron-disciplined-by-new-york-medical-authorities/

The Lyme Wars are far from over.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/24/lyme-wars-part-1-julias-story/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/25/lyme-wars-part-2-kyra-overcomes-chronic-lyme-diagnosis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/26/lyme-wars-part-3/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/27/lyme-wars-part-4/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/28/lyme-wars-part-5-coinfections/

 

Category:

Activism, Bartonella, Lyme, Testing, Ticks, Treatment

First Report of Cat-Scratch Disease Associated With B. clarridgeiae

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC229848/

. 1997 Jul; 35(7): 1813–1818.
PMCID: PMC229848
PMID: 9196200

Bartonella clarridgeiae, a newly recognized zoonotic pathogen causing inoculation papules, fever, and lymphadenopathy (cat scratch disease).

D L Kordick, E J Hilyard, T L Hadfield, K H Wilson, A G Steigerwalt, D J Brenner, and E B Breitschwerdt

 

ABSTRACT

Shortly after adopting a 6-week-old cat, a veterinarian was bitten on the left index finger. Within 3 weeks, he developed headache, fever, and left axillary lymphadenopathy. Initial blood cultures from the cat and veterinarian were sterile. Repeat cultures from the cat grew Bartonella-like organisms with lophotrichous flagella. Sera from the veterinarian were not reactive against Bartonella henselae, B. quintana, or B. elizabethae antigens but were seroreactive (reciprocal titer, 1,024) against the feline isolate. Sequential serum samples from the cat were reactive against antigens of B. henselae (titer, 1,024), B. quintana (titer, 128), and the feline isolate (titer, 2,048). Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of this and six additional feline isolates, including microscopic evaluation, biochemical analysis, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, DNA-DNA hybridization, and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the 16S gene, 16S-23S intergenic spacer region, and citrate synthase gene identified the isolates as B. clarridgeiae.

This is the first report of cat scratch disease associated with B. clarridgeiae.

**Comment**

More and more strains of Bart are going to be found to be problematic to humans.

To this day, mainstream research and medicine is NOT factoring Bartonella into Lyme/MSIDS, yet nearly everyone I work with has it.  Research is scant and typically pushing the idea that only immunocompromised people around cats get it.  While this case certainly had cat exposure, many do not:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/23/chest-imaging-of-cat-scratch-disease-in-2-year-old-immunocompetent-baby-with-no-history-of-cat-contact/

To my knowledge there is little to no research showing the combined effect of Lyme and Bartonella.  This is desperately needed as well as the combined effect with Babesia, Mycoplasma, Tularemia, various viruses, and other coinfections.

Current research has shown the polymicrobial nature of this, yet mainstream medicine blindly continues on treating this is a singular pathogen disease when nothing could be further from the truth:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/

Key Quote:  “Our findings recognize that microbial infections in patients suffering from TBDs do not follow the one microbe, one disease Germ Theory as 65% of the TBD patients produce immune responses to various microbes.”

Please see microscopy on Bartonella.  Slides in link:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/27/advanced-imaging-found-bartonella-around-pic-line/  Dr. Ericson has a vested interest in getting down to the bottom of things as her own son is struggling with persistent Bartonellosis.  She is now looking at Bartonella in skin cancer and Gulf War Illness as well as the role of biofilms in chronic Bartonellosis.  Please consider helping her research project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Bartonella, Testing

Small Fiber Neuropathy & PTLDS

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212222

Association of small fiber neuropathy and post treatment Lyme disease syndrome

Peter Novak , Donna Felsenstein, Charlotte Mao, Nadlyne R. Octavien, Nevena Zubcevik

Published: February 12, 2019  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212222

Abstract

Objectives

To examine whether post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) defined by fatigue, cognitive complaints and widespread pain following the treatment of Lyme disease is associated with small fiber neuropathy (SFN) manifesting as autonomic and sensory dysfunction.

Methods

This single center, retrospective study evaluated subjects with PTLDS. Skin biopsies for assessment of epidermal nerve fiber density (ENFD), sweat gland nerve fiber density (SGNFD) and functional autonomic testing (deep breathing, Valsalva maneuver and tilt test) were performed to assess SFN, severity of dysautonomia and cerebral blood flow abnormalities. Heart rate, end tidal CO2, blood pressure, and cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) from middle cerebral artery using transcranial Doppler were monitored.

Results

10 participants, 5/5 women/men, age 51.3 ± 14.7 years, BMI 27.6 ± 7.3 were analyzed. All participants were positive for Lyme infection by CDC criteria. At least one skin biopsy was abnormal in all ten participants. Abnormal ENFD was found in 9 participants, abnormal SGNFD in 5 participants, and both abnormal ENFD and SGNFD were detected in 4 participants. Parasympathetic failure was found in 7 participants and mild or moderate sympathetic adrenergic failure in all participants. Abnormal total CBFv score was found in all ten participants. Low orthostatic CBFv was found in 7 participants, three additional participants had abnormally reduced supine CBFv.

Conclusions

SFN appears to be associated with PTLDS and may be responsible for certain sensory symptoms. In addition, dysautonomia related to SFN and abnormal CBFv also seem to be linked to PTLDS. Reduced orthostatic CBFv can be associated with cerebral hypoperfusion and may lead to cognitive dysfunction. Autonomic failure detected in PTLDS is mild to moderate. SFN evaluation may be useful in PTLDS.

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**Comment**

Keep in mind, researchers by nature have to keep tight & narrow study parameters. In this case they chose to use the unscientific and abysmal CDC 2-tiered blood serology which research has shown misses over half of all cases.  It was also never intended for diagnosis but for surveillance purposes only.  Lyme should be a clinical diagnosis.  We desperately need a better form of accurate testing for this very reason.  Nearly ALL research is based upon 2-tiered serology which leaves out a huge subset of patients – which means there is study bias. 

Some of the sickest people NEVER test positive using CDC criteria.

Also, please note:  

All patients had received a course of antibiotics for Lyme disease including 3 weeks of oral doxycycline as recommended by Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines [13,30]. Because of symptoms persistence, all participants were treated with additional antibiotics (data in S1 Table). The list may not be accurate and may underestimate the antibiotic therapy as many participants were treated in multiple institutions and as such medical records may be incomplete.

Many would argue that the entire premise of this research article is flawed in that the CDC moniker of PTLDS is not taking into account persistent/chronic infection.  For a fantastic read on that:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/

Until this issue is resolved, people will be put into two camps based on a false premise, 1) Acute cases 2) PTLDS.  There are numerous subsets of people.  See link above.

Parasympathetic failure & low orthostatic CBFv  was noted in 7 out of 10 patients and abnormal total CBFv score was found in all 10!
All of you out there suffering with dry eye & mouth, inability to digest food, and having colitis type symptoms (either diarrhea or constipation – usually alternating) this study reveals why.
Lyme loves the spine!  
1503_Connections_of_the_Parasympathetic_Nervous_System

By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30148020

You can visualize where on the spine the various organs receive information from.  Notice all the things connected to the cranial nerves at the top.  Please know Bartonella and other coinfections can affect these areas as well.  Dr. Ericson’s found Bart all over the place:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/27/advanced-imaging-found-bartonella-around-pic-line/  Take a gander at her slides where she’s found Bart in collagen, where a PIC line was removed, skin biopsies (including the brain), cartilage, and blood cells.

Lastly, besides the spinal involvement, notice ALL of the patients had an abnormal Total CBFv score.  This is cerebral blood flow velocity from the middle cerebral artery.  Not enough blood flow = not enough oxygen, which is required for normal functioning.  It alone can account for brain fog and fatigue.  Too much blood flow = swelling and inflammation which can cause severe pain and even lead to Chiari:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/02/chiari/  In one week I met 3 Lyme patients with a Chiari diagnosis.  I had an MRI to rule it out myself.

One drug that was most effective for me for this issue was Minocycline:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/04/minocycline-for-ms-and-much-more/

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Bartonella, Lyme, research

Disseminated Bartonella Visualized by PET/CT & MRI

https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/9/1/25

Diagnostics 2019, 9(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics9010025

Disseminated Bartonella henselae Infection Visualized by [18F]FDG-PET/CT and MRI

Marie Norredam 1,* , Andreas Knudsen 2, Carsten Thomsen 3and Lothar Wiese 2

Published: 1 March 2019
Abstract
We describe the clinical course of a 24-year old male with Crohn’s disease in immunosuppressive therapy admitted with a 6-week history of fever, weight loss, night sweat, and general malaise. The patient received extensive workup for a fever of unknown origin and received empiric antibiotics. Workup with Fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose ([18F]FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET/CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with intravenous contrast showed multifocal ostitis of the columna and os sacrum, as well as abscesses in m. iliopsoas and m. iliacus and affection of the retroperitoneum, liver, and spleen. Initially, malignancy was suspected, but a subsequent liver biopsy showed necrotizing granulomatous inflammation and a later polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed Bartonella henselae. The patient had relevant exposure from housecats. He was treated with Doxycycline and Rifampicin for 12 weeks resulting in complete recovery. This case is, to our knowledge, a rare example of disseminated infection with Bartonella henselae visualized on both [18F]FDG-PET/CT and MRI. View Full-Text
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**Comment**
The Cat’s beginning to get out of the bag regarding Bartonella.  Prepare yourself to see a whole lot more of this. I’m thankful that the authors stated that this case was to their knowledge a rare example; however, Bartonella has flown under the radar for so long chances are quite high there is much more of this going on. Similarly to Lyme and other coinfections, testing that relies on serology is abysmal and many remain undiagnosed.
We’ve always been told that folks that contract Bartonella need a history of cat exposure or other animals and have suppressed immune systems.  Please know, many completely healthy individuals with NO cat exposure can have disseminated Bartonella.  For examples of this:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/02/skin-inflammation-nodules-letting-the-cat-out-of-the-bag/  After the study I list 6 cases.
Dr. Ericson’s work has shown Bartonella virtually everywhere in the human body:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/27/advanced-imaging-found-bartonella-around-pic-line/  Slides in link
In my experience Bartonella is as bad if not worse than Lyme which gets all the press. Authorities do not even consider it with Lyme patients but nearly everyone I work with has it along with Lyme and often Babesia as well as Mycoplasma and various viruses.  Until the polymicrobial aspect is acknowledged and treated, we are doomed as patients.
Yes, Martha, Lone Star ticks are in Wisconsin as well:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/10/lone-star-ticks-in-wisconsin/

 

Category:

Bartonella, research, Testing, Treatment