Archive for the ‘Bartonella’ Category

Case Report: Substantial Improvement of Autism in Child By Using Treatment For Vector Borne Infections

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1205545/full

Case report: Substantial improvement of autism spectrum disorder in a child with learning disabilities in conjunction with treatment for poly-microbial vector borne infections

CASE REPORT article

Front. Psychiatry, 18 August 2023
Sec. Autism
Volume 14 – 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1205545
Amy Offutt1* Edward B. Breitschwerdt2
  • 1Heart and Soul Integrative Health, Marble Falls, TX, United States
  • 2Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory, Department of Clinical Sciences, and the Comparative Medicine Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States

Poly-microbial vector-borne infections may have contributed to neuropsychiatric symptoms in a boy diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Targeted antimicrobial treatment resulted in substantial improvement in cognitive (such as learning disabilities, focus, concentration) and neurobehavioral (such as oppositional, defiant, anti-social, disordered mood, immaturity, tics) symptoms.

Conclusion

This teenage boy had a drastic improvement in his neuropsychiatric symptoms and in his academic standing, moving from special education services with accommodations to grade level academic standing without accommodations, to college acceptance. Progressive symptomatic improvement occurred only following targeted administration of antimicrobial agents directed at suspected, underlying, chronic infectious pathogens, namely the causative agents of bartonellosis and borreliosis. Further research is clearly needed to define if or the extent to which occult infections can contribute to neuropsychiatric illness, such as ASD.

(See link for full article)

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Autism, Bartonella, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research, Treatment, Uncategorized

The Use of Natural Bioactive Nutraceuticals in the Management of Tick-Borne Illnesses

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/7/1759

The Use of Natural Bioactive Nutraceuticals in the Management of Tick-Borne Illnesses

By Samuel M. Shor and Sunjya K. Schweig

Microorganisms 2023, 11(7), 1759; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11071759
Received: 14 May 2023 / Revised: 29 June 2023 / Accepted: 29 June 2023 / Published: 5 July 2023

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is to provide an evidence-based update of the literature on the use of bioactive phytochemicals, nutraceuticals, and micronutrients (dietary supplements that provide health benefits beyond their nutritional value) in the management of persistent cases of Borrelia burgdorferi infection (Lyme disease) and two other tick-borne pathogens, Babesia and Bartonella species. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of the pathophysiology and mechanisms of persistent infections. These advances have increasingly enabled clinicians and patients to utilize a wider set of options to manage these frequently disabling conditions. This broader toolkit holds the promise of simultaneously improving treatment outcomes and helping to decrease our reliance on the long-term use of pharmaceutical antimicrobials and antibiotics in the treatment of tick-borne pathogens such as Borrelia burgdorferi, Babesia, and Bartonella.  (See link for full article)
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Go here for an excellent article on the above study which breaks it down for the lay person.  The following graph is within the article and will interest you:

For a full list of all 30+ bioactive nutraceuticals, see Appendix A. Summary of Clinical Impact.

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Babesia, Bartonella, Herbs, Lyme, research, Supplements, Treatment

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.
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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.
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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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Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, research, Treatment

Best Lab Test for Lyme, Bartonella, & Babesia

https://www.treatlyme.net/guide/best-lab-test-for-borrelia-bartonella-babesia  Video Here (Approx. 8 Min)

Immunoblot is Best Test for Lyme, Bartonella, and Babesia—Here is Why

By Dr. Marty Ross

This video article on testing has two parts.

  • First, I review the differences between IGenex Immunoblot and Armin or Infectolab Americas Elispot testing for the big three tick-borne infections of Borrelia (Lyme), Babesia and Bartonella.
  • The last section of the video compares IGenex Immunoblot and Galaxy Labs PCR tests for Bartonella.

There is clarifying information below the video. Here you can find more information about the meaning of sensitivity and specificity. I also identify the different strains IGenex detects versus the more limited strains Armin or Infectolab Americas detects. Finally, I explain why I do not use Vibrant Labs or DNA Connexions testing.

Terms and Definitions for Tests

To help understand when to use a test or the meaning of a result physicians consider the test sensitivity and specificity.

  • Sensitivity is the ability of a test to find an illness in all people with the illness.
  • Specificity is the ability of a test to correctly identify people without an illness from all people who do not have the illness.

IGenex Immunoblots are Best Because They are Most Sensitive and Specific

IGenex Immunoblot testing is more sensitive for Borrelia, Babesia, and Bartonella testing than Armin and Infectolab Elispot testing because it looks for reactions to more strains of each infection.

  • Borrelia. The test detects antibodies against eight strains including B. afzelii, B. garinii, and B. burgdorferi.
  • Bartonella. The test detects antibodies against the family of Bartonella which includes 15 types thought to infect humans. In addition, it detects specific antibodies against four specific strains named B. henselae, B. vinsonii, B. elizabethae, and B. quintana.
  • Babesia. The test detects antibodies against the family of Babesia which includes B. odecoilei. It also detects specific antibodies against two specific strains named B. microti, and B. duncani.

(See link for article and video)

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Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, Testing

Unraveling Bartonella: Dr. Mozayeni

https://www.betterhealthguy.com/episode185

Episode #185: Unraveling Bartonella with Dr. B. Robert Mozayeni, MD

 
 
About My Guest

My guest for this episode is Dr. B. Robert Mozayeni.  B. Robert Mozayeni, MD is an expert in Translational Medicine, the science and art of advancing medical science safely and efficiently.  He is the Chief Medical Officer of Galaxy Diagnostics, LLC.  He is a co-founder of the Foundation for the Study of Inflammatory Diseases.  He serves as an advisor to pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies and serves on an Institutional Review Board specializing in nutraceutical products for pain management.  He is the immediate past President of ILADS, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society where his goal was to advance the science of translational medicine.  In late 2019, Dr. Mozayeni launched T Lab Inc., a research and clinical laboratory engaged in research using advanced microscopy to understand better the pathogenesis of disease in inflammatory conditions associated with persistent infections.  He has research and clinical expertise with regard to autoimmune diseases and the effects of chronic infection and inflammation on vascular physiology and neurovascular conditions seen commonly with autoimmune and neurovascular diseases.  With a strong foundation in the basic sciences and evidence-based medicine, he analyzes complex medical cases using a combination of basic scientific principles and clinical experience along with the balance of the evidence base.  Dr. Mozayeni has published numerous papers on immunology and cerebrovascular blood flow hemodynamics.  He has been actively researching and publishing his work on chronic rheumatic diseases and their relationship to persistent human Bartonella spp. infection.  Of note, chronic persistent Bartonella spp. infections are strongly associated with neurovascular diseases.  Thus, Dr. Mozayeni is uniquely qualified in the combined areas of chronic persistent endovascular infections and related rheumatological and neurovascular diseases.   He has also published papers providing new insights as to a potential infectious  (Bartonella spp.) cause of osteoarthritis and also, a case of arthritis associated with hypermobility that was likely caused by Bartonella spp.

Key Takeaways
  • What advances have been observed in recent years in the realm of Bartonella?
  • What are common symptoms of Bartonella?
  • How is Bartonella transmitted?- Might Bartonella lead to autoimmunity?
  • Can Bartonella be a trigger for PANS?
  • Might Bartonella be a contributor to osteoarthritis?
  • Is there a connection between Bartonella and hypermobility or EDS?
  • Does Bartonella contribute to MS?
  • What is the connection between Bartonella and SIBO?
  • Can Bartonella act as a trigger for MCAS?
  • Is Bartonella activation observed in those with COVID?
  • What is the state of the art in Bartonella testing?
  • What is Babesia odocoilei?
  • What agents are most helpful in the treatment of Bartonella?
  • Is there a place for herbs and other natural interventions in Bartonella treatment?
  • Should pets be considered as a potential source of exposure to Bartonella?
Connect With My Guest

http://TMGMD.com

Related Resources

Article: Unraveling the Mystery of Bartonellosis

Transcript

Go to top link for transcript, video, and audio

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Category:

Bartonella, Cancer, Eye Issues, Heart Issues, Inflammation, Psychological Aspects