Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

Parenting When Children Have Lyme Disease: Fear, Frustration, Advocacy

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/7/3/95

Parenting When Children Have Lyme Disease: Fear, Frustration, Advocacy

by Emilie M. Gaudet 1, Odette N. Gould 1,* and Vett Lloyd 2
Healthcare 2019, 7(3), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7030095
Received: 30 June 2019 / Revised: 1 August 2019 / Accepted: 3 August 2019 / Published: 8 August 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lyme Disease and Related Tickborne Infections)
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Browse Figure
Abstract
Increasing numbers of Canadians, including children and adolescents, are being infected with Borrelia burgdorferi and contracting Lyme disease. In the present study, we provided a qualitative analysis of written correspondence produced by 23 parents of children and adolescents with Lyme disease. The goal of this study was to investigate how medical and psychological issues were highlighted by parents describing their family’s Lyme disease experiences. The results suggest a series of four stages in these families where satisfactory treatment had not been obtained over months or years.
The experiences of parents evolved from feelings of worry for the child to frustration with the lack of a helpful treatment, to mistrust of physicians’ actions, and, in some case, to a rejection of the conventional health care system as a whole. Improved diagnostic testing and treatment guidelines, as well as family-centered practices of medical care were proposed as important features for improving the experiences of families living with Lyme disease. View Full-Text
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Category:

Lyme, research

Disulfiram Psychosis Update #2

For those of you reading my posts I’ve thought of a few other things for practitioners and patients to be aware of.

  1. The Purell Sanitizer, located in each and every hospital room was a trigger for psychosis.  Hand sanitizers are up to 60% alcohol – a no, no for those using Disulfiram/Antabuse. I could smell the nurses a mile away. I also learned from a nurse that Purell is killing nurses due to liver toxicity. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2954566/“Based upon an average of 30 hand rubbings per healthcare professional per day, it can be assumed that a healthcare worker may be exposed to a maximum 5,500 mg/m3 per work shift, five times above the recommended occupational time weighted average limit. Thus, in order to answer the question posed in the title, studies on spatial and temporal variability of alcohol emission from ABHRs in real world situations and studies on certain high risk individuals are needed.”
    According to the FDA says hand sanitizers are contributing to superbugs such as MRSA. Also, Triclosan degrades to dioxins in the body which are also toxic. A 2014 study  found that triclosans spurred the growth of breast cancer cells, and another study found they can kill brain cells. Other studies have found it interferes with hormones.  https://www.newsmax.com/health/Headline/illness-washing-hands-sanitizers/2014/12/23/id/614647/  This entire issue was ameliorated by having a sign placed outside my room so those coming in would either use soap and water or gloves when entering.
  2. Certain flowers also set me off.  I’m afraid I can’t tell you which ones but if anyone else suffers from a toxic reaction to disulfiram, keep all plants out of the room.

When I say “set me off,” these items would cause me to have a psychotic episode – even when I was nearly being discharged. All it took was a flower delivery person who had used Purell and I about had to stay longer in the hospital.

For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/10/14/november-2019-lyme-support-meeting-oct-meeting-canceled-due-to-reaction-to-disulfiram/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/10/15/disulfiram-psychosis-update/

 

 

Category:

Lyme, Treatment

Researchers Conclude Asian Longhorned Tick Contributes Minimally to Lyme Disease in the U.S.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X19303498

Original article

Failure of the Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, to serve as an experimental vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto

Under a Creative Commons licenseopen access

Abstract

The invasive, human-biting Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, was detected in New Jersey in the eastern United States in August of 2017 and by November of 2018 this tick had been recorded from 45 counties across 9 states, primarily along the Eastern Seaboard. The establishment of H. longicornis in the United States has raised the questions of how commonly it will bite humans and which native pathogens may naturally infect this tick. There also is a need for experimental vector competence studies with native pathogens to determine if H. longicornis can acquire a given pathogen while feeding, pass it transstadially, and then transmit the pathogen in the next life stage.

In this experimental study, we evaluated the vector competence of a population of H. longicornis originating from the United States (New York) for a native isolate (B31) of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.).

In agreement with a previous experimental study on the vector competence of H. longicornis for Borrelia garinii, we found that uninfected H. longicornis larvae could acquire B. burgdorferi s.s. while feeding on infected Mus musculus mice (infection prevalence >50% in freshly fed larvae) but that the infection was lost during the molt to the nymphal stage. None of 520 tested molted nymphs were found to be infected, indicating that transstadial passage of B. burgdorferi s.s. is absent or rare in H. longicornis; and based on the potential error associated with the number of nymphs testing negative in this study, we estimate that the upper 95% limit for infection prevalence was 0.73%.

An Ixodes scapularis process control showed both effective acquisition of B. burgdorferi s.s. from infected mice by uninfected larvae and transstadial passage to the nymphal stage (infection prevalence of 80–82% for both freshly fed larvae and molted nymphs). We also observed that although H. longicornis larvae could be compelled to feed on mice by placing the ticks within feeding capsules, attachment and feeding success was minimal (<0.5%) when larvae were placed freely on the fur of the mice.

We conclude that H. longicornis is unlikely to contribute more than minimally, if at all, to transmission of Lyme disease spirochetes in the United States.

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**Comment**

Transmission can still happen and if you are the sorry sucker it happens to – it makes all the difference in the world.  Here’s the deal – ticks are not your friends. Take each and every tick bite as seriously as a heart attack.  Little is known about the Asian Longhorned tick but in Asia it’s bite KILLS 15% of those whom contract it. Don’t take this lightly.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/09/first-us-human-bite-from-worrying-longhorned-tick-noted-but-its-actually-the-second-human-bite/

Excerpt:

Several other human pathogens have been detected in the ticks, but it’s not clear the Asian longhorned species are able to transmit them to humans. They include Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, and Borreliaspecies. Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria.

She warned that the organisms are present in states where longhorned ticks have been found and that it’s possible that the tick—known to be an aggressive biter—might be able to transmit Heartland virus, given its close relationship to SFTS virus.

Pritt said it’s clear that the invasive species is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and next steps should include public awareness campaigns that incorporate the new information, easy-to-use resources for labs to identify the tick, and more research to understand the implications of the new findings.

For a great read on this aggressive biter which can clone itself and is found in sunny open locations:   https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/12/three-surprising-things-i-learned-about-asian-longhorned-ticks-the-tick-guy-tom-mather/.  This picture demonstrates how if you brush against a blade of grass a literal cluster bomb of ticks explodes onto you.  To downplay this is really short sighted.three_surprising_4.png-2

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission

UMD Collaborates on New Department of Defense Grant to Study Tick-borne Infection using 3-D Models of Human Blood Vessels

https://globallymealliance.org/news/umd-collaborates-on-new-dept-of-defense-grant-to-study-tick-borne-infection-using-3-d-models-of-human-blood-vessels/

close up image of blood vessels

An exciting new project by GLA’s Scientific Advisory Board member Dr. Utpal Pal, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Maryland was announced. This project, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, will study tick-borne disease bacteria and how they leave blood vessels to enter the tissue and spread through the body.

Dr. Pal will team up with Dr. Peter Searson of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. J. Stephen Dumler of Uniformed Services University, to build three-dimensional models of blood vessels and to examine endothelial cell interactions with Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which cause serious illnesses transmitted by tick bites. All three researchers bring high-level expertise to a complex question and will use a sophisticated model system not previously used, to answer important questions about pathogen spread.

Full press release here & below:   https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/19/10/p14638103/umd-collaborates-on-new-department-of-defense-grant-to-study-tick-borne-infection-using-3-d-models

UMD Collaborates on New Department of Defense Grant to Study Tick-borne Infection using 3-D Models of Human Blood Vessels

October 22, 2019 
Models provide an opportunity to study how pathogens move in and out of the blood like never before, with implications for soldier and civilian health.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (PRWEB) October 22, 2019

Utpal Pal, professor in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Maryland, is serving as one of three collaborators on a new innovative grant from the Department of Defense, using 3-D bioengineered models of human blood vessels for the first time to examine how tick-borne pathogens move in and out of blood and tissue to cause infection and diseases like Lyme and Anaplasmosis. The team is combining expertise in tick-borne infectious diseases and bioengineering to study mechanisms that cannot be adequately captured using animal models, thus providing new targets for vaccine development and therapeutic options to protect our troops and civilians alike.

Pal is partnering with principal investigator Dr. John Dumler at the Uniformed Services University and co-investigator Peter Searson at John Hopkins University.

“The story starts out with the reports that came out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health documenting the substantial increases in tick-borne diseases in the United States since 2004, and there is evidence that many are growing even faster than reported,” says Dumler.

Between 2004 and 2016, there was a reported four-fold increase in recorded tick-borne diseases, with 80% of vector-borne diseases that affect Americans actually being tick-borne and not mosquito carried. This phenomenon affects everyone in areas where ticks are prevalent, but our troops are disproportionately affected due to their frequent travel across the country and outdoor training exercises. Due to this upswing in tick-borne illness in soldiers and civilians, the United States Department of Defense started the Tick-Borne Disease Research Program as part of their Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, charged with supporting research in tick-borne illness.

The Borrelia burgdorferi pathogen that causes Lyme disease and the Anaplasma phagocytophilum pathogen that causes Anaplasmosis are two prominent pathogens carried by a common tick in the United States, the Ixodes scapularis or black-legged tick (deer tick). Dumler is an expert in Anaplasma and has been working in tick-borne infection for forty years, while Pal is a world-renowned expert in Borrelia. Both Anaplasma and Borrelia, however, have many unknowns in their infection processes, specifically in determining how pathogens move from the skin to the blood and then from the blood to their target tissues and organs like the brain. These processes are profoundly distinct for each organism as each feature different lifestyles, but it is nearly impossible to do this work effectively in animal models.

“Humans, as incidental hosts, are a big part of the disease process in the life cycle of Borrelia,” says Pal. “How the pathogen enters the vasculature is a critical event because the pathogen is still only present in a small number. And you can’t study this using animal models. Human tissues are too different, and Borrelia can’t cross the blood-brain barrier in rodent models the way it can in humans. Dr. Searson’s models allow us to study these molecular events in a human model for the first time.”

Searson is quite well known for developing tissue-engineered models of human blood vessels and systems, particularly for the brain. With recent advances in stem cell technology, these models have become increasingly complex, with the ability to differentiate cells in a way that couldn’t be done before. While 2-D models have been used in the past to examine pathogen dissemination, this is the first time that 3-D vascular structures have been used in tick-borne infection to study how pathogens are transported by the blood and vascular system in real time, and how they can enter organs and tissues like the brain.

“Right now, there is absolutely no effective model to study this process,” says Pal, “so these 3-D models are essential.” Dumler adds, “Being able to study pathogen dissemination in a configuration that mimics what happens in a real tissue will give a much better picture about what happens in real life.”

The researchers are able to visualize this process in real time, tracking pathogens with fluorescent dyes that are easily viewed under the microscope and recorded for processing and analysis. With Searson’s expertise in creating tissue-engineered models, and Pal and Dumler’s extensive expertise in the biology of tick-borne infections, they are able to manipulate the models with different types of cells and structures to visualize how transfer in and out of the bloodstream occurs.

Everyone involved is excited about the collaboration and the future of this work.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with world experts in tick-borne infections on such an important problem,” says Searson.

Pal adds,

“This grant is just the beginning to create a unique program that will use these models to help us to address many questions in tick-borne diseases that are unanswered.”

This work is funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s Tick Borne Disease Research Program, United States Department of Defense Award #W81XWH-19-2-0045.

 

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Lyme, research

Unraveling Spirochetes

https://globallymealliance.org/unraveling-spirochetes/

image of spirochete

by Jennifer Crystal

Lyme disease is a complex illness, not just because it manifests in the body in different ways, but because it is also very difficult to diagnose. The Lyme disease bacterium itself, Borrelia burgdorferi, is a high-functioning organism called a spirochete. It doesn’t react to medication as other illnesses do. People have trouble pronouncing it. In this article, I will unravel the mystery of the spirochete: what it is, how it works, what it feels like in an infected person, and how patients can best obliterate it.

Spiro-whats?

I have heard every possible pronunciation of spirochete, from speer-o-shet, to spy-ro-shet-tees, like agricultural machetes. The correct pronunciation is spy-ro-keet. The name is derived from the shape of the bacteria, which is spiral like a corkscrew. Another spiral-shaped bacteria you may be familiar with is syphilis. While the illnesses are different, both are marked by coiled bacteria that twist and move, making them difficult to catch and treat in the body.

Spirochetes are savvy. They spiral away from antibiotics, burrowing into bones, cells, joints, and nerves. They can even cross the blood-brain barrier, bringing Lyme disease into your central nervous system. They replicate and spread; all it takes is one dormant spirochete to start reproducing for a Lyme infection to flare up. This is why late-stage Lyme—which goes untreated for a long time and has spread around the body and into the central nervous system—is difficult to treat, if not virtually impossible to fully eradicate.

How does a spirochete function?

In layman’s terms, I tend to think of spirochetes as glowing gummy worms buzzing around my body. I picture them with headlamps guiding their way through my joints, cells, and organs, including my brain. At my lowest point of illness, when my spirochete load was high and my symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, inflammation, and migraines were at their worst, I would imagine an x-ray showing millions of glowing worms spinning through my body.

The image is not far off from what was actually happening. My body was overloaded with spirochetes that were causing inflammation, frayed nerves, short-circuited synapses, etc. As antibiotics chased the spirochetes, eventually some started dying off. This caused another kind of overload because the antibiotics were killing the bacteria faster than my body could eliminate them. The build-up of dead, yet to be off-loaded toxins causes what is called a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction which will make you feel much worse before you begin to feel better. Eventually, however, the antibiotics will start overwhelming the spirochetes which the body will slowly but relentlessly eliminate; then you’ll start feeling better.

Can I feel spirochetes in my body?

Technically, no. Though my Integrative Manual Therapist often says he can feel the motility of spirochetes when I am having a flare-up of achiness, inflammation, and fatigue. When my Lyme flares, I often first sense it in my forearms and shins. These areas feel bruised to the touch, and are especially achy. I also feel a spinning sensation under my skin, and when I put my hands on my skin, I feel a buzzing like electricity. I imagine I’m feeling the twisting spirochetes coiling around my arms and legs, but my Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) says, no, what I’m actually feeling is the inflammation of my peripheral sensory nerve fibers.

How do I get rid of spirochetes?

Borrelia burgdorferi is best killed with antibiotics. In my personal experience, naturopathic or homeopathic treatments are a good complement to antibiotics, but they can never replace them. However, I have found other techniques that may help antibiotics work more effectively, by helping my body to detox (offload) dead spirochetes.

  • Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT)—This hands-on, light touch therapy includes neurofascial processing and cranial sacral therapy. An IMT practitioner uses their hands to help different systems of your body work together. I believe that IMT has helped me to detox faster and has calmed down spirochete activity and inflammation. At the height of my battle with tick-borne illnesses, I had IMT sessions 2-3 times a week. Now I do them every other week. Some physical therapy practices offer IMT, which means the sessions may be covered by your insurance.
  • At-home IMT—Sometimes just placing my own hands on the areas where I’m feeling the buzzing helps calm that sensation down. I usually do one hand on either calf, or one on either forearm, for at least fifteen minutes. You can check out the book Body Wisdom: Light Touch for Optimal Health by Sharon Giammatteo for more at-home techniques.
  • Decaffeinated green tea—Green tea is well-known to help with detox, and I usually have one cup of it after an IMT session. I also find that when I’m feeling the “spirochetes” in my arms and legs—or rather, as my doctor would say, feeling the inflammation of my peripheral sensory nerve fibers— it helps to have at least one cup of green tea daily.
  • Water—Flush your system with as much water as possible, alternating regular water with electrolyte-enhanced water to make sure you keep your sodium and potassium levels regulated.
  • Anti-inflammatory diet—This means different things for different people. For me, it helps to eliminate gluten and sugar. For others, it helps to reduce dairy. Check with your LLMD about what foods might best help you reduce inflammation.
  • Don’t exercise—Lyme patients are always hearing “Maybe it’ll help you to exercise!” or “You should at least go for a walk and get some fresh air!” When my Lyme is flaring, this advice is not helpful—it’s hurtful. When I’m feeling well, exercise is an important and useful tool for optimizing that wellness. When I’m overloaded with spirochetes, exercise only moves the bacteria around more and makes me feel worse. If you had a large cut on your arm that was severely inflamed, you wouldn’t wave that arm around frantically to get blood flowing to it. Instead, you’d rest your arm so it could heal. The same is true for an inflamed body.
  • Don’t get a massage—This tip is similar to exercise avoidance. Deep massage helps your circulation, but if you have spirochetes in your body you may want to refrain from encouraging their movement. I avoid massage when I’m in the midst of a flare up, and when I do get a massage, I make sure the touch is very, very light.

These are techniques that help me when my Lyme is flaring up. Other patients may have other ideas that I haven’t tried. It’s important to check with your LLMD to see what the best protocol is for you.

jennifer crystal_2Jennifer Crystal is a writer and educator in Boston. Her memoir One Tick Stopped the Clock is forthcoming. Contact her at lymewarriorjennifercrystal@gmail.com.

 

 

Category:

Lyme