Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

Wisconsin Lyme Workshop in March

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/at_a_glance_wln_newsletter_1_29_19.pdf

Learn about Lyme Workshop

Lyme and other tick-borne diseases continue to rise in our area. Hear from experts in this field, who will share evidenced-based information and education on this rapidly growing health concern. Whether you are looking for prevention tips or are suffering the effects of a tick-borne disease, this day is for you. Please join us as we discuss the number one vector-borne disease in the United States.

Date: Saturday, March 23, 2019 Time: 9am to 4pm

Location: Black River Beach Neighborhood Center 1433 Rose Street, La Crosse, WI

Cost per Participant: $10
*Gluten Free/Dairy Free lunch is included.

To register for this workshop, please visit our City of La Crosse Parks & Recreation website at or, call 608-789-8640. https://www.cityoflacrosse.org/Parks
**Registration Deadline: Monday, March 18, 2019

Guest Experts Include:

Dr. Elizabeth L. Maloney
Rebecca Keith, Family Nurse Practitioner
Phillip Pratt, Coppe Laboratories
Erika Schlick, IIN Certified Health Coach Cookbook Author & Blogger

This event is supported by the Wisconsin Lyme Network and the Minnesota Lyme Association. Workshop Presenters:

Dr. Elizabeth L. Maloney is the President of Partnership for Tick-Borne Diseases Education, a non-profit organization providing online and live evidence-based continuing medical education programming and materials on tick-borne diseases for physicians and other healthcare professionals. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School and its affiliated Family Medicine residency.

Dr. Maloney also acts as a consultant to government agencies and private organizations. She recently served on the Pathogenesis, Transmission and Treatment subcommittee of the federally mandated Tick-borne Diseases Working group. She frequently speaks to the general public on tick-borne diseases, emphasizing the need for primary and secondary prevention.

Rebecca Keith, Family Nurse Practitioner

Keith obtained both her undergrad and graduate degrees from the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, MN. Having spent most of her life in Wisconsin and actively enjoying the outdoors, ticks and insects are no strangers to her. Rebecca began paying more attention to Lyme and co- infections by 2008. After experiencing success in treating patients she opened her practice in 2010. Rebecca primarily sees patients in Minong, WI. Rebecca is a member of ILADS, Lymedisease.org, and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. She utilizes integrative medical approaches in treating Lyme and the multi system dysfunction which accompanies it.

Erika Schlick, IIN Certified Health Coach | Cookbook Author and Blogger

Erika Schlick is a Certified Health Coach and Author of the Wandering Palate which features 28 days of travel inspired paleo meals to make it easy to stay on track and eat healthy. She herself was affected by Lyme in 2012 and was diagnosed in 2014. After 3 years of treatment, she has been in remission for over 2 years and has made it her life mission to help others affected by Lyme.

She is also the voice behind The Trail To Health ( ) which is a health and wellness blog documenting her journey with Lyme disease and everything she learned about health along the way. http://www.thetrailtohealth.com

Phillip Pratt, Coppe Laboratories

Coppe Laboratories is dedicated to discovering and providing diagnostic and treatment solutions for illnesses caused by infectious agents. We offer quality diagnostic testing that exceeds regulatory expectations and provides clear answers with actionable results. We strive to eliminate barriers experienced by physicians and patients in the diagnosis and management of disease through scientific research and innovative diagnostic assays. Coppe Laboratories uses their scientific expertise to transform novel procedures routinely used in the research setting into high-complexity, CLIA-certified diagnostic tests. This work, in conjunction with groundbreaking research and development, makes Coppe Laboratories a leading provider of diagnostic tests for arthropod-borne disease, women’s health and transplant.

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme

The CDC is a Captured Agency

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/24170834?

The CDC is a “Captured Agency”

FEB 14, 2019 — 

The letter below is a follow-up to earlier correspondence regarding wasteful government spending by the CDC. Previously posted here: https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/24149441

———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: tickbornedisease@hhs.gov, brett.giroir@hhs.gov
Cc: (79 undisclosed recipients)
Date: February 14, 2019 at 1:49 PM
Subject: The CDC is a “Captured Agency”

On Feb 9, 2019 Carl Tuttle Wrote: “Wormser’s study was funded directly from the US Centers for Disease Control……Funding: RO1 CK 000152 which appears to be an open checkbook…..”

Efficacy of a 14-day course of amoxicillin for patients with erythema migrans.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732889318303304
Feb 14, 2019

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Attn: ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health

Dr. Giroir,

The US Centers for Disease Control continues to waste taxpayer dollars on Dr. Gary Wormser’s frivolous junk science which over the years has negatively influenced the response to this runaway plague.

You have received numerous emails with scientific reference after reference, testimony after testimony of how Lyme disease is destroying lives nationwide yet you remain silent to every one of my inquiries.  

There is absolutely no question whatsoever that the CDC is a captured agency controlled by the con artists exploiting the system under government protection.

Regulatory Capture
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture

According to Wikipedia:

Regulatory capture is a form of government failure which occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.[1] When regulatory capture occurs, the interests of firms or political groups are prioritized over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss for society. Government agencies suffering regulatory capture are called “captured agencies”.

Your silence Dr. Giroir is a vote of no confidence.

Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

_______________

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/13/lyme-science-owned-by-good-ol-boys/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/25/speaking-of-fake-science-fifty-seven-million-anti-trust-lawsuit-against-cdc-lyme-tests/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/13/suppression-of-microscopy-for-lyme-diagnostics-professor-laane/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/31/when-als-is-lyme-letter-to-tbi-working-group/ The racketeering scheme to downplay the severity of Lyme disease as identified in the RICO lawsuit should be addressed and documented by the TBD Working Group and not ignored as if this crime does not exist otherwise it will be business as usual at the Centers for Disease Control and we’ll have another thirty years of failure to properly diagnose, treat and control this life-altering infection.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/07/20268/  (complete convoluted history about Lymerix found in this link)  In 2012, when the CDC revised the official case number of new Lyme disease infections per year from 30,000 to over 300,000 new Lyme––overnight, those of us in the know understood that they were getting the public ready to accept this upcoming vaccine with open arms and a sense of relief. In other words, scare the public just enough to make them open to wanting this product without causing mass panic nationwide or worldwide. And without having to explain their denial to date.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/pbs-lyme-vaccine/  Did you know that the LYMERIX vaccine caused 640 emergency room visits, 34 life threatening reactions, 77 hospitalizations, 198 disabilities, and 6 deaths? In a vile cesspool of conflicts of interest are university patent holders, drug companies, and the FDA itself as another patent holder. It generated 40 million dollars before it was yanked. (2008, Drymon)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/10/wormsers-worthless-study-waste-of-taxpayer-money/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/10/tuttles-letter-to-the-assistant-secretary-for-health-is-the-mishandling-of-lyme-a-result-of-incompetence-or-collusion/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/06/cdcs-troubling-lack-of-research-ethics/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/18/hhs-not-to-be-trusted-with-lyme/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/11/29/spider-attacks-cdc/

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme

Study Shows Ticks PCR Positive for Bartonella and Two Strains of Borrelia

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877959X18302942

Regional prevalences of Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia bissettiae, and Bartonella henselae in Ixodes affinis, Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis in the USA

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence of Borrelia and Bartonella species in Ixodes spp. ticks collected from 16 USA states. Genus PCR amplification and sequence analysis of Bartonella and Borrelia16SsRNA-23SsRNA intergenic regions were performed on DNA extracted from 929 questing adult ticks (671 Ixodes scapularis, 155 Ixodes affinis, and 103 Ixodes pacificus).

Overall, 129/929 (13.9%) Ixodes ticks were PCR positive for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, 48/929 (5.1%) for B. bissettiae whereas 23/929 (2.5%) were PCR positive for a Bartonella henselae. Borrelia bissettiae or B. burgdorferi s.s. and B. henselae co-infections were found in I. affinis from North Carolina at a rate of 4.5%; in a single I. scapularis from Minnesota, but not in I. pacificus. For both bacterial genera, PCR positive rates were highly variable depending on geographic location and tick species, with Ixodes affinis (n = 155) collected from North Carolina, being the tick species with the highest prevalence’s for both Borrelia spp. (63.2%) and B. henselae (10.3%). Based on the results of this and other published studies, improved understanding of the enzootic cycle, transmission dynamics, and vector competence of Ixodes species (especially I. affinis) for transmission of Borrelia spp. and B. henselae should be a public health research priority.

________________

**Comment**

One of the most understated studies yet.  Research on transmission and vector competence is screaming to be done – especially for Bartonella as mainstream medicine still thinks it’s a simple disease caused by the scratch of a cat that only affects immunocompromised people.  They also insist the black-legged tick is the sole perp for Lyme.  Both of these tenets are being shattered on a daily basis.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/10/bartonella-henselae-neuroretinitis-in-patients-without-cat-scratch/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/23/chest-imaging-of-cat-scratch-disease-in-2-year-old-immunocompetent-baby-with-no-history-of-cat-contact/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/05/cat-scratch-disease-in-a-1-5-year-old-girl-case-report/  A 1.5-year-old girl who was seen in hospital for the sparing use of her left arm when crawling.  Tested positively for Bartonella henselae.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/03/encephalopathy-in-adult-with-cat-scratch-disease/  Case of a 53-year-old healthy man, presenting with confusion.  Serology confirmed Bartonella henselae infection.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/09/transverse-myelitis-guillain-barre-associated-with-bartonella/  Healthy 10 year old girl had coexisting transverse myelitis and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) related to infection with Bartonella henselae.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/05/skull-infection-due-to-bartonella/  A 3-year-old female with a recent history of typical CSD involving lymph nodes who developed osteomyelitis of the skull.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/02/bartonella-langerhans-cell-histiocytosis-cancer/

 

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/16/study-shows-lyme-in-15-species-of-canadian-ticks-6-of-which-bite-humans-numerous-new-bird-species-acting-as-hosts/  Overall, 1,265 ticks consisting of 27 tick species belonging to four genera were collected.  Of the 18 tick species tested, 15 species (83%) were positive for Bbsl and, of these infected ticks, 6 species bite humans.

Two ticks species known to be transmitters of disease (I. affinis and I. minor) were transported into Canada and are actually more important vectors of Bbsl in the southeastern U.S. than the blacklegged tick.

THESE FINDINGS UNDERSCORE THE FACT PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO GO AN ENDEMIC AREA TO CONTRACT LYME DISEASE AND ASSOCIATED TICK-BORNE DISEASES. 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Bartonella, Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks

Mitral Valve Endocarditis: A Supposed Rare Manifestation of Lyme Disease

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/30690018/

Mitral Valve Endocarditis: A rare Manifestation of Lyme Disease.

Haddad O, et al. Ann Thorac Surg. 2019.

Abstract

Valvular involvement in Lyme disease is rare. Confirmation of Borrelia species as the causative agent by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was done in a few cases in Europe and the US. We describe a case of mitral regurgitation with a preoperative diagnosis of myxomatous mitral valve degeneration. During surgery, the surgeon suspected infective rather than degenerative; etiology; tissue cultures were negative. However, universal bacterial PCR on explanted valve tissue detected Borrelia burgdorferiDeoxyribonucleic Acid(DNA). If a surgeon suspects infective endocarditis at the time surgery, appropriate specimens should be sent for histopathology, culture, and PCR.

____________________

**Comment**

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times:  researchers need to obstain from using the word “rare” in anything they write about MSIDS.  Nobody has a clue about numbers.  Testing misses over half of all cases and this study is a perfect example in that it proves tissue cultures can be negative yet a person can still be infected with Lyme.  Lyme experts have talked about seronegativity for decades yet mainstream medicine continues to deny it exists.  This must change.

Lyme/MSIDS causes all sorts of heart issues:  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/14/vermont-resident-dies-of-rare-lyme-disease-complication-that-isnt-rare/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/17/lyme-carditis-heart-block-other-complications-of-ld/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/16/advanced-heart-block-in-children-with-lyme-disease-2/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/23/video-dr-neil-spector/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/03/heart-problems-tick-borne-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/10/lyme-carditis-presenting-with-atrial-fibrillation/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/10/lyme-carditis-with-complete-heart-block/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/04/correlation-of-natural-autoantibodies-heart-disease-related-antibacterial-antibodies-in-pericardial-fluid-mycoplasma-bb-chlamydia/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/30/13-common-infections-that-can-raise-your-heart-attack-risk-including-lyme-msids/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/28/bartonella-infective-endocarditis-with-dissemination-a-case-report-literature-review/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/04/endocarditis-consider-bartonella/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/20/babesia-and-heart-issues/

Does this look rare to you?

Category:

Heart Issues, Lyme, research, Testing

Wormser’s Worthless Study & Waste of Taxpayer Money

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/24149441?

Wormser’s waste of your taxpayer dollars!

FEB 10, 2019 — 

Yet another useless study out of New York Medical College funded by the US Centers for Disease Control. Please see the following letter of disgust sent to Wormser with carbon copy to the TBD Working Group, Assistant Secretary for Health and Mark Holodniy Editor-in-Chief, Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease.

——— Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: gwormser@nymc.edu, tickbornedisease@hhs.gov, brett.giroir@hhs.gov
Cc: (82 Undisclosed recipients)
Date: February 9, 2019 at 9:42 AM
Subject: Efficacy of a 14-day course of amoxicillin for patients with erythema migrans

ScienceDirect

Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Efficacy of a 14-day course of amoxicillin for patients with erythema migrans.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732889318303304

Wormser GP1, Brady KC2, Cho MS2, Scavarda CA2, McKenna D2.

Excerpt:

“….findings provide additional evidence that a 14-day course of 500 mg amoxicillin given 3 times per day is highly effective therapy for patients with early Lyme disease.”

Feb 9, 2019

Division of Infectious Diseases,
New York Medical College,
Valhalla, NY 10595
Attn: Gary P. Wormser, MD

Dr. Wormser,

Once again, as previously stated in the email below; “Your fixation on the acute stage of disease [with bulls-eye rash] after early treatment has done nothing to advance our understanding of how Lyme disease disables its victim.”

Early treatment of strep throat prevents patients from advancing to rheumatic fever which as you know causes irreversible heart damage. If we focused on the acute stage of strep we would never have realized that missed early treatment caused serious life-altering/life-threatening health consequences.

Ignoring the late stage horribly disabled Lyme population which could total in the millions worldwide is the equivalent of denying the Holocaust.

I noticed that your manuscript did not include the following reference:

July 2017- In Vitro Susceptibility of the Relapsing-Fever Spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi to Antimicrobial Agents.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28674060

Excerpt:

“We were able to show that both B. miyamotoi strains and B. hermsii demonstrated greater susceptibility to doxycycline and azithromycin, equal susceptibility to ceftriaxone and proved to be resistant to amoxicillin in vitro as compared to the B. burgdorferi s.l. isolates.”

Your retirement Dr. Wormser is highly, highly anticipated.

Carl Tuttle

Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

NOTE: Wormser’s study was funded directly from the US Centers for Disease Control

Funding: RO1 CK 000152 which appears to be an open checkbook for his junk science.  (Wasteful taxpayer spending)

Cc: Tick Borne Disease Working Group
Assistant Secretary for Health, ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D.
Mark Holodniy Editor-in-Chief, Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease.

_________________________________________________________

Previous email sent to Wormser on Jan 4, 2019:
On January 4, 2019 at 10:48 AM CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net> wrote:

JAMAShapiro ED, Wormser GP. Lyme disease in 2018: what is new (and what is not).
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2696480

Jan 4, 2019

Division of Infectious Diseases,
New York Medical College,
Valhalla, NY 10595
Attn: Gary P. Wormser, MD

Dr. Wormser,

In reference to your response to my letter to the Editor published in the December 18th  issue of JAMA, it would appear that you and your coauthor Dr. Shapiro conveniently ignored my question highlighted below: 

Excerpt from my letter to the editor:

Controversies About Lyme Disease
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2718786

-Carl Tuttle

“It is well known that untreated streptococcal pharyngitis can progress to rheumatic fever, causing irreversible heart damage. Untreated syphilis leads to progressive disability and dementia, and untreated HIV infection progresses to AIDS with significant disability and death. What happens to the patient with Lyme disease who goes months, years or decades before diagnosis because of a false negative serological test?”

___________________________

Untreated Lyme is destroying lives, ending careers while leaving the patient in financial ruin as reported by the disabled Lyme community for the past three decades. The absence of a bulls-eye rash after tick bite allows patients to progress to severe neurological disease instead of obtaining a prompt diagnosis and early treatment.

I would like to call attention to the following quote taken from an interview with Professor Willy Burgdorfer, the discoverer of the Lyme disease spirochete:

“The controversy in Lyme disease research is a shameful affair. I say that because the whole thing is politically tainted. Money goes to people that have for the past thirty years produced the same thing. Nothing.”  – Willy Burgdorfer

Source: (Live interview)

Prof. Willy Burgdorfer Talks About Lyme Disease
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCnrUmAPcOE

Your fixation on the acute stage of disease after early treatment Dr. Wormser has done nothing to advance our understanding of how Lyme disease disables its victim.

For example:

Subjective symptoms after treatment of early Lyme disease.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20102996

Gary Wormser, New York Medical College

(Financed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control)

RESULTS:

“At 12 months after enrollment, only 5 (2.2%) of 230 evaluable patients reported new or increased symptoms, and in none of the patients were these symptoms of sufficient severity to be functionally disabling”

_____________________________

Summary of Wormser’s study: Anyone experiencing symptoms after the one-size-fits-all treatment approach is just experiencing nothing more than the “aches and pains of daily living.”

So basically Wormser’s results are then assumed to apply to the entire patient population; in other words, Lyme is no big deal which has wrongly influenced our nation’s response to this serious life-altering health threat. The research into how Lyme disables should have been completed by now but the misclassification of Lyme as a simple nuisance disease (hard to catch and easily treated) has paralyzed the response to this runaway plague.

Many infections as I continue to point out evolve into an entirely different and serious life-altering/life-threatening disease when left untreated.

Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) after early treatment and untreated Lyme of months, years or decades are two entirely different disease states; the latter being ignored for three decades. Patients who have had a prolonged exposure to the pathogen are almost always incapacitated.

Purposely avoiding the advanced stage of disease hides the horribly disabled and anyone unable to see this is somewhat naive.

So I ask the question Dr. Wormser, What is the motivation for downplaying the severity of Lyme disease while ignoring patient outcry for thirty years?

A prompt response to this inquiry is requested.

Please hit Reply-All as I have carbon copied the Tick Borne Disease Working Group and Assistant Secretary for Health, ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D.

Carl Tuttle

Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

___________________

Study found here:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0732889318303304

Efficacy of a 14-day course of amoxicillin for patients with erythema migrans

Abstract

Although a 14-day treatment course with amoxicillin is in wide clinical usage to treat early Lyme disease, only a few published studies exist to validate its efficacy and safety, with none in the United States. In this study, we reviewed the records of 24 prospectively followed adult patients with erythema migrans who were prescribed a 14-day course of amoxicillin, 500 mg 3 times daily. Treatment with amoxicillin was well tolerated and uniformly successful in resolving the erythema migrans skin lesion and in preventing the development of an objective neurologic, cardiac, or rheumatologic manifestation. Although the study was relatively small and only involved a single center, the findings provide additional evidence that a 14-day course of 500 mg amoxicillin given 3 times per day is highly effective therapy for patients with early Lyme disease.

__________________

For appropriate treatment, see:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/

For a fantastic overview listen to Dr. Burrascano on the history of Lyme, and important considerations in treatment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/28/the-history-of-lyme-disease-dr-burrascano/  

In brief:

  • Treat ALL forms of Bb
  • Treat coinfections
  • Treat long enough (Bb is slow-growing and persistent)
  • Make sure blood levels of antibiotics are high enough as people vary.  He discusses amoxicillin and how they found that increasing the dosage to 1,000mg 3X/day and adding probenecid to increase the antibiotic in the blood, people did even better.  He goes on to tell of an unpublished study with Stoneybook where there was a failure rate of 100% of patients taking 300mg of doxycycline a day for 21 days. Yet, how many people are given this exact treatment?
  • Cycle treatment.  This means, once you are symptom-free for 2-4 months, stop treatment.  If symptoms return, treat again.  Burrascano has found that it typically takes 3-4 Cycles before a person remains symptom-free.  The 3rd cycle often yields the worst herx in his experience.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/13/chronic-lyme-post-mortem-study-needed-to-end-the-lyme-wars/  In this astute editorial, Microbiologist Tom Greer states:

From the very beginning, treatment failures were seen in virtually every antibiotic study done. The longer the patient follow up, the higher the incidence of treatment failure. The medical community blamed early treatment failures on the older antibiotics erythromycin, tetracycline, and penicillin, and determined that these antibiotics were not very effective at curing Lyme disease. Ignored was the fact that the newer antibiotics were also consistently failing to prevent relapses of active infection. Since these early treatment studies, the concept that two weeks of antibiotic therapy is adequate treatment for Lyme disease has remained ingrained in the medical community’s collective consciousness. [The Long-Term Follow-up of Lyme Disease: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study. Authors: Shadick NA; Phillips CB; Sangha O et al. Ann Intern Med 1999 Dec 21;131(12):919-26]

*Data presented by Dr. Nancy Shadick at an International Lyme Symposia showed that patients in the Nantucket Island study followed for up to 5.2 years after initial antibiotic treatment had ever-climbing relapse rates. Relapse rates in patients receiving two weeks of IV Rocephin (ceftriaxone) could expect a relapse rate to exceed 50% after five years.

There is a smart way to treat this, yet few are nuanced in this skill.  We desperately need post-mortem studies to determine what is keeping people ill.  We need current transmission studies.  We need doctor education on the polymicrobial aspect of this disease. And, we need the stigma & polarization to go away so insurance companies will cover Lyme/MSIDS medical expenses, patients will be believed and supported and the bullying will end.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Treatment