Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

Art Recognizing Lyme Disease

https://www.lymedisease.org/emily-bromberg-art/

Her art reflects long-term struggle with unrecognized Lyme disease

By Dorothy Kupcha Leland
2/23/24

Emily Bromberg is a painter and ceramic artist based in Seattle, Washington. She’s struggled with unexplained chronic pain for much of her life. Things dramatically intensified in 2021, however, forcing her to stop working.

It took two more years of visiting about a dozen doctors before she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and began treatment.

She has recently completed a body of work called “For your Convenience.” It is an art installation that combines paintings and ceramic vases in a reflection on her long-term struggle with misdiagnosed and untreated tick-borne infection and mold illness.

Creating visual representations of her heart, lungs, and gut covered in ticks, infectious bacteria, intracellular parasites, and mold, is a cathartic process through which she hopes to make visible what is often an invisible illness.  (See link for article)

See more of her work at her website: emilybromberg.com. Her Instagram handle is @emily.bromberg .

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Category:

Activism, Lyme

NYC Ticks Found to Carry 5 Different Infections

https://www.lymedisease.org/nyc-ticks-found-to-carry-5-different-infections/

NYC ticks found to carry 5 different infections

People often associate ticks with being in rural or suburban areas. But the infection-carrying arachnids can be found in densely populated cities as well.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers collected 2500 ticks from parks in four New York City boroughs—Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.

When they tested the ticks, they found pathogens for five human diseases:

  • Lyme disease
  • ehrlichiosis
  • babesiosis
  • anaplasmosis
  • Rocky Mountain spotted fever

You can read the open-access journal article here.

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Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, research, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

A Significant Step Forward in Lyme Disease Research (Don’t Hold Your Breath)

https://giving.massgeneral.org/stories/a-significant-step-forward-in-lyme-disease-research

A Significant Step Forward in Lyme Disease Research

The newly funded multidisciplinary Lyme disease program will improve patient care and seek new breakthroughs in early detection, treatment and prevention.

By Nancy Kilburn

11/27/23

Excerpts:

To address this public health challenge, Mass General is establishing a Multidisciplinary Lyme Disease Clinical Research Program. Made possible with the support of Phillip H. Morse, Vice Chairman of the Boston Red Sox, the program will bring together experts from infectious diseases, neurology, rheumatology and other departments across the hospital to provide more coordinated care for patients and advance research toward new treatments and methods for early detection and prevention.

In all, the Morse family’s transformational gift provides funding for an endowed chair — recently awarded to Dr. Steere — and the creation of a multidisciplinary clinic with a Lyme disease research program.

The Morse Endowed Chair in Medicine, the highest academic honor Mass General can give, provides Dr. Steere with flexible funding to pursue high-impact work. As Chair, Dr. Steere is launching the Lyme disease clinical research program, alongside Jacob Lemieux, MD, PhD, a leading physician-scientist who studies the genetics of Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses. “Jake represents the next generation of Lyme research and this gift will help us realize the vision of what they can accomplish in the future,” says Dr. Steere.  (See link for article)

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SUMMARY:

  • One of the goals is that patients will receive “coordinated” care in one location.
  • The article erroneously states that a “small subset” of patients go on to suffer with persistent symptoms. (This myth must be destroyed or patients will never get the attention they deserve)
  • The article states patients are frustrated by the slow rate of progress in treating long-Lyme. (Ya think?!)
  • Regarding the NIH, research into persistent symptoms as been a “hard sell.” (This is the understatement of the year!)
  • Due to this FACT, research into persistent symptoms would not be possible without philanthropic support. (They fully admit that doing ANY research with government grants is a WASTE OF TIME.  Please remember this when you read about Lyme advocates clamoring for more government money/research. It is never yielded anything productive for patients and it never will unless the accepted narrative is replaced by reality)

It remains to be seen if this new interdisciplinary group is any different from the same-o-same-o of the past.  I’m not holding my breath.  The juggernaut of corrupt research institutions in academia as well as in ‘public health’ agencies is very real and only appears to be worsening.

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I think we have our answer about this already. I’d love to be wrong.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, vaccines

Zooming With Congress For More Lyme Funding Which Will Yield Zilch for Patients

‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” ~ usually attributed to Alfred Einstein

https://www.lymedisease.org/zooming-with-congress-fly-in/

By Dorothy Kupcha Leland

2/22/24

Zooming with Congress for more Lyme funding

More than 380 Lyme disease advocates from 45 states put on their special green neck scarves and zoomed with congressional offices this week.

Their goal? To educate their elected representatives and urge them to increase federal funding for Lyme disease research.

This is the fifth year the Center for Lyme Action has sponsored the annual Lyme Fly-in, and the fourth year it’s been held virtually. Since the CLA formed in 2019, federal funding for Lyme disease has increased $282 million. (A good start, but much more is needed!)

The virtual Lyme Fly-In is also a chance for Lyme advocates to connect with each other–and spread the word on social media. Here are some of my favorite posts I found online: (Go to link for article)

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**Comment**

I’m all about educating.  That is rarely unfruitful unless your audience is so completely biased and/or corrupt that it refuses to entertain anything but a regurgitated narrative.  What is a waste of time is increasing government grant money for a highly polarized illness that hasn’t been dealt with properly since it was ‘discovered.’  Not sure when the memo will reach advocates, but it’s time to move on from this fruitless endeavor.

History has shown that the only forward progress in Lymeland has been from the hard work of independent researchers who are typically invested personally and who are driven and open-minded enough to find real answers.

The Senate rejected an inquiry into whether Lyme started in a Pentagon lab.  Do we really expect transparency from the very agencies that may be behind it all but refuse to be investigated?  Seriously?

Further, the old political debate over chronic/persistent infection has yet to be accepted in mainstream medicine and media – but is embraced by those who accept the world wide research and reality.  This fly in the proverbial ointment proves little has changed and funding the same agencies will yield nothing productive for patients.

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Category:

Activism, Lyme, research

Lyme Disease Triggers Autoimmune Disease – Lupus

https://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-autoimmune-disease/

LYME DISEASE TRIGGERS AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE – LUPUS

lyme-autoimmune-disease

An increasing number of studies indicate that Lyme disease may ignite an autoimmune reaction in some individuals or symptoms may mimic an autoimmune disease.

By 

In their article “Lyme Borreliosis as a Trigger for Autoimmune Disease,” Yehudina and colleagues present a unique case in which an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria which causes Lyme disease) triggered the autoimmune condition, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), also referred to as lupus.¹

As the authors point out, “long-term exposure of the host’s immune system to [Borrelia] spirochetes can contribute to the development of [a new onset] chronic autoimmune disease.”

This case report describes a 35-year-old woman who developed pain in the joints of her hand, episodes of low-grade fever, general weakness and fatigue and skin rashes on her hands and trunk. The woman reported having an insect bite prior to the onset of her symptoms.

“The patient consulted a dermatologist, who prescribed topical treatment (ointment containing steroids) for dermatitis for one month but with no response,” the authors state.

She then consulted with a rheumatologist, who ordered Lyme disease testing, which was positive by Western blot.

The woman was diagnosed with Lyme disease and prescribed a 28-day course of antibiotic treatment with doxycycline.

“Following therapy, her general condition improved with resolution of joint pain, weakness, normalization of body temperature, and decrease in rashes,” the authors state.

“There is strong evidence of the presence of an immune-mediated process in patients with antibiotic resistant [Lyme disease].”

However, 2 months after completing treatment, the woman exhibited new symptoms. She developed low-grade fevers, a butterfly-like bilateral erythema on the cheek, hair loss, pain, morning stiffness in her hands and wrist joints, weight loss and pronounced chilliness of the fingers.

“Taking into account the change in the clinical manifestations, further investigations were conducted to exclude systemic connective tissue diseases and lymphoma,” the authors state.

A skin biopsy was performed and revealed that the woman, in fact, had lupus, an autoimmune disease.

After treatment for the autoimmune disease, her symptoms improved significantly.

The authors conclude, “Long-term exposure of the host’s immune system to spirochetes can cause chronic autoimmune disease.”

“One possible explanation for antibiotic-resistant [Lyme disease] or subsequent autoimmune reactions and diseases is the generation of autoimmunity directly or indirectly mediated by the pathogen and based on molecular mimicry,” the authors point out.

References:
  1. Yehudina Y, Trypilka S. Lyme Borreliosis as a Trigger for Autoimmune Disease. Cureus. 2021 Oct 10;13(10):e18648. doi: 10.7759/cureus.18648. PMID: 34786243; PMCID: PMC8578812.

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**Comment**

The article only mentions treatment for autoimmune disease, but not treatment for infection which would deal with the root of the problem – which is ongoing infection after the abysmal, unscientific CDC mono therapy of doxycycline.  It also doesn’t mention that patients are typically coinfected with many pathogens that all require different medications.

This is a perfect example of the continued biased and limited propaganda still heralding from government funded research, and a perfect example of why we should not give one more dime to it. Any Lyme/MSIDS advocate who says otherwise is either ignorant of the sordid history or a part of the problem, but it’s seriously time to wake up.

Category:

Lyme, research