Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

As Lyme Disease Expands Its Reach, New Research Offers Hope (But Not Really)

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2809395

Medical News & Perspectives
Climate Change and Health
September 6, 2023

As Lyme Disease Expands Its Reach, New Research Offers Hope

Anita Slomski
JAMA. Published online September 6, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.15358
JAMA Medical News

Public health warnings about vector-borne diseases in the US are heating up. In a May editorial, scientists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made a plea for a vaccine against West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes and has no treatment. By midsummer, the CDC reported that as many as 450 000 people in the US may have a meat allergy from the bite of the lone star tick, while other CDC scientists warned that mosquitoes are becoming resistant to the insecticides used in abatement efforts. Mosquitoes struck in August, when public health officials reported 11 cases of locally acquired dengue fever in Florida and Maryland’s first known case of locally acquired malaria in more than 40 years.

Meanwhile, the most common vector-borne disease in the US, Lyme disease, is on the rise.

“Lyme disease is definitely increasing in the US as the environmental niche of the deer tick and deer populations expand,” John N. Aucott, MD, director of the Lyme Disease Research Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told JAMA in an interview. The incidence of Lyme disease in the US nearly doubled from 1991 to 2018, from 3.74 cases to 7.21 cases per 100 000 people, based on confirmed cases reported to the CDC. But the true numbers are believed to be much higher.

According to the nonprofit organization Fair Health, US private insurance claims with a Lyme disease diagnosis increased 357% in rural areas and 65% in urban areas from 2007 to 2021. Using insurance claims, the CDC estimates that as many as 476 000 people in the US are diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease each year.

“In the last 20 years, the numbers of Lyme disease have really exploded,” said Linden Hu, MD, director of the Lyme Disease Initiative at Tufts University School of Medicine. “We’ve seen people get Lyme disease just from stopping at a rest stop in Massachusetts. So the number of people at risk is greater than it was before.”

(See link for article)

___________________

**Comment**

There is very little hope within this article.

Summary:

  • Climate change clap trap continues to be regurgitated and blamed for what we are experiencing, despite ticks being ecoadaptive and the last species to die on planet earth.
  • PTLDS is emphasized only due to the fact there is “no known treatment,” so vaccines can be pushed.
  • The article gives false hope by stating the NIH has announced $3.2 Million in funding to support research on PTLDS; however, what isn’t mentioned is this money will do NOTHING to help patients.  It will simply line the pockets of biased, bought out researchers who will continue with the accepted, politically motivated narrative.
  • The falsely low number of 10-20% who continue with lingering symptoms is regurgitated when the number is upwards of 40-60%.
  • Hu managed to mention the fact that persistent infection after treatment is one hypothesis for PTLDS along with immune responses and autoantibodies.
  • And Aucott also managed to mention that due to his magnetic imaging studies which showed there is underlying biology to explain patients’ symptoms, it is not psychosomatic.
  • Of course nothing would be complete without a huge section on vaccines. (This is getting very old)  It’s also a good time to reflect upon the conflict of interest disclosures:

Dr Hu reported having financial relationships with Moderna and Tarsus. Dr Fikrig reported that he is funded by the NIH, the Cohen Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Emerging Pathogens Initiative. Dr Wormser reported receiving research grants from Biopeptides Corp and Pfizer Inc; being an expert witness in malpractice cases involving Lyme disease; and serving as an unpaid board member of the nonprofit American Lyme Disease Foundation.

  • The article made Lymerix seem like the answer to all of life’s ills when in fact it was yanked off the market for causing Lyme-like symptoms.  To those who tout the narrative, Lymerix, like all other vaccines, is “safe and effective.”  (This too is getting extremely old)
  • But, there’s a new vaccine to save humanity in the pipeline! Yay! This “antitick vaccine” encodes a cocktail of 19 proteins in tick saliva.  What could possibly go wrong?! 
  • Hu is developing lotinaner, used in the veterinary world, of which the FDA has given an alert about potential neurological adverse events, muscle tremors, ataxia, and seizures.
  • Aucott mentioned that the “classic” bullseye rash is a myth as only 20-30% have a bullseye pattern, and that many have no rash at all.  So, sorry all you suckers that didn’t fit in the box, were told you had a spider bite, and sent home empty-handed to suffer in silence.  Oops!
  • Aucott mentons testing problems: test results take 4-8 weeks before an antibody test is definitive, and following treatment – serology results will remain positive.
  • Wormser of course dissuades from prophylactic treatment unless a confirmed deer tick has been attached for 36 hours – the notion of which has been proven to be false.  He’s more worried about staph than people getting Lyme/MSIDS and living a nightmare. Plus, there are other antimicrobials in the toolbox that can be used that wouldn’t promote resistance.
  • Alpha Gal meat allergy is all the rage now because of The Great Reset and the desire to eliminate meat and get us all eating bugs.  A report has even predicted that the next ‘pandemic’ will conveniently come from meat.  It’s a win, win for ‘the powers that be.’
  • The article falsely blames climate change and the Lone Star tick when other ticks are involved, or even NO ticks at all. They have only discovered that tick saliva contains trace quantities of the sugar alpha-gal a known human irritant that many believe induces an allergic response.
  • But alpha-gal is also is used in the manufacture of foods, personal care products, medical devices and drugs — including vaccines.  Source
  • The questions begging to be asked are: why are they putting this known human irritant in things that humans ingest?  And why the sole emphasis on ticks when it’s in plenty of other things including vaccines, and is only believed to be caused by ticks?
It should come at no surprise whatsoever that the media is suddenly pushing a fear narrative over a meat allergy.
Again – right on time.

Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks, Treatment

Delays in Diagnosis & Treatment of Tick-borne Diseases Due to Impact of COVID Pandemic

https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-023-05917-8

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delays in diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases endemic to southeastern USA

Victor Arahirwa, Katherine Tyrlik, Haley Abernathy, Caitlin Cassidy, Aidin Alejo, Odai Mansour, Dana Giandomenico, Amanda Brown Marusiak & Ross M. Boyce

Parasites & Vectors volume 16, Article number: 295 (2023) Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was marked by an increase in diagnosis and treatment delays for a range of medical conditions. Yet the impact of the pandemic on the management of tick-borne diseases, which frequently manifest as an acute febrile illness similar to COVID-19, has not been well described.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study of patients with suspected tick-borne disease attending the University of North Carolina Health facilities, we compared the timeliness of diagnosis and treatment in a “pre-COVID” period (March 2019 to February 2020) and a “post-COVID” period (March 2020 to February 2021). Participants included patients with an ICD-10 diagnosis code of spotted fever group rickettsiosis or ehrlichiosis and a positive Rickettsia rickettsii or Ehrlichia indirect immunofluorescence assay immunoglobulin G antibody test result. Of the 897 patients who had an eligible diagnosis, 240 (26.8%) met the inclusion criteria. The main outcome was time from initial presentation to definitive diagnosis and treatment.

Results

During the 2-year study period, 126 (52.5%) patients were grouped in the pre-COVID period and 114 (47.5%) were grouped in the post-COVID period; 120 (50.0%) were female; and 139 (57.9%) were aged > 50 years. Comparing the post-COVID to the pre-COVID period, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for delay in treatment > 0 days was 1.81 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07–3.07, P = 0.03), and for a treatment delay > 7 days, 1.65 (95% CI 0.94–2.90, P = 0.08). The odds of a delay in diagnosis were similar for patients in the post- and pre-COVID periods, with an aOR of 1.61 (95% CI 0.96–2.72, P = 0.07) for delays > 0 days, and aOR of 1.72 (95% CI 0.99–3.00, P = 0.05) for delays > 7 days.

Conclusions

The odds of a delay in treatment > 0 days were significantly higher in the post-COVID period than in the pre-COVID period. However, the odds of a delay in treatment > 7 days, or a delay in diagnosis, were similar between these two periods. Shifts in care-seeking, alternative care delivery models and prioritization of COVID-19 may contribute to diminished timeliness of treatment for patients with tick-borne diseases.

For more:

Category:

Lyme, research, Treatment, Viruses

Will IDSA Lyme Lawsuit Be Revived?

https://www.lymedisease.org/will-lyme-lawsuit-against-idsa-be-revived/

Will Lyme lawsuit against IDSA be revived?

Sept. 11, 2023

Two years ago, a federal court dismissed Torrey v. IDSA, a lawsuit brought by a group of Lyme patients against the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

The patients have appealed the court’s dismissal, and last week, an appeal hearing was held. We don’t know when the court will make its ruling as to whether the lawsuit can go forward.

By Cameron Langford, Courthouse News Service

A group of Lyme disease patients asked the Fifth Circuit on Thursday to revive their lawsuit against a medical society they claim issued bogus guidelines that insurers used to deny them coverage, forcing some to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for their care.

Each year, around 30,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Lyme disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But because not all cases are reported and not everyone knows they have been infected, the CDC estimates 476,000 people may get the disease in the U.S. each year.

It is transmitted from the bites of ticks, who pick up the bacteria from feeding on the blood of infected birds, mice and deer. People often get a large red bullseye-like rash around the bites.

If untreated, it can cause nervous system damage, neurological and heart issues, and joint pain. Some patients who receive antibiotics still develop serious health problems.

The threat is growing: Counties classified as high risk for the disease increased more than 300% from the mid-1990s to 2015, according to a report in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

Epidemiologists attribute that to climate change and urbanization: Places that once had winter temperatures that killed the blacklegged vector ticks are now warm enough throughout the year for them to thrive, and growing suburbs put residents closer to the habitats of animals from whom ticks contract the bacteria.

Suing the IDSA

Lisa Torrey and 27 others sued the Infectious Diseases Society of America, or IDSA, seven health insurance companies and several medical doctors in 2017 in Texarkana, Texas, federal court.

Suffering from hearing problems, migraine headaches, and an irregular heartbeat, Torrey said she visited 36 doctors, some of whom misdiagnosed her with multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia and said her symptoms “were all in her head,” before she was correctly diagnosed with Lyme disease.

She blamed her difficulties on the IDSA, a group of more than 12,000 physicians, scientists and public health experts who treat and develop guidelines about appropriate care for infectious diseases.

Bringing RICO Act and antitrust claims, the plaintiffs claim several major health insurers decided treating Lyme disease was too expensive, so they paid IDSA-affiliated doctors to establish arbitrary guidelines, first published in 2000, that said the illness could be treated with 28 days of antibiotics.

The plaintiffs also claim they had trouble finding doctors who would treat them because the IDSA and insurers referred physicians who criticized the guidelines as too restrictive to state medical boards, and more than 50 were investigated, disciplined or had their licenses removed.

Controversy

Long-term Lyme disease has been a subject of controversy for years.

The IDSA’s 2000 guidelines said there was insufficient evidence to regard chronic Lyme disease as a separate diagnosis.

Its 2006 guidelines stated, “In many patients, post-treatment symptoms appear to be more related to the aches and pains of daily living rather than to either Lyme disease or another tick-borne infection.”

Torrey says that due to the association’s guidance she has been forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat her Lyme disease because her insurers have denied her coverage.

After reaching confidential settlements with the insurers, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint in January 2021, adding fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation claims against the IDSA and its panelists who wrote the guidelines.

The plaintiffs further whittled their case in April 2021, after lodging a third amended complaint, by dismissing the panelists as defendants and their RICO claims.

U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder, a Barack Obama appointee, sided with the IDSA in September 2021, first dismissing the challengers’ antitrust claims, and their misrepresentation allegations in a separate order two weeks later.

Appeal

Torrey and company appealed to the Fifth Circuit the next month. But the IDSA convinced the New Orleans-based appellate court to dismiss the appeal as premature because plaintiffs’ settlements with the health insurers had not been finalized.

The plaintiffs filed another appeal last November and a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit heard arguments Thursday.

Representing the Lyme patients, Kendall Speer of the Houston firm Rusty Hardin & Associates said Schroeder had erred by concluding plaintiffs could not win on their misrepresentation claims because the statements in IDSA’s guidelines were medical opinions and not held out as facts.

Schroeder also said the plaintiffs’ doctors can review the studies and papers cited in the IDSA guidelines and make their own assessments about their accuracy.

But Speer argued her clients’ doctors are not capable of exercising their own independent judgment on the proper way to treat chronic Lyme disease due to the “substantial power and influence” the IDSA has in dictating how physicians can care for such patients.

Leaning towards dismissal?

U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan indicated he is leaning towards affirming dismissal of the lawsuit.

“My concern here is there has to be a forum for debating scientific questions,” the Donald Trump appointee told Speer. “And this is a scientific question — how to treat this. We all know that. There has to be a forum for that. And we can’t have lawsuits against people who are debating the scientific question in a forum.”

The IDSA’s counsel, Alvin Dunn, played up Duncan’s concerns.

He said the plaintiffs themselves have acknowledged in their filings the IDSA’s guidelines are part of an ongoing scientific and medical debate, which by its nature is subject to change.

“New evidence can always come along, new drugs can come along, new treatments can come along, if you allow these misrepresentation claims it’s very dangerous to quash that debate,” argued Dunn, who is with the Washington firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw.

Speer, the challengers’ lawyer, countered it is plausible doctors are effectively bound by the guidelines, evidenced by the fact more than 12 states have passed legislation to protect physicians’ ability to prescribe long-term Lyme treatment.

U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee, asked Speer if the legislation was meant to force insurers to cover this treatment.

“Yes, I think it’s tied together,” Speer replied. “I think it’s because of the harm the public is suffering because of the ability to get the care, so I think those states have recognized that.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Carl Stewart, a Bill Clinton appointee, filled out the panel.

The judges gave no word on when they would issue a ruling.

________________

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme

Lactate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors Suppress Bb Growth In Vitro

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/12/7/962

Lactate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors Suppress Borrelia burgdorferi Growth In Vitro

by 1, 1, 2, 3 and 1,*
1Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
2Department of Biochemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
3Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Pathogens 2023, 12(7), 962; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12070962
Received: 25 June 2023 / Revised: 15 July 2023 / Accepted: 19 July 2023 / Published: 22 July 2023
(This article belongs to the Section Ticks)

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, has a highly reduced genome and relies heavily on glycolysis for carbon metabolism. As such, established inhibitors of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were evaluated in cultures to determine the extent of their impacts on B. burgdorferi growth. Both racemic and enantiopure (AT-101) gossypol, as well as oxamate, galloflavin, and stiripentol, caused the dose-dependent suppression of B. burgdorferi growth in vitro. Racemic gossypol and AT-101 were shown to fully inhibit spirochetal growth at concentrations of 70.5 and 187.5 μM, respectively. Differences between racemic gossypol and AT-101 efficacy may indicate that the dextrorotatory enantiomer of gossypol is a more effective inhibitor of B. burgdorferi growth than the levorotatory enantiomer. As a whole, LDH inhibition appears to be a promising mechanism for suppressing Borrelia growth, particularly with bulky LDH inhibitors like gossypol.  (See link for article)
_______________
**Comment**
Lactate dehydrogenase inhibitors (LDH) are used in various assays for cancer and other research areas. They are also a promising target for cancer therapy.
For more:

Category:

Lyme, research, Treatment

FREE Audiobook, Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons & The People’s Declaration

https://rumble.com/v3chfwg-bitten.html  Audio Book Here  (Approx. 5 Hours)

Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons – Kris Newby – 2019

By: Kris Newby
Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
Unabridged Audiobook

Publisher’s Summary

A riveting thriller reminiscent of The Hot Zone, this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time – Lyme disease – and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.

While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby was bitten by an unseen tick. That one bite changed her life forever, pulling her into the abyss of a devastating illness that took 10 doctors to diagnose and years to recover: Newby had become one of the 300,000 Americans who are afflicted with Lyme disease each year.  (Recent estimates suggest that 476,000 people get infected with Lyme each year in the U.S.)

As a science writer, she was driven to understand why this disease is so misunderstood and its patients so mistreated. This quest led her to Willy Burgdorfer, the Lyme microbe’s discoverer, who revealed he had developed bug-borne bioweapons during the Cold War and believed that the Lyme epidemic was started by a military experiment gone wrong.

In a superb, meticulous work of narrative journalism, Bitten takes listeners on a journey to investigate these claims, from biological weapons facilities to interviews with biosecurity experts and microbiologists doing cutting-edge research, all the while uncovering darker truths about Willy. It also leads her to uncomfortable questions about why Lyme can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease.

A gripping, infectious pause-resister, Bitten will shed a terrifying new light on an epidemic that is exacting an incalculable toll on us, upending much of what we believe we know about it.

________________

“The fact that the EU, UK, and US are currently engaged in projects to sequence nearly 2 million of their citizens’ genomes provides a hint that they may want to collect additional genomes of Africans, Asians, and others.” ~ Dr. Meryl Nass

Experimenting upon innocents has been going on for decades, but the ‘powers that be’ gaslight anyone with an individual thought of their own and shout “misinformation” and “conspiracy theorist” to frighten everyone into mute complacency.  None of it would be possible without academic, political, religious, and scientific communities silently watching and saying nothing.  Evil flourishes when people do nothing.

The People’s Declaration

RIGHT NOW would be a very good time to stand up and publicly declare your opposition to the international plan to share the “benefits” derived from “pathogens with pandemic potential.“

https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/the-peoples-declaration  Go here for videos & information

The United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to adopt a Political Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response on September 20, 2023.

YOUR silence on this issue is YOUR consent.

The possibility that these agreements could actually facilitate, fund and support gain-of-function research is absolutely unacceptable. (click on the links below to download the documents)

  1. Political Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response
  2. Bureau’s text of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (WHO CA+)
  3. Proposed Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005) submitted in accordance with decision WHA75(9) (2022)
I encourage YOU to raise your awareness of this issue and help to spread the word far and wide.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks