Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

2 Insects, 2 Bites, 1 Patient: A Lyme Disease & Jamestown Canyon Co-infection

https://www.cureus.com/articles/161559-two-insects-two-bites-one-patient-a-lyme-disease-and-jamestown-canyon-co-infection#!/

Two Insects, Two Bites, One Patient: A Lyme Disease and Jamestown Canyon Co-infection

Nicholas S. Weiler • Eric Niendorf • Igor Dumic

Published: June 10, 2023

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.40222

Peer-Reviewed

Cite this article as: Weiler N S, Niendorf E, Dumic I (June 10, 2023) Two Insects, Two Bites, One Patient: A Lyme Disease and Jamestown Canyon Co-infection. Cureus 15(6): e40222. doi:10.7759/cureus.40222

Abstract

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common tick-borne illness across the United States, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and transmitted to humans by the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV) is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen found mostly in the upper Midwest and Northeastern United States. Co-infection between these two pathogens has not been previously reported since it would require the host to be bitten by the two infected vectors at the same time. We report a 36-year-old man who presented with erythema migrans and meningitis. While erythema migrans is a pathognomonic sign of early localized Lyme disease, Lyme meningitis does not occur in this stage but in the early disseminated stage. Furthermore, CSF tests were not supportive of neuroborreliosis, and the patient was ultimately diagnosed with JCV meningitis. We review JCV infection, LD, and this first reported co-infection to illustrate the complex interaction between different vectors and pathogens and to emphasize the importance of considering co-infection in people who live in vector-endemic areas.

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Category:

Lyme, mosquitoes, research, Testing, Ticks, Viruses

Documentary “Take Care of Maya” How Children Are Medically Kidnapped

With a new focus on human trafficking, and with the U.S. government now wanting facial scans of all children to “protect” them, it’s important to realize legal medical kidnapping is happening everyday.

http://  Approx. 8 Min

Review: Take Care of Maya (June, 2023)

When 10-year-old Maya Kowalski was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2016, nothing could have prepared her or her family for what they were about to go through. As the medical team tried to understand her rare illness, Dr. Sally Smith, the medical director of the child protection team in Pinellas County, Florida walked into the room and interviewed Maya and the parents for 10 minutes.

Suddenly, Maya was in state custody based on a 10 minute interview

Maya has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), but it could just as very well have been Lyme/MSIDS.  Both are misunderstood conditions that are severely disabling.

Similarly to parents with Lyme/MSIDS infected children, Maya’s mother, Beata, who just happened to be a nurse, was accused of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy and Maya was removed from her family for 3 months until the court cleared Beata of any mental illness.  Sadly, Beata committed suicide 87 days after she had been separated from her daughter.  Five days after this, Maya was released into her father’s custody.

There have also been other controversies surrounding Smith, including petitions to have her fired and complaints about how she conducts her assessments.

An article on Black Enterprise in 2021 would detail cases of Smith wrongfully accusing parents of abuse and following up on hundreds of cases where parents would be innocent of allegations and traumatized by her interventions. The USA Today Network reportedly investigated hundreds of Dr. Smith’s cases, and:

found more than a dozen instances where charges were dropped, parents were acquitted or caregivers had credible claims of innocence yet suffered irredeemable damage to their lives and reputations.  Source

Yet in the court case after the incident, Smith was not held accountable for anything.

Recent news reports state Smith has retired, but she is still listed on the medical staff of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

http://   Approx. 6 Min

What Happens When Florida Child Abuse Pediatricians Get It Wrong?

Florida families around the state are speaking out about being wrongly accused of child abuse by experts hired by the state to identify abuse.

If you live in Florida and have been a victim of medical kidnapping, the Torn Apart editors are collecting stories to potentially cover during their investigative series.

Producer of “Take Care of Maya”, Caitlin Keating and director Henry Roosevelt, were interviewed by The Wrap where they stated that they hear from other families with similar medical kidnapping stories as the Kowalskis, every single day.

It appears that this corrupt, criminal enterprise known as “child abuse pediatric doctors” is not confined to Florida. The specialty which began around 2010 consists of doctors who are not even practicing medicine but are acting as forensic criminal investigators with ZERO training in law enforcement or forensic evidence.  They are given far too much power for one person that has destroyed families.  According to this, tens of thousands of innocent parents have been falsely accused of abuse.  You can now receive a free book on the subject to educate yourself and others you know.

And it’s happened right here in Wisconsin .

Dr. Barbara Knox, considered a national expert on child abuse who testifies as an expert for prosecutors around the country and who has worked with the FBI, was put on paid leave by The University of Wisconsin after colleagues inside and outside of the hospital accused her of intimidation and retaliation. She also pressured colleagues to report injuries they did not see and left a wake of falsely accused parents, ripped apart families, ruined careers, and incarcerated parents.

A settlement agreement shielded details of her exit from future employers. The hospital gave her $20,000, and the agreement required them to send the Alaska medical board a scripted letter that said her administrative leave “did not relate to dishonesty, clinical skills, medical diagnostic abilities, or incorrect medical diagnoses,” and “no disciplinary action” was taken against her.

She then became the medical director at Alaska Cares in Anchorage.

As of November, 2021, Knox’s devastation continued causing a mass exodus at Alaska CARES, due to accusations against Dr. Knox of bullying, misdiagnosing, and causing a toxic work environment.  According to two people with direct knowledge of clinic operations, Knox was placed on leave pending an investigation but Providence declined to confirm Knox’s employment status. Wisconsin Watch later followed up with this article stating Knox “has chosen to pursue other opportunities and will be resigning,” as of April 1, 2022.

The article also mentioned that one parent spent eight years and $250,000 to clear her name after being wrongly charged by Knox with abusing a boy at her home day care in Mauston, WI.

The article also aptly states that Knox’s resignation does not solve the problems she created.
Who gives back those portions of people’s lives that she took and how many others are falsely accused?

Please learn about this topic as Lyme/MSIDS is greatly under appreciated and controversial.

Category:

Activism, Lyme

Chronic Lyme Disease Patients Want to Be Treated, Not “Managed” By Physicians

https://danielcameronmd.com/recommendations-to-clinicians-on-how-to-handle-chronic-lyme-disease-patients/

CHRONIC LYME DISEASE PATIENTS WANT TO BE TREATED, NOT ‘MANAGED’ BY PHYSICIANS

Over the past month, a series of articles, focusing on multiple aspects of Lyme disease, from pediatric Lyme to chronic Lyme to life after Lyme, have been published in the May and June issues of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America and Clinical Infectious Diseases. The articles echo messages that, for the most part, minimize a disease that impacts hundreds of thousands of people each year — many of whom are children.

By 

“Minds are like parachutes. They only function when open.” This particular quote by Thomas Dewar came to mind after reading an article, Chronic Lyme Disease (1) in the June issue of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America.

In it, the author writes, “the scientific community has largely rejected chronic, treatment-refractory Borrelia burgdorferi infection.” This is based on “the failure to detect cultivatable, clinically relevant organisms after standard treatment.”

The intention of the Chronic Lyme Disease article is evident — convince readers that chronic Lyme disease does not exist, and that antibiotics prescribed for more than 14- to 28-days are of no benefit and most patients have no lingering symptoms.

It is particularly troublesome that the author, Paul Lantos, MD, a Duke University Medical Center researcher, is co-chair on a panel responsible for updating the Infectious Disease Society of America’s (IDSA) treatment guidelines for Lyme disease. Dr. Lantos holds a position not to be taken lightly. The IDSA recommendations will determine, for the most part, the types of treatment patients diagnosed with Lyme disease will receive.

Additionally, Dr. Lantos includes a section entitled, “Clinical Approach to Patients with Chronic Lyme Disease Diagnosis,” in which he offers suggestions to physicians on how to ‘manage’ patients complaining they have chronic Lyme disease. Recommendations include listening patiently during the consultation and then explaining to the patient why their symptoms are not related to Lyme disease.

“…a certain amount of time must be spent reviewing past experiences and past laboratory tests … then explaining why Lyme disease may not account for their illnesses.”

“Even if chronic Lyme disease lacks biological legitimacy, its importance as a phenomenon can be monumental to the individual patient,” says Lantos. “Many have undergone frustrating, expensive, and ultimately fruitless medical evaluations. And many have become quite disaffected with a medical system that has failed to provide answers.”

Managing patients, who insist they have chronic Lyme disease can be challenging, he warns. This subset of patients can have “great variation in their ‘commitment’ to a chronic Lyme disease diagnosis. Some patients are entirely convinced they have chronic Lyme disease, they request specific types of therapy, and they are not interested in adjudicating the chronic Lyme disease diagnosis.”

Should a clinician have a patient who believes they have chronic Lyme disease, there are several ways to manage the evaluation, he explains. First, “the physician needs to suppress preconceptions or biases about such patients.”

Second, “the process of clinical information gathering in medicine … is no different in the context of chronic Lyme disease. Even if much discussion is centered on chronic Lyme disease.”

And, lastly, “it is of utmost importance to not seem to be impatient, dismissive, or rushed. Many patients who seek care for chronic Lyme disease already have accumulated frustration. … Each patient’s clinical story and personal history is unique and valid, even if one concludes that they do not have Lyme disease.”

For the patients who do remain chronically symptomatic, Dr. Lantos explains, there has been “little evidence of active infection, and their symptoms do not respond to antibiotics any better than to placebo.”

When dealing with complex, chronic illnesses, physicians need to develop a trusting and understanding relationship with their patients. It is impossible for a clinician to provide the highest level of care to their patients, which includes a thorough evaluation, if they enter into the doctor-patient relationship with preconceived notions, not only about an extremely complex disease but about the patient who is reporting the symptoms, which are often subjective.

Should the patient not have any of the three objective signs of Lyme disease — the bulls-eye rash, swollen knee and/or Bell’s Palsy, identifying the infection is dependent on a strong evaluation. Patients want physicians to provide effective treatments. They don’t want to be ‘managed.’

It is time for a new narrative. One that recognizes the complexity of the Lyme spirochete and acknowledges the ineffective simplicity of the ‘one-size fits all’ treatment approach.

References:

  1. Lantos PM. Chronic Lyme Disease. Infect Dis Clin North Am, 29(2), 325-340 (2015).

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**Comment**

Lantos is obviously unaware of this which showed a 70% complete remission of symptoms:   https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2023/07/24/paralyzed-by-lyme-they-were-helped-with-combo-treatments/

Also, it’s imperative to point out that coinfections are rarely taken into consideration, yet chronically infected patients are notoriously coinfected with other pathogens.  The fact they don’t improve is most probably due to the fact they are not treating these coinfections which can be as bad if not worse than Lyme.  Bartonella and Babesia are two such pathogens that can knock you off your feet but require very different medications than Lyme meds.  This is simply never discussed.

My husband and I are two chronically infected patients that have improved vastly with extended antimicrobial treatment.  Without this treatment, I’m not sure either of us would be alive.  I know many others in this boat as well.  We don’t make the research papers because none of us fit the criteria to even enter a study:

These parameters that continue to be used will continue to give a preconceived outcome: no chronic/persistent infection.  It’s circular reasoning of the worst kind that hasn’t budged in over 40 years.

Compare this to Dr. Lee Merritt’s informative talk where she describes experiments done on prisoners in the 1900’s that would see them deliberately infected with the Spanish Flu.

The experiments would see some of the prisoners injected with infected lung tissue from sick or deceased patients, have infected tissue dropped in their eyes, and sprayed in the nose and mouth with infectious aerosols. Others would see mucus taken from critically ill patients and put it into the noses and throats of prisoners. In other parts of the trials, experimenters would take the blood of the sick and inject it into the healthy, to see if it was spread through infectious microorganisms in the blood.

As well as the various fluid exchanges mentioned above, a further part of the experiments saw ten healthy prisoners taken into a hospital for patients who were dying of the disease. There, they were asked to stand over the sick and dying, lean over their faces and breathe in heavily while they exhaled. Just to be sure of exposure, the flu patients would cough into the face and mouths of the prisoners.

Guess what?  Not a single patient in the experiment died of the disease – they didn’t even become ill. 
Ponder this for a moment.  
I mean, what is the likelihood?
Yet, despite this fact, we are told that the Spanish Flu is the most deadly virus on the planet.
According to many experts, this lack of proof of viral infectivity is a big deal but has resulted in a massively lucrative “vaccination” program that only worsens with time – now forcing people to concede to these injections or lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, back in Lymeland, lack of definitive proof stops the show.  Experts claim, “If we can’t see it, smell it, touch it, it doesn’t exist.” 
Anyone with half a brain would see this comparison and acknowledge that something is truly rotten in Denmark.

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Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment, vaccines, Viruses

Alan MacDonald, MD: The Connection Between Syphilis, Lyme & Dementia

https://rumble.com/v2xnzl8-alan-macdonald-md-the-connection-between-syphilis-lyme-and-dementia.html  Video Here (Approx. 1 hour 15 min)

Alan MacDonald, MD, The Connection Between Syphilis, Lyme, & Dementia

Source: Lillian McDermott Radio Show/Classroom
https://www.bitchute.com/video/3faoq7wH7Mw0/

June, 2023

A pathologist’s job is to identify the cause of death of an individual. For Alan MacDonald, MD, his journey has led him to discover more than any of us could have imagined. Because this is the first time in 11 years that we have had a pathologist in The Classroom, I will just say, I am grateful to Dr. MacDonald for sharing the connection between syphilis, Lyme, and dementia, in The Classroom!

For more:

Category:

Alzheimer's, Lyme, research

Tick-Borne Myopericarditis With Positive Anaplasma, Lyme, and EBV Serology

https://www.cureus.com/articles/163816-tick-borne-myopericarditis-with-positive-anaplasma-lyme-and-epstein-barr-virus-ebv-serology-a-case-report#!/

Tick-Borne Myopericarditis With Positive Anaplasma, Lyme, and Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) Serology: A Case Report

Hassaan Arshad • Bashar Oudah • Aliaa Mousa • Tigran Kakhktsyan • Mohammad Abu-Abaa • Ashish Agarwal

Published: June 14, 2023

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.40440 

Peer-Reviewed

Cite this article as: Arshad H, Oudah B, Mousa A, et al. (June 14, 2023) Tick-Borne Myopericarditis With Positive Anaplasma, Lyme, and Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) Serology: A Case Report. Cureus 15(6): e40440. doi:10.7759/cureus.4044

Abstract

Myopericarditis has been reported only rarely in those with anaplasmosis and is typically difficult to diagnose. Lyme carditis can also be difficult to diagnose as it is relatively rare but potentially fatal and usually has nonspecific manifestations. We are presenting a 61-year-old male patient who presented in New Jersey, United States with unremitting fever, chills, and myalgia for two weeks along with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Investigations were suggestive of perimyocarditis as was indicated by diffuse ST segment elevation on electrocardiography (EKG) with the presence of small pericardial effusion on echocardiography. A mild troponin leakage was also seen. This progressed to septic shock that required vasopressor therapy. Further history-taking revealed recent tick exposure and prompted empirical initiation of doxycycline. This proved to be successful with fever defervescence and clinical improvement. Serological tests confirmed both acute Lyme and anaplasma infections along with positive serology of Epstein Barr virus (EBV). This case highlights an uncommon presentation of carditis in acute Lyme and anaplasma infections with the associated false-positive serology of EBV. 

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**Comment**

Again, not uncommon, just uncommonly reported.  How many cases must be reported before it is no longer rare?  It is also known in Lymeland that those with concurrent infections have more severe cases requiring longer treatment with many medications.

Yet sadly, the authors state:

“Both anaplasma and Lyme carditis usually have a good prognosis and can resolve spontaneously without intervention.”

Are you for real?

It’s statements like these that continue to undermine any forward progress as it supports an antiquated belief that these are simple nuisance illnesses that will go away on their own. Recent case studies have shown that chronically infected patients were helped with combo treatments given for a longer period of time.

Another glaring problem: not seeing a tick or rash. How many patients have similar presentations but because they don’t recall a tick bite they are misdiagnosed with something else?

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Category:

Anaplasmosis, Lyme, Viruses