Archive for the ‘Mycoplasma’ Category

Minocycline for MS and Much More

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170601124019.htm

Canadian researchers have discovered that minocycline, a common acne medication, can slow relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in those with initial symptoms.

Standard treatment costs for MS treatment in Canada range from $20,000 to $40,000 per year, with the cost tripled in the U.S.  Treatment using minocycline would cost about $600 per year.  

According to lead author, Dr. Luanne Metz, neurologists will be able to give mino to patients who have MRI results suggesting an MS cause and who are suffering with initial symptoms of demyelination.  

In the study, http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1608889 one group was given 100mg twice a day of minocycline while the other group was given a placebo.  Over six months there was a 27.6% reduction in full blown MS.  (Risk was 61% in placebo group and 33.4% in the mino group).

Minocycline has been used safely and effectively for over 30 years and has many anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, chelates calcium and is well-tolerated.  A Tetracycline drug that is bacteriostatic, it is widely used against both gram negative and gram positive pathogens including Rickettsia, Chlamydia, Plasmodium spp., and Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

Minocycline, as most Lyme/MSIDS patients know, is one of the most effective antibiotics which crosses the blood brain barrier, due to its high lipid solubility.  It is one of my personal favorites and the most effective drug for the excruciating occipital (base of the skull) headaches I get due to Tick-borne infections.  If you experience these, please read:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/02/chiari/ as brain infections can cause Chiari.  Please also see:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/03/lyme-meningoencephalitis-masquerading-as-normal-pressure-hydrocephalus/

According to Spanish researchers, Minocycline is much more than just an antibiotic.  Minocycline far beyond an antibiotic  Not only is it antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, it has also been shown to be neuroprotective, anti-apoptotic, and it inhibits proteolysis, angiogenesis and tumor metastasis.  Preclinical trials have shown it to inhibit malignant cell growth and activation and repletion of HIV, and  prevents bone resorption.  It has helped those with Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, ALS, Alzheimer’s, and spinal cord injury.  The link in blue demonstrates minos effectiveness against dermatitis, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and CNS (central nervous system) pathologies, osteoporosis, and autism, as well as has potential to help atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and allergic asthma.  The researchers also feel mino is a rational treatment for neuropathic pain, something Lyme/MSIDS patients understand up close and personal.

Mino is inexpensive, has a known side-effect profile, and is well-absorbed (95-100%).  It, along with doxycycline, due to their ability to penetrate the cell wall, is commonly used for Lyme disease treatment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/

Category:

Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, Rickettsia, Treatment

Hidden Invaders: Infections Can Trigger Immune Attacks on Kids’ Brains Provoking Devastating Psychiatric Disorders

http://discovermagazine.com/2017/april-2017/hidden-invaders  By Pamela Weintraub Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Hidden Invaders:  Infections can trigger immune attacks on kids’ brains, provoking devastating psychiatric disorders.

Please read Weintraub’s detailed article in link above about seven year old Paul who changed over night, due to pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS).  

“PANS is thought to be an inflammatory condition that results when an infection or some other invasive trigger spurs the body to turn on itself and attack structures in the brain. For years, scientists had focused on a single infection — group A streptococcal disease — that produced antibodies that attacked the part of the forebrain involved in forming habits, resulting in OCD. Today, the paradigm has widened into a much bigger idea that expands our understanding of psychiatric disease: A whole host of infections and other unknown triggers lead to the production of antibodies and immune cells that can cross into the brain. Depending on where these immune responses land and which brain structures they block, erode or destroy, a range of psychiatric ills can result. In one person, it could be OCD; in the next, it could be hyperactivity and inattention, anxiety, restricted eating, even hallucinations or autistic behavior.”

A prominent Wisconsin Lyme literate doctor states that 80% of his PANS children are also infected with Lyme/MSIDS.  They respond and improve with antibiotics, diet change, probiotics, and other supplements to improve immune function.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/ According to Weintraub, researchers are trying to find the right treatment that stops inflammation and immune dysfunction due to rogue antibodies that attack the brain.

Weintraub also reports that strep infections can cause neuropsychiatric symptoms.  One psychiatrist found that some patients right after a strep infection could develop OCD and eating disorders.  She also found that children with OCD from PANDAS had toxic behavior reactions to typical medications that helped those with standard OCD showing the two groups were not equal.  In studying 43 children with acute onset OCD, the infectious triggers were strep and mycoplasma.  She treated them with Azithromycin and the patients improved. https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/07/mycoplasma-treatment/

Untreated PANS children can be disabled by their psychiatric symptoms and have, “OCD with severe intrusive thoughts such as suicidal ideation, psychosis, deep anxieties and fears, panic, rage, and are at risk of committing violent acts, ” as well as cognitive problems such as:  “handwriting deterioration, slow processing speed and regressions so frightening that a once-normal 10-year-old might have the skills and behavior of a developmentally slow 3-year-old.”

A pediatric rheumatologist managed to find clusters of children from the same school or neighborhood who had all come down with the condition in the same month as well as other infections besides strep were involved, such as bacterial mycoplasma, influenza, sinusitis, pneumonia and others.  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/17/lymemsids-and-psychiatric-illness/  Incredible video by Dr. Marke with written highlights and discussion on PANDAS/PANS.

Category:

Bartonella, Lyme, Mycoplasma, Psychological Aspects, research

Gulf War Illness, Vaccines, MSIDS, & Brain Damage

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/20/research-ties-gulf-war-illness-to-brain-damage/1982817/  There is now physical proof that Gulf War Illness is caused by damage to the brain.  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0058493  

Gulf War Illness affects more than 250,000 vets and causes black-outs, cysts on scalp, inability to concentrate, chronic headaches, liver damage, Tourette’s syndrome, chronic fatigue, lesions on the brain, heart and lungs, skin rashes, thyroid cancer, paralysis of the stomach, respiratory problems, vertigo, autoimmune disorders, liver damage, chronic fatigue, allergies, pain, and more.

 

Until now most cannot get benefits or treatment, and to add insult to injury vets are accused of faking it or suffering from post traumatic stress.  James Baraniuk, senior author and professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center, regarding doctors, states,

“If it doesn’t fall within their small world of known diseases, then the patient is nuts.”

Using fMRI (functional MRI) machines, researchers saw anomalies in the bundle of nerve fibers that interpret pain signals in the brain in 31 Gulf War veterans. The research appears to correlate with previous research on Gulf War Illness, including a major study showing problems in involuntary function, as well as a study showing as many as 100,000 troops may have been doused with Sarin gas when the U.S. Air Force bombed a munitions factory during the war.

The good news about a fMRI (functional MRI) is it allows doctors to diagnose Gulf War Illness quickly, and while most hospitals are equipped with MRI equipment they may need to install fMRI software and be trained to use it.

Researchers suspect environmental factors such as Sarin gas, ACHL-inhibitors found in nerve agents, anti-nerve-agent pills, pesticides, and vaccines, particularly the Anthrax Vaccine which is a 6-shot regimen adjuvanted by aluminum hydroxide, and squalene.

The military calls Gulf War Syndrome an emotional ailment. Refusing the vaccine has ended in dishonorable discharge, fines, and prison. Malcom Hopper M.D. Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at a University in Britain, and the chief advisor to the Gulf War Veterans in the UK states that those who have received the vaccine have horrific pain in their sexual organs such as burning semen syndrome. The number of infants born without eye sockets has sky-rocketed following Executive Order 13139. Over 1,000,000 military personnel have adverse side effects to the Anthrax Vaccine (RAC-GWVI Government report 2008). Today 35,000 new soldiers receive the Anthrax Vaccine each month (RAC-GWVI Government Report 2014).   https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/25/vaccines-revealed-6-please-share-with-all-military-members/

Baraniuk states the research is important because it shows that Gulf War Illness is NOT psychological.  He also states:

“If 30% of Congress got sick, or 30% of Manhattan got sick, there would have been an outcry.” Also, “The guys who were robust and leading the charge on this 10 years ago are now using canes.”

Many military members also suffer from Lyme/MSIDS, including Mycoplasma.  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/21/military-veterans-suicide-and-lymemsids/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15694687/  Owen DC. Med Hypothesis.  2005.

Abstract

Symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome and chronic Lyme disease are very similar. Lyme disease is a condition which can be difficult to diagnose since one of the main features of the condition, the erythema migrans rash, may be absent or overlooked and serological testing for Lyme disease may be falsely negative. Symptoms of Lyme disease may not became apparent until years after exposure to the causative organism. Military personnel during training in the field are at risk of tick bites and it may be that those who developed Gulf War Syndrome entered the conflict with latent Lyme disease. There has been no systematic examination of Gulf War Syndrome sufferers for chronic Lyme disease and it is hypothesized that chronic Lyme disease has been overlooked as a cause of Gulf War Syndrome. To address this it is suggested that sufferers of Gulf War Syndrome or similar illnesses should be examined by physicians who have experience diagnosing and treating large numbers of patients with Lyme disease.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/08/12/connecting-dots-mycoplasma/

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, vaccines

LymeSeq – New Lyme/MSIDS Test Explained

http://www.azpbs.org/arizonahorizon/play.php?vidId=10327

Arizona PBS

Airdate: March 21, 2017

Lyme Disease is spread by ticks and can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms mimic other illnesses. The group Focus on Lyme is funding research at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix to increase the speed and accuracy of Lyme Disease diagnosis with a test called LymeSeq.

Tammy Crawford, the executive director of Focus on Lyme, explains the new test.

Listen to interview in link above.

Category:

Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, Rickettsia, Testing

Potential Lyme Test Needs Our Help

https://player.vimeo.com/video/149202912“>

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/breakthrough-lyme-disease-test-next-100000152.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=ma

Press Release  Phoenix, Feb. 28, 2017

Globe Newswire

A new test for Lyme Disease may prove to be the most accurate tool available for the difficult-to-diagnose disease, giving hope to thousands of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed patients, if funding can be found to move it through clinical study to production. This new test, called LymeSeq, is poised to transform the speed and precision of diagnosis over current tests.  This test will detect multiple strains of Lyme bacteria, plus all major co-infections and non-Lyme causes of diseases like Influenza and Staph.

LymeSeq, developed by research scientists at Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), has been funded by Focus On Lyme.  The test may represent a breakthrough in diagnosis and testing for Lyme Disease, which are currently about 50% accurate.

The researchers are led by Dr. Paul Keim, the Executive Director of the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute and the Cowden Endowed Chair of Microbiology at Northern Arizona University (NAU), as well as Director of the Pathogen Genomics Division TGen North in Flagstaff, Ariz. Dr. Keim is an internationally recognized expert in DNA-based research methods, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

LymeSeq works by targeting and amplifying specific regions of the Lyme bacteria’s DNA as well as specific genes in related bacteria. That amplified DNA gets sequenced, then researchers determine the bacterial species present in the sample by searching for the DNA code specific to Lyme or other bacteria, explained Dr. David Engelthaler, Director of Programs and Operations at TGen North, and Director of the Public Health and Translational Genomics Center at the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute.

“LymeSeq has the potential to transform emergency rooms and doctor’s offices world wide,” said Holly Ahern, MS, MT (ASCP) and SUNY Adirondack associate professor of microbiology, and a member of the leadership team at Focus on Lyme.

Dr. Richard Horowitz, author of “How Can I Get Better? An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease,” said, “more than ever, we need an accurate test” referencing the National Science Foundation’s identification of Lyme disease as an emerging pandemic threat, siting the current “problematic two-tiered testing scheme,” for which LymeSeq shows promise of being “superior in every way.”

With exciting early signs of high accuracy, the next step is to advance the test into human trials. Crawford’s team of volunteers has raised more than $301,730 towards a goal of $500,000 to bring the test to market. BHHS Legacy Foundation recently stepped forward with an additional $100,000 in grant funding.
“With the development of any new medical advancement, the steps are long, arduous and expensive. But we’ve come so far in such a short period of time, we need your help to get us to the finish line,” Crawford said. “We are all volunteers. Every single penny we raise goes towards the research, we keep nothing back.”

For more information visit www.focusonlyme.org. To donate, visit: www.focusonlyme.org/donate.

Category:

Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, Testing