Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Study Finds Two Ways to Improve Lyme Testing

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/9/11/366

The Platelet Fraction Is a Novel Reservoir to Detect Lyme Borrelia in Blood

by Victoria P. Sanderson 1, Iain L. Mainprize 1, Lisette Verzijlenberg 1, Cezar M. Khursigara 2 and Melanie K. B. Wills 1,*
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2020, 9(11), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology9110366
Received: 16 September 2020 / Revised: 23 October 2020 / Accepted: 27 October 2020 / Published: 29 October 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in the Biology of Leptospira, Borrelia and Other Spirochetes)
Simple Summary
To diagnose Lyme disease, a patient’s blood is tested for antibodies that develop as part of the immune response. This can lead to cases being missed or inadequately treated. An ideal test would directly detect the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia, to provide better clinical guidance. In this study, we aimed to improve the methods currently used to find Borrelia in human blood, and identified two opportunities for optimization. We demonstrate that the container most commonly used to collect blood (EDTA) decreases Borrelia’s ability to grow, and we identify a superior alternative (citrate). Additionally, using experimentally infected blood, we show that Borrelia is highly concentrated in the platelet fraction, making it an ideal candidate for direct detection. These results lay the foundation for diagnostic test development, which could improve patient outcomes in Lyme disease.
Abstract
Serological diagnosis of Lyme disease suffers from considerable limitations. Yet, the technique cannot currently be replaced by direct detection methods, such as bacterial culture or molecular analysis, due to their inadequate sensitivity. The low bacterial burden in vasculature and lack of consensus around blood-based isolation of the causative pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, are central to this challenge. We therefore addressed methodological optimization of Borrelia recovery from blood, first by analyzing existing protocols, and then by using experimentally infected human blood to identify the processing conditions and fractions that increase Borrelia yield. In this proof-of-concept study, we now report two opportunities to improve recovery and detection of Borrelia from clinical samples. To enhance pathogen viability and cultivability during whole blood collection,
  • citrate anticoagulant is superior to more commonly used EDTA.
  • Despite the widespread reliance on serum and plasma as analytes, we found that the platelet fraction of blood concentrates Borrelia, providing an enriched resource for direct pathogen detection by microscopy, laboratory culture, Western blot, and PCR. The potential for platelets to serve as a reservoir for Borrelia and its diagnostic targets may transform direct clinical detection of this pathogen. View Full-Text

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For more:

The CDC deliberately avoids direct detection methods and has suppressed efforts for a direct test for decades.

Around 2003 the WHO encouraged research into microscopy as a direct test for the Borrelia spirochete, the pathogen causing Lyme disease. When a promising new and simple technique was discovered in 2013, it was however violently attacked. Not on the science itself, which is the normal procedure in science, but personally. Now retired professor microbiology Morten Laane was fired after he gave a lecture at a scientific conference in 2014. Moreover, his laboratory was closed down, the website of the scientific journal was hacked and the article disappeared. An exclusive interview (in link).

Lyme advocate and patient Carl Tuttle continues to ask WHY direct detection methods are not used for tick-borne illness.  The CDC continues to give him the run-around:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/05/27/letter-to-cdc-dr-beard-why-isnt-direct-detection-of-lyme-disease-a-priority/

Within this link you will learn of a current lawsuit over this issue by Sin Hang Lee, alleging that employees of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unilaterally terminated a contractual agreement under which the CDC agreed to evaluate a “no false-positive” DNA based Lyme disease test, a currently available test that vastly improves the speed and accuracy of Lyme disease diagnosis for sufferers, and one that is capable of diagnosing all tick-borne borrelial infections.

The CDC’s stranglehold over Lyme testing is also evident with COVID-19 testing.  

I question whether an accurate test for COVID-19 is even possible. It appears it has NOT been singularly isolated and purified and without this important foundation, an accurate test AND vaccine will never be possible:

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing

Bartonella Neuroretinitis From a Ferret and Guinea Pig

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33083230/

Not cat-scratch disease: Bartonella henselae neuroretinitis associated with non-feline pet mammals

Jorge Orellana-Rios 1 2, Juan I Verdaguer-Diaz 1, Gabriela Opazo 2, Belinda C S Leong 3, Claudio Zett 4, R Theodore Smith 5, K Bailey Freund 6 7
Affiliations expand

Free PMC article

Abstract

To describe the ocurrence of Bartonella-associated neuroretinitis secondary to non-feline pet exposure, we retrospectively reviewed medical records and imaging from patients with a clinical and serologic diagnosis of Bartonella henselae (BH). Retinal imaging included color fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescein angiography (FA). Four eyes of two patients with cat-scratch disease were included in this study, with a mean age of 35 years. The mean follow-up was 13 months, after presentation of infectious neuroretinitis. Both patients suffered from bilateral neuroretinitis after direct contact with family pets (ferret and guinea pig).

All patients were treated with a long-term systemic antimicrobial therapy.

Visual acuity in all improved to 20/30 or better at six months. In conclusion, humans may develop cat-scratch disease when they are exposed to Bartonella henselae (BH) in the saliva of infected cats or BH-containing flea feces reaching the systemic circulation through scratches or mucous membranes. As the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) may reside on non-feline mammals, Bartonella-associated neuroretinitis may result from contact with other furred family pets.

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For more on neuroretinitis:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/10/bartonella-henselae-neuroretinitis-in-patients-without-cat-scratch/  All the patients denied a history of a cat or any animal contact, or of having CSD findings.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/12/bartonella-neuroretinitis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/08/case-series-bartonella-ocular-manifestations/

For more on Bartonella:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/category/bartonella-treatment/

Excerpt:

Fifteen species of gram-negative aerobic Bartonella are known to infect humans; however Dr. Ricardo Maggi’s statement is quite telling, “This case reinforces the hypothesis that any Bartonella species can cause human infection.”  

Category:

Bartonella, Eye Issues, research

Clinical Manifestations Associated with Bartonella Henselae Infection in a Tropical Region

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33021197/

Clinical Manifestations Associated with Bartonella henselae Infection in a Tropical Region

Sze Yen Tay 1, Kevin Freeman 1, Robert Baird 1
Affiliations expand

Abstract

Bartonella henselae is a zoonotic Gram-negative Bacillus associated with self-limited regional lymphadenopathy. In recent decades, an expanding spectrum of clinical manifestations has been described, in part, due to improved diagnostics. However, updated epidemiological data are sparse. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features of 31 patients with B. henselae infection older than 15 years from 2005 to 2019, in the tropical Top End of Australia. Our annual disease incidence of 1.3 cases per 100,000 population is lower than that in the national database surveillances in the United States, but the hospitalization incidence of 0.9 per 100,000 population in our region is higher than those reported in the literature, with an average length of stay of 9 days. Patients were more commonly male, aboriginal, and aged less than 14 years (median age: 7 years), living in a rural setting with presentation during our monsoon season.

The disease spectrum included:

  • lymph node disease (74%)
  • organ peliosis
  • endocarditis
  • cutaneous lesions
  • parapharyngeal abscess
  • parotitis
  • neurologic and ocular syndromes

Lymph node disease was far commoner in children than the more serious systemic B. henselae infections associated with adults (P = 0.074).

Although no deaths were reported, significant morbidities were observed. Two endocarditis cases presented with glomerulonephritis, and hematological and neurological features mimicking vasculitis, and consequently received immunosuppressants. One case was only diagnosed after representation with serial embolic strokes.

Given the heterogeneity of disease manifestations with nonspecific symptoms and significant consequences, a timely and accurate diagnosis is needed to avoid unnecessary treatments or interventions.

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**Comment**

Please note the endocarditis, which we are told is “rare” with Lyme disease. Bartonella can also bethe causative agent, which many doctors are also not looking for or educated on.

Bartonella mimicking vasculitis has also been seen:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/03/case-of-cerebral-vasculitis-due-to-neurobartonellosis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/01/05/bartonella-endocarditis-masquerading-as-systemic-vasculitis-with-rapidly-progressive-glomerulonephritis/

The HPV vaccine has also caused vasculitis:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/16/gardasil-vasculitis-msids/

Category:

Bartonella, research

Study Shows D, Magnesium, and B12 Reduces Clinical Deterioration in Older COVID-19 Patients

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900720303002

Cohort study to evaluate effect of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B12 in combination on severe outcome progression in older patients with coronavirus (COVID-19)

 

Highlights

  • Use of a combination of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B12 (DMB) in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was studied.
  • Fewer patients ≥50 y of age with COVID-19 on DMB suffered clinical deterioration.
  • Further studies are warranted to ascertain the full benefit of DMB in patients with COVID-19.

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine clinical outcomes of older patients with coronavirus (COVID-19) who received a combination of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B12 (DMB) compared with those who did not. We hypothesized that fewer patients administered this combination would require oxygen therapy, intensive care support, or a combination of both than those who did not.

Methods

This was a cohort observational study of all consecutive hospitalized patients ≥50 y of age with COVID-19 in a tertiary academic hospital. Before April 6, 2020, no patients received the (DMB) combination. After this date, patients were administered 1000 IU/d oral vitamin D3, 150 mg/d oral magnesium, and 500 mcg/d oral vitamin B12 upon admission if they did not require oxygen therapy. Primary outcome was deterioration leading to any form of oxygen therapy, intensive care support, or both.

Results

Between January 15 and April 15, 2020, we identified 43 consecutive patients ≥50 y of age with COVID-19. Seventeen patients received DMB before onset of primary outcome and 26 patients did not. Baseline demographic characteristics between the two groups were significantly different by age. In univariate analysis, age and hypertension had a significant influence on outcome. After adjusting for age or hypertension separately in a multivariate analysis, the intervention group retained protective significance. Fewer treated patients than controls required initiation of oxygen therapy during hospitalization (17.6 vs 61.5%, P = 0.006). DMB exposure was associated with odds ratios of 0.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03–0.59) and 0.20 (95% CI, 0.04–0.93) for oxygen therapy, intensive care support, or both on univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively.

Conclusions

A vitamin D / magnesium / vitamin B12 combination in older COVID-19 patients was associated with a significant reduction in the proportion of patients with clinical deterioration requiring oxygen support, intensive care support, or both. This study supports further larger randomized controlled trials to ascertain the full benefit of this combination in ameliorating the severity of COVID-19.

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**Comment**

Once again we see there are numerous things that can be used successfully against COVID-19, but don’t expect to hear about this in main stream media.  They are all about pushing products that our public ‘authorities’ have financial interests in.  One is a dangerous, experimental vaccine:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/08/29/every-breath-you-take-every-move-you-make-the-who-is-watching-you-the-media-is-bought-out-by-gates/

We’ve been warned about this vaccine:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/20/experts-issue-serious-warnings-about-a-covid-vaccine/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/05/covid-19-vaccine-explained/

And another is the expensive anti-viral Remdesivir which has recently been given EUA status despite lack of results:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/26/remdesivir-gets-fda-approval-but-who-says-drug-ineffective-for-covid/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/02/remdesivir-for-covid-19-not-backed-by-results/

For more successful COVID-19 treatments that doctors have been using successfully:

 

 

Category:

research, Supplements, Treatment, Viruses

Low Zinc Levels Associated with Poor COVID Outcomes

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.07.20208645v1

Low zinc levels at clinical admission associates with poor outcomes in COVID-19

Marina Vogel, Marc Tallo-Parra, Victor Herrera-Fernandez, Gemma Perez-Vilaro, Miguel Chillon, Xavier Nogues, Silvia Gomez-Zorrilla, Inmaculada Lopez-Montesinos, Judit Villar, Maria Luisa Sorli-Redo, Juan Pablo Horcajada, Natalia Garcia-Giralt, Julio Pascual, Juana Diez, Ruben Vicente, Robert Guerri-Fernandez
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.07.20208645
 
This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.
 

Abstract

Background: Biomarkers to predict Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outcome early at infection are urgently needed to improve prognosis and treatment. Zinc balances immune responses and also has a proven direct antiviral action against some viruses. Importantly, zinc deficiency (ZD) is a common condition in elderly and individuals with chronic diseases, two groups with more severe COVID-19 outcomes. We hypothesize that serum zinc content (SZC) influences COVID-19 disease progression and thus might represent a useful biomarker.

Methods: We run a retrospective observational study with 249 COVID-19 patients admitted in Hospital del Mar. We have studied COVID-19 severity and progression attending to SZC at admission. In parallel we have studied SARS-CoV2 replication in the Vero E6 cell line modifying zinc concentrations.

Findings: Our study demonstrates a correlation between serum zinc levels and COVID-19 outcome. Serum zinc levels lower than 50 mcgg/dl at admission correlated with worse clinical presentation, longer time to reach stability and higher mortality. Our in vitro results indicate that low zinc levels favor viral expansion in SARS-CoV2 infected cells.

Interpretation: SZC is a novel biomarker to predict COVID-19 outcome. We encourage performing randomized clinical trials to study zinc supplementation as potential prophylaxis and treatment with people at risk of zinc deficiency.

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**Comment**

While this is awaiting peer review, it’s not a novel concept nor is it surprising; however, our public ‘authorities’ would rather rivet on mask wearing (which doesn’t work and gives a false sense of security), their expensive antiviral Remdesivir (which has been shown to be of little to no benefit), and their expensive, experimental vaccine (which has caused all sorts of side-effects already in human volunteers). 

The best and safest approach is always prevention.

Please learn all you can on how to make your body a tough target for disease.  Start by eating a whole-food diet, reducing your stress, getting adequate sleep, and exercising.  Then, work with your medical practitioner to determine your imbalances/weaknesses and appropriately supplement using reputable products.

Caution:  zinc is a fat-soluble vitamin and will build up in the body.  Testing is needed to determine your level and how much to take.  

For a great read on all things vitamin D including how much to take, various important nuances, and necessary testing:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/12/the-importance-of-vitamin-d-k-and-magnesium-for-lyme-msids-patients/

For a great presentation:  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/04/16/viruses-immunity-dr-waters-fix-your-soil-and-the-seeds-cant-grow/

These simple nutritional issues are what our ‘authorities’ should be educating the public on.  The fact that they aren’t doing so reveals their true motive.

Category:

research, Supplements, Viruses