Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Changing of the Guard: How the Lyme Disease Spirochete Subverts the Host Immune Response

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31753921?

2019 Nov 21. pii: jbc.REV119.008583. doi: 10.1074/jbc.REV119.008583. [Epub ahead of print]

Changing of the guard: How the Lyme disease spirochete subverts the host immune response.

Chaconas G1, Castellanos M2, Verhey TB2.

Abstract

Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the Northern Hemisphere. The disease is caused by the bacterial spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and other related Borrelia species. One of the many fascinating features of this unique pathogen is an elaborate system for antigenic variation whereby the sequence of the surface-bound lipoprotein VlsE is continually modified through segmental gene conversion events. This perpetual changing of the guard allows the pathogen to remain one step ahead of the acquired immune response, enabling persistent infection. Accordingly, the vls locus is the most evolutionarily diverse genetic element in Lyme disease-causing borreliae. Small stretches of information are transferred from a series of silent cassettes in the vls locus to generate an expressed mosaic vlsE gene version that contains genetic information from several different silent cassettes, resulting in ~1040 possible vlsE sequences. Yet, despite its extreme evolutionary flexibility, the locus has rigidly conserved structural features. These include a telomeric location of the vlsE gene, an inverse orientation of vlsE and the silent cassettes, the presence of near-perfect inverted repeats of ~100 bp near the 5′ end of vlsE, and an exceedingly high concentration of G runs in vlsE and the silent cassettes. We discuss the possible roles of these evolutionarily conserved features, highlight recent findings from several studies that have used next-generation DNA sequencing to unravel the switching process, and review advances in the development of a mini-vls system for genetic manipulation of the locus.

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**Comment**

Read it again: “This perpetual changing of the guard allows the pathogen to remain one step ahead of the acquired immune response, enabling persistent infection.”

Please spread the word.

Peer-Reviewed Evidence of Persistence of Lyme:MSIDS copy

 

Category:

Lyme, research

C6 Peptide Test For Lyme Disease May Indicate Borrelia Miyamotoi Infection

https://danielcameronmd.com/c6-peptide-test-lyme-disease-borrelia-miyamotoi-infection/

C6 PEPTIDE TEST FOR LYME DISEASE MAY INDICATE BORRELIA MIYAMOTOI INFECTION

The C6 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is often used to diagnose Lyme disease. The test is based on the C6 peptide of the Borrelia burgdorferi sl VlsE protein. But a recent study suggests the C6 peptide test may also indicate an infection with Borrelia miyamotoi, another tick-borne disease.

By

Koetsveld and colleagues examined C6 reactivity in sera from both mice infected with Borrelia miyamotoi and from 46 patients with PCR-positive Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD).

They found, “Cross-reactivity against the C6-peptide was confirmed in 21 out of 24 mice experimentally infected with B. miyamotoi.” And a C6 antibody response was present in 39 of 46 patients. ¹

Interestingly, another recent study “showed that in a set of 43 sera from 24 patients with [Borrelia miyamotoi disease] from the United States the C6 ELISA was also positive in the vast majority (>90%) of convalescent phase serum samples.” ²

Koetsveld warns, however, that since “BMD [Borrelia miyamotoi disease] and Lyme borreliosis are found in the same geographical locations, caution should be used when relying solely on C6-reactivity testing.”

According to a new study, the C6 peptide test used to diagnose Lyme disease may also be helpful in identifying Borrelia miyamotoi. CLICK TO TWEET

They recommend further testing if the Western blot is negative.

“We propose that a positive C6 EIA with negative immunoblot, especially in patients with fever several weeks after a tick bite, warrants further testing for B. miyamotoi.”

Testing for the glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase (GlpQ) gene may be helpful in detecting B. miyamotoi infection.

“Our results demonstrate that cross-reactive antibodies against the C6 peptide regularly occur in patients with [Borrelia miyamotoi disease],” writes Koetsveld.

He adds, “with as much as 90% (95% CI 68.3–98.8) of patients being C6-reactive in samples taken 10 to 19 days after onset of disease.”

Editor’s note: It is also possible that the patients could have seronegative Lyme disease concurrent with B. miyamotoi.  In fact, 10 of their 39 patients were reactive by Western blot for Lyme disease.
Related Articles:

The best antibiotics to treat Borrelia miyamotoi?

Blood smear not reliable in diagnosing Borrelia miyamotoi

Doctors face challenges in diagnosing Borrelia miyamotoi

References:
  1. Koetsveld J, Platonov AE, Kuleshov K, et al. Borrelia miyamotoi infection leads to cross-reactive antibodies to the C6 peptide in mice and men. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2019.
  2. Molloy, P.J., Weeks, K.E., Todd, B., and Wormser, G.P. Seroreactivity to the C6 peptide in Borrelia miyamotoi infections occurring in the northeastern United States. Clin Infect Dis. 2018; 66: 1407–1410

Category:

Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Lyme, research, Testing

Another Case Report Showing Multiple Pathogens in Lyme Patient

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31725662

2019 Nov;98(46):e17977. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000017977.

Case report: A patient coinfected by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and spotted fever group Rickettsiae in Urumqi, China.

Jiang Y1,2, Hou X1,2, Zhang L1,2, Tan Y3, Lu C3, Xiao D3, Li H3, Hao Q1,2, Wan K1,2.

Abstract

RATIONALE:

Both Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and spotted fever group Rickettsiae (SFGR) are pathogens carried by ticks. There is a possibility of co-infection with these tick-borne diseases.

PATIENT CONCERNS:

Male patient, 63 years-of-age, admitted to hospital with skin rash presenting for 1 week and fever with cough and expectoration for 3 days before admission.

DIAGNOSES:

We diagnosed that the patient was co-infected by B burgdorferi sl and SFGR using laboratory test results and the patient’s clinical manifestations.

INTERVENTIONS:

The patient started therapy with oral minocycline, then levofloxacin by intravenous injection for SFGR. Meanwhile, he was treated with penicillin G sodium, cefoperazone sulbactam sodium and ceftriaxone by intravenous injection for B burgdorferi sl.

OUTCOMES:

After the patient was in stable condition, he was discharged from hospital.

LESSONS:

This case report highlights the possibility of co-infection by 2 tick-borne diseases in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The antibiotic therapy should be based on the detection of pathogenic bacteria, and the different susceptibilities of co-infecting bacteria should be considered.

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**Comment**

Very glad these cases are being reported as mainstream medicine has its head completely in the sand regarding tick-borne infections. In 2018 a fantastic study demonstrated that many patients are coinfected with numerous pathogens.  Patients whom are coinfected have more severe illness for a longer duration of time. The idea that 21 days of the mono therapy of doxycycline is a complete joke.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/05/01/co-infection-of-ticks-the-rule-rather-than-the-exception/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/23/what-role-do-co-infections-play-in-lyme-disease-diagnosis/

Going back to 1998, it was known that when a patient has Lyme and Babesia, Lyme is found three-times more frequently in the blood, causing greater symptoms, disease severity, and duration of illness:  https://reference.medscape.com/medline/abstract/8637139

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/28/concurrent-babesiosis-and-lyme-in-patient/  Great example of a previously healthy 39-year-old male presenting to the emergency department (ED) with generalized severe headaches for eight days and fever for four days. Abdominal examination was normal except for a swollen spleen.

THE NUMBER OF SYMPTOMS AND DURATION OF ILLNESS IN PATIENTS WITH CONCURRENT LYME DISEASE AND BABESIOSIS ARE GREATER THAN IN PATIENTS WITH EITHER INFECTION ALONE

http://www.lymepa.org/c07%20Lyme%20disease%20and%20Babesiosis%20coinfection.pdf  It also suggests a synergistic inflammatory response to both a parasitemia and an increased spirochetemia. In addition, babesial infection enhances Lyme disease myocarditis in mice, which suggests that coinfection might also synergize spirochete-induced lesions in human joints, heart, and nerves.

Telling quote:

Persistent and debilitating fatigue characterized coinfection.

ANIMAL STUDIES ALSO SHOW ENHANCED SEVERITY WITH LYME & BABESIA

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0020751918302406
Similar to humans, B. microti coinfection appears to enhance the severity of Lyme disease-like symptoms in mice. Coinfected mice have lower peak B. microti parasitaemia compared to mice infected with B. microti alone, which may reflect attenuation of babesiosis symptoms reported in some human coinfections. These findings suggest that B. burgdorferi coinfection attenuates parasite growth while B. microti presence exacerbates Lyme disease-like symptoms in mice.

 Mainstream medicine hasn’t even factored this into the equation yet.

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Rickettsia

How Sleep Cleans Toxins From the Brain

https://www.mysterious-times.com/2019/11/17/scientists-now-know-how-sleep-cleans-toxins-from-the-brain/

by Mysterious Times

The synchronized brain waves of non-REM sleep may play a key role in preventing toxins from accumulating in a person’s brain.

Laura Lewis and her team of researchers have been putting in late nights in their Boston University lab. Lewis ran tests until around 3:00 in the morning, then ended up sleeping in the next day. It was like she had jet lag, she says, without changing time zones. It’s not that Lewis doesn’t appreciate the merits of a good night’s sleep. She does. But when you’re trying to map what’s happening in a slumbering human’s brain, you end up making some sacrifices. “It’s this great irony of sleep research,” she says. “You’re constrained by when people sleep.”

Her results, published today in the journal Science, show how our bodies clear toxins out of our brains while we sleep and could open new avenues for treating and preventing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s…..(See link for full article)

For Lewis et al. study:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6465/628

Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep

Category:

Detoxing, research, Sleep

Increasing Burden of Lyme Carditis in United States Children’s Hospitals

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31728570/

2019 Nov 14. doi: 10.1007/s00246-019-02250-9. [Epub ahead of print]

Increasing Burden of Lyme Carditis in United States Children’s Hospitals.

Beach CM1, Hart SA2, Nowalk A3, Feingold B4,5, Kurland K6, Arora G4.

Abstract

We sought to characterize the shifting epidemiology and resource utilization of Lyme disease and associated carditis in US children’s hospitals. We hypothesized that the Lyme carditis burden has increased and that hospitalizations for Lyme carditis are costlier than those for Lyme disease without carditis. The PHIS database was queried for Lyme disease encounters between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2013. Additional diagnostic codes consistent with carditis identified Lyme carditis cases. Demographic, clinical, and resource utilization data were analyzed. All costs were adjusted to 2014 US dollars. Lyme disease was identified in 3620 encounters with 189 (5%) associated with carditis. Lyme disease (360 cases in 2007 vs. 672 in 2013, p = 0.01) and Lyme carditis (17 cases in 2007 vs. 40 in 2013, p = 0.03) both significantly increased in frequency. This is primarily accounted for by their increase within the Midwest region. Carditis frequency among cases of Lyme disease was stable (p = 0.15). Encounters for Lyme carditis are dramatically costlier than those for Lyme disease without carditis [median $9104 (3741-19,003) vs. 922 (238-4987), p < 0.001] The increase in Lyme carditis cases in US children’s hospitals is associated with an increased Lyme disease incidence, suggesting that there has not been a change in its virulence or cardiac tropism. The increasing number of serious cardiac events and costs associated with Lyme disease emphasize the need for prevention and early detection of disease and control of its spread.

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/21/diagnosis-treatment-of-lyme-carditis/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/11/04/suspect-lyme-carditis-start-empiric-antibiotics-case-report-suggest-and-lyme-carditis-is-not-rare/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/09/with-unexpected-death-autopsies-should-look-for-lyme-carditis/

Excerpt:  “Lyme expert Dr. Daniel Cameron has done a nice job of summarizing five cases in a blog. http://danielcameronmd.com/autopsy-study-reviews-cases-due-to-sudden-cardiac-death-from-lyme-disease/
Cardiac Tropism of Borrelia burgdorferi: An Autopsy Study of Sudden Cardiac Death Associated with Lyme Carditis. (March 2016)
http://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(16)00099-7/abstract
Excerpt:

“Fatal Lyme carditis caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi rarely is identified. Here, we describe the pathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular findings of five case patients.”

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/15/lyme-carditis-presenting-as-atrial-fibrillation/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/22/new-lyme-cme-course-available-lyme-carditis-more-than-blocked-beats/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/04/how-vector-borne-diseases-impact-heart-health/

Category:

Heart Issues, Lyme, research