https://www.lymedisease.org/2019-mylymedata-highlights.pdf?
All sorts of nifty graphs and charts on patients taking part in the project. If you haven’t added your information yet, go here to do so: https://www.mylymedata.org/
For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/02/mylymedata-2019-report/
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/8/3/117/htm
Pathogens 2019, 8(3), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8030117
Recently these two articles essentially found divergent outcomes. This article shows Babesia is widespread in Canada https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/11/babesia-widespread-in-canada-its-high-tolerance-to-therapy/, while this one states it’s rare: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/21/prevalence-of-babesia-in-canadian-blood-donors-june-october-2018/
Yet, if I am reading this properly, they only used one test. If a sample was reactive, only then did they test it further – kind of like using 2-tiered testing for Lyme when you only move onto the Western Blot IF you test positive first using the Elisa. So these patient samples were tested only once at the beginning to determine who had reactive samples to Babesia.
This testing discrepancy that differs from reality is true for all tick-borne diseases and practitioners need to become educated in this fact as well as understand the importance of symptomology to determine a clinical diagnosis. The continued stubbornness of utilizing poor testing to weed out people in the beginning is foolish. It only seems logical to cast a wider net in the beginning rather than a narrower one. Everyone knows testing is abysmal, yet it’s followed like the Pied Piper to the doom of patients.
See link to learn how Japanese researchers from Kumamoto University have shown that anxious behavior in mice is reduced after consuming Matcha powder or Matcha extract.
For more: https://articles.mercola.com/teas/matcha-green-tea.aspx
https://www.ejbps.com/admin/assets/article_issue/volume_6_april_issue_4/1553939970.pdf?
Barbaros Çetin*
Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Izmir, Turkey.
Article Received on 29/01/2019 Article Revised on 19/02/2019 Article Accepted on 12/03/2019
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Barbaros Çetin
ABSTRACT
In Turkey, Borrelia burgdorferi infections are not well known among physicians and almost completely overlooked. On the other hand, a small number of seropositivity studies (%3.3-%73) show that Borrelia burgdorferi is common in Turkey. There is no diagnostic biological marker in multiple sclerosis (MS). Only several clinical criteria used for diagnosis. These criteria are also compatible with other diseases. Lyme disease is currently among them.
In the chronic phase of Lyme, demyelination can form and this can be confused with MS. In this study 126 patients, between ages 17 and 66, with a definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was evaluated, and were found to be found positive Borrelia burgdorferi western blot and LTT test results 108 (%85.72). Only 18 (%14.28) patients have negative test results.
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**Comment**
Important excerpt from study:
“Spirochetes in MS” (Buzzard, E.F.), published in the famous Lancet magazine in 1911, revealed the presence of Lyme spirochetes in the brains of MS patients. Over a period of more than a century, more than 50 international scientific papers proving the MS-Lyme relationship have been published in prestigious medical journals.[16-111]
Please look at the date for that…...1911, yet, how many doctors are considering Lyme/MSIDS in those patients thought to have MS?
Courtesy, Tom Grier
For an informative article on the subject of cell-wall deficient forms (CWD) and other neurological diseases: http://www.livinglyme.com/notes-and-observations-on-cell-wall-deficient-forms/
Dr. Lida Mattman, was a protégé of Gabriel Stiener who was the first to establish that MS was associated with a spirochete.
Grier states that this area of microbiology has long been neglected, and that we are now paying a price for that neglect. Mattman’s work suggests that cell wall deficient forms are prevalent, pathogenic, and may be behind sarcoidosis, Crohn’s disease, coronary thrombosis, Kaposi’s sarcoma, endocarditis, and MS.
Mattman explains her simple lab technique here: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/02/transmission-of-lyme-disease-lida-mattman-phd/ Transcript included.
According to Grier, Mattman said she frequently isolates L-forms from Lyme patients with aseptic meningitis and endocarditis, but that traditional culture media is virtually worthless, as are traditional heat fixed blood smears. Instead, she creates a live wet mount using the patients blood or bully coat. The blood sample is placed on a wet slide with acrodine orange dye to stain the nucleic acids. Then a monoclonal antibody fluorescent stain that is specific for Borrelia burgdorferi is added and is examined under a microscope. Grier states most labs are clueless about cell wall deficient forms and that we will not have answers until more labs agree to test for CWD forms.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31385317
The erythrocytic protozoan parasite Babesia microti, the cause of human babesiosis, is transmitted not only by tick bites but also via blood transfusion. B. microti is endemic in the northeastern/upper midwestern United States, where partial screening of blood donations has been implemented. In Canada, a 2013 study of approximately 14,000 donors found no B. microti antibody-positive samples, suggesting low risk at that time.
Between June and October 2018, 50,752 Canadian donations collected from sites near the US border were tested for Babesia nucleic acid by transcription-mediated amplification (TMA). Reactive donations were tested for B. microti by IgG immunofluorescence assay and polymerase chain reaction. A subset of 14,758 TMA nonreactive samples was also screened for B. microti antibody. Donors who tested reactive/positive were deferred, asked about risk factors, and were requested to provide a follow-up sample for supplemental testing.
One sample from Winnipeg, Manitoba, was TMA and antibody reactive. Of the 14,758 TMA-nonreactive donations tested for antibody, four reactive donations were identified from southwestern Ontario near Lake Erie. None of the interviewed donors remembered any symptoms, likely tick exposure, or relevant travel within Canada or the United States.
This is the largest B. microti prevalence study performed in Canada. The results indicate very low prevalence, with only one TMA-confirmed-positive donation of 50,752 tested. This donor was from the only region in Canada where autochthonous infection has been reported. Seropositive donations in southwestern Ontario suggest low prevalence; travel should not be ruled out given the proximity to the US border.
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For more: I would caution authorities in believing there is a low prevalence of Babesa. I’ve heard it takes a trained eye to see it and is rarely detected using only 1 diagnostic test. I think the word is out on the seriousness of tick-borne disease. Let’s not go back in time by adopting a carefree approach. We should be looking hard and using accurate testing methods.
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/02/study-showing-results-testing-babesia-microti/
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/28/tick-borne-infection-risk-in-blood-transfusion/
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/11/characteristics-of-transfusion-transmitted-babesia-microti-american-red-cross-2010-2017/ This clearly shows there were more than 200 Babesia transfusion-transmissions reported. It also shows you don’t have to reside in an endemic area or travel to an endemic area to get it. The article also clearly points out that the geographic range of ticks is expanding, which means the pathogens they carry will as well.
According to Dr. Ken Singleton, Babesia is rarely detected using one diagnostic test alone. http://www.lymebook.com/chronic-lyme-testing-and-diagnosis
Excerpts:
Lyme-aware physicians generally screen for 2 strains—Babesia microti and WA-1 (Babesia duncani)—by testing for antibodies (by IFA or ELISA testing) made by the body against those organisms.
Another very useful test for Babesia is known as the FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridization) test. The FISH test is performed on thin blood smears (tests used to detect germs in white blood cells) and is able to detect the RNA (genetic material) of Babesia. If this test is positive, it is very strong evidence of the presence of active Babesia. The advantage of the FISH test is that it will detect other subspecies of Babesia in addition to B. microti and B. duncani. (A direct thick and thin blood smear using a staining technique called “Giemsa” can also be done by one’s local or commercial labs to look for Babesia organisms in red blood cells; however, it is an insensitive test except during acute Babesia, particularly when fever is present.)
A final potentially useful test is the Babesia PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Unfortunately, in my experience it is also not a sensitive test and is the least useful of the three tests mentioned.
All three of these tests—Babesia IFA, FISH, PCR—are available through IgeneX, a laboratory specializing in Lyme disease and other tick-borne organisms. Medical Diagnostics Laboratory (MDL) has two of the tests—Babesia ELISA and PCR. Both labs are excellent and I utilize both regularly. (See the resources section for more information.) However, as mentioned, Babesia can frequently escape detection by diagnostic tests. Therefore, many times babesiois must be a clinical diagnosis made by physicians who are experienced in its detection and treatment.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 