Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Complex Role of Bartonella in Chronic Illness #1

https://www.lymedisease.org/med-detective-bartonella-part-1/

MEDICAL DETECTIVE: The complex role of Bartonella in chronic illness, part 1

This article was originally posted on Dr. Richard Horowitz’s Medical Detective Substack. It is Part 1 of a 5-part series. You can find more helpful content by subscribing here. 

Bartonella is the third “B” of the triad found in the vast majority of my chronically ill patients who suffer from chronic Lyme disease/PTLDS, along with Borrelia and Babesia.

A gram-negative intracellular bacteria, it’s controversial and misunderstood and has been throwing a monkey wrench into my treatments for decades.

I barely remember learning about it in medical school, except when they were teaching me about cat scratch fever in children that would cause small, localized rashes (papules) at the site of the scratch with swollen lymph nodes and fevers.

It would be treated with a short course of antibiotics like azithromycin. These images show classical cat scratch disease before and after treatment when the lesions are starting to crust up.

[From: Mazur-Melewska K, Mania A, Kemnitz P, Figlerowicz M, Służewski W. Cat-scratch disease: a wide spectrum of clinical pictures. Postepy Dermatol Alergol. 2015 Jun;32(3):216-20. doi: 10.5114/pdia.2014.44014. Epub 2015 Jun 15. PMID: 26161064; PMCID: PMC4495109.]

Unfortunately, Bartonella infections rarely resemble this one particular manifestation, or the general medical community would be diagnosing and treating it a lot more often.

It is a very tricky bacteria, and, like Lyme disease, has found a way to not only avoid immune recognition, but change its clinical characteristics so it resembles a broad range of other diseases.

Immune Evasion by Bartonella

Bartonella is referred to as a “stealth bacteria” because it evades the immune system by living inside red blood cells (intraerythrocytic persistence), blood vessel walls (inflaming them, causing vasculitis), endothelial cells, fibroblasts, epithelial cells of the skin (causing the classic Bartonella rashes described below), macrophages (immune cells that play a critical role of initiating and maintaining an inflammatory response, as well as potentially resolving inflammation) and bone marrow cells.

So it can hide throughout the body in areas where the immune system doesn’t easily penetrate and recognize the bacteria, not to mention, it can exist under biofilms in persister forms like Borrelia. Biofilms protect the bacteria from immune recognition and the effects of antibiotics.

[From: Okaro, U.; George, S.; Anderson, B. What Is in a Cat Scratch? Growth of Bartonella henselae in a Biofilm. Microorganisms 2021, 9, 835. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9040835%5D

Bartonella can manipulate host cell interactions to hide from immune detection by altering its surface proteins to avoid recognition (like Lyme disease), and possesses unique fat and sugar molecules (lipopolysaccharides) that minimize immune response activation; this often leads to prolonged, asymptomatic infections that can be difficult to diagnose with standard tests (it can hide in the body for years in some patients without symptoms), and then reactivate under certain conditions.

The patient below was in remission for one year after doing an 8-week course of double dose dapsone combination therapy (DDDCT), and then reactivated after being treated with antibiotics for a skin infection. This skin rash emerged when he got treated for cellulitis, which had nothing to do with his initial Lyme infection. You can see the classical Bartonella “stretch marks.”

[From: Horowitz, R.I.; Fallon, J.; Freeman, P.R. Comparison of the Efficacy of Longer versus Shorter Pulsed High Dose Dapsone Combination Therapy in the Treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease/Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome with Bartonellosis and Associated Coinfections. Microorganisms 2023, 11, 2301. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11092301%5D

Reactivation often happens when the immune system is unable to control the infection, due in part to the immunosuppressive nature of the bacteria.

I’ve found multiple species of Bartonella in our sickest patients leading to chronic variable immune deficiency (CVID), just as I’ve found Borrelia causing immune suppression, along with mold toxicity and Long Covid affecting immune functioning.

The multisystemic nature of Bartonella infections

When we see patients with Bartonella, as I mentioned, it has no resemblance whatsoever with the classical cat-scratch disease I learned about in medical school. Bacteria like Bartonella cause similar symptoms to those seen in chronic Lyme disease, presenting as a “great imitator.”

It can result in chronic fatiguing, musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, neuropsychiatric illness and can cause fevers, chills, fatigue, headaches, muscle/joint and nerve pain, cognitive difficulties, insomnia, depression, anxiety, and cause inflammation in every body system imaginable, just like Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, does.

There can also be inflammation in the eyes (optic neuritis, conjunctivitis, uveitis, arterial and venous occlusions); the brain, surrounding structures and spinal cord (meningitis, encephalitis, transverse myelitis, seizure disorders), with associated Bartonella “rage” and psychosis (Bartonella, like Lyme disease, can cause a broad range of psychiatric manifestations, including but not limited to severe depression, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia with psychosis).

It also can cause inflammation in the muscles (myalgias), joints (arthritis, osteomyelitis), nerves (neuropathy) and blood vessels (vasculitis), as well as the heart valves (endocarditis, including culture negative endocarditis), heart muscle (myocarditis), and sac surrounding the heart (pericarditis) causing chest pain with masses in the chest (mediastinum) and lymph nodes resembling non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Even the gastrointestinal tract can be affected (nausea, vomiting, weight loss, bleeding), as can the liver (hepatitis), spleen (splenitis, enlargement), and skin, which oftentimes shows signs of inflammation (stretch marks, i.e. striae; granulomas, hard fibrous areas over the knuckles, elbows, and Bacillary angiomatosis, which are tumor-like masses, raised dark areas, papules, nodules, and lesions in the skin, bones, and organs).

Bartonella is a frequently found infection in those suffering from chronic Lyme disease—I’ve seen it in up to 80-90% of all of my chronically ill patients these days and should be considered in any and all cases of FUO (fever of unknown origin).

[From: Cheslock, M.A.; Embers, M.E. Human Bartonellosis: An Underappreciated Public Health Problem? Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2019, 4, 69. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed4020069%5D

Transmission of Bartonella

Part of the reason Bartonella has been a controversial topic in the Lyme community–at least among certain physicians and researchers–is because there has only been one study to date regarding tick transmission of the bacteria, and this was in European species of deer ticks (Ixodes ricinus) with one species, called Bartonella birtlesii.

The bacteria is, however, being found in ticks throughout the world, and other studies have shown the bacteria in different ticks and in chronic Lyme disease patients.

When I was co-chair of the HHS Tick-borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG) back in 2018, I had to fight to get Bartonella included as a co-infection of importance; whether all species are able to be transmitted by ticks or not, makes no difference.

Why? To date, the number of species able to transmit Bartonella keeps increasing over the years, and most of us are exposed to these vectors on a regular basis. The most common vectors transmitting the bacteria are fleas, mites, lice, keds (not the sneakers!), spiders, red ants, ticks (probable), sand flies, black and yellow flies, and mosquitoes.

Bartonella is showing up in a broad range of vectors, so it’s possible to get exposed from many different sources. That is why the vast majority of my sick patients are testing positive for it. In fact, for most of us living on this planet, I daresay we’ll all likely be exposed to Bartonella at some point during our lives. How we handle it, and whether we get symptoms, will depend on how our immune system is functioning.

Testing for multiple Bartonella species

The table below shows some of the most common species of Bartonella seen in human disease. This is not comprehensive, as there are now at least 45 species of Bartonella, and 18 of them or more are pathogenic [capable of causing disease].

Some of the most common ones are: B. henselae (Cat scratch disease, CSD; endocarditis, neuroretinitis, lymphadenopathy), B. quintana (Trench fever, endocarditis, bacillary angiomatosis [BA]), B. clarridgeiae (bacteremia, endocarditis, CSD, chest wall abscess), B. elizabethae (endocarditis, neuroretinitis),  B. bacilliformis (Carrion’s disease), B. koehlerae (endocarditis, including culture negative endocarditis), B. vinsonii subsp (bacteremia, endocarditis, fevers, neurological symptoms), B. berkhoffi (endocarditis, bacteremia, neurological symptoms), and B. grahamii  (neuroretinitis).

[From: Rebekah L. Bullard, Emily L. Olsen, Mercedes A. Cheslock, Monica E. Embers, Evaluation of the available animal models for Bartonella infections, One Health, Volume 18, 2024,100665, ISSN 2352-7714, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100665.%5D

How do we test for Bartonella?

As you can see from the above table, testing for just one species makes no sense, because we can be exposed to a broad range of Bartonella species during our lifetime. I started to test for Bartonella over two decades ago. This is from an abstract I presented at the 16th International Scientific Conference on Lyme disease in 2003:

You can see from this abstract, even 22 years ago, by just testing for Bartonella henselae, one of the most common species, we found that using an ELISA and IFA (Immunofluorescent Assay) was positive in less than 50% of patients–but using DNA analysis with a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) in the blood, we found 53% were positive when standard antibody assays were negative.

Which means the rule of thumb when testing for Bartonella is go as broad as you can. It is fine to start with local lab testing.

Level 1 testing

Using local labs like Quest, Labcorp, or Bioreference, you can send off antibody titers to B. henselae, B. quintana and B. bacilliformis, as well as PCRs and even a VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), an indirect marker of Bartonella exposure, indicating inflammation in the blood vessels (vasculitis). Often, however, you’ll want to use several specialty labs to prove infection.

Level 2 testing

If the above testing is negative, as it usually is, but you clinically suspect Bartonella, move on to the next level of tests. The three specialty labs include IgeneX laboratory (Bartonella IgM/IgG Immunoblots, Bartonella FISH [Fluorescent In-Situ-Hybridization test, an RNA test], T Labs (Bartonella FISH) with confocal microscopy, and Galaxy Laboratories, using their 4 species IFA antibody panel (for the most common species), and their ddPCR (direct droplet PCR) tests. The Bartonella Digital ePCR™ platform combines highly sensitive ddPCR technology with culture enrichment (BAPGM™).

I usually start with IgeneX laboratory and find that most of my patients have indeterminate or positive Immunoblots. Many times a negative Bartonella FISH test will turn positive later on during treatment, after the bacteria has been flushed out from the intracellular compartments where it’s been hiding.

I follow VEGF levels over time, as an indirect marker of Bartonella, when reactivation of infection is suspected. Keep in mind VEGF can be positive for other reasons (including Long Covid or cancer with metastases).

Level 3 testing

Skin biopsies can be done of the classical Bartonella rashes. Dr. Marna Ericson from T Labs has done this for me several times, and she found positive Bartonella in the skin, under biofilms, when it couldn’t be found through other methods.

I suspected Bartonella in two of my patients, but despite all classical testing, couldn’t prove exposure. The Bartonella fluoresces red under the microscope with this technique. I don’t suggest it as first level testing, but it can be very useful if you have looked for Bartonella using any and all of the above laboratories and methodologies.

Stay tuned for parts 2, 3, 4 and 5

In Part 2, I’ll discuss more about establishing a diagnosis as well as an overview of how other co-infections may overlap and affect Bartonella symptoms. Part 3 will discuss effective treatments, and Parts 4 and 5 go into more detail about these treatments.

Dr. Richard Horowitz has treated 13,000 Lyme and tick-borne disease patients over the last 40 years and is the best-selling author of  How Can I Get Better? and Why Can’t I Get Better? You can subscribe to read more of his work on Substack or join his Lyme-based newsletter for regular insights, tips, and advice

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Category:

Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research, Testing, Ticks, Treatment

New Review Paper on HCQ for COVID

https://drlf.substack.com/p/new-review-paper-on-hydroxychloroquine?

New review paper on hydroxychloroquine by Professor Christian Perrone’s research group

Eleftherios Gkioulekas
Feb 12, 2025

I am pleased to report about the new peer-reviewed research paper published on the use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 by Professor Christian Perronne’s research group. The corresponding author is Dr. Alexis Lacout affiliated with the Surgical Medical Center of Tronquieres in Aurillac, France. This is a review paper, so no new results are presented. However it puts together a definitive compendium of the available evidence in favor of the use of hydroxychloroquine based multidrug protocols for the treatment of COVID-19. Xavier Azalbert, one of the paper’s co-authors, gave an informative interview about this work with John Davidson.

The authors review in detail the early evidence available in favor of hydroxychloroquine from China and the mechanisms of action that made it plausible that it would be an effective treatment for COVID-19. They also give a brief overview of the flawed studies that followed, which purported to discredit the use of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 treatment. The authors then review the cardiac safety of the medication, and discuss blatantly fraudulent studies attempting to discredit hydroxychloroquine, that were subsequently retracted. The paper concludes with a review of the positive evidence in support of the prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection, and other studies supporting the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

This paper does not cover the same ground as my shorter comment publication that was published last year in the Tasman Medical Journal, focusing on the analysis Dr. Zev Zelenko’s early data of his triple drug hydroxychloroquine-based protocol which enhanced Dr. Didier Raoult’s protocol with the addition of zinc. Also not mentioned was the early meta-analysis by Dr. Raphael Stricker in support of the prophylactic use of hydroxychloroquine based on several early studies on Indian health workers. Nevertheless, this paper stands its ground on its own, and perfectly complements my work and the work by Dr. Stricker.

Although ivermectin-based protocols, such as the one by Dr. Jackie Stone, have proven themselves to be superior, ivermectin does have some limitations, e.g. it cannot be used with pregnant women, and during 2021 the community standard of care advocated by Dr. Zelenko combined both medications. That being said, this is an important paper for educating the Neanderthals that have not yet realized that they were lied to by the powers that be about hydroxychloroquine. With the worst of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, the persecution of pioneering doctors like Dr. Didier Raoult has intensified. The guilty understand that they are wrong and are now trying to erase history. They want their sins forgotten. This must never be allowed to happen.

(See link for article)

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Dr. Perronne is one of the good guys.  He’s the one that said the COVID policy is ‘Completely Stupid” & ‘Unethical’.

He was then summarily fired.
A year later the French Order of Physicians exonerated him for acting in the best interest of citizens and his profession.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

Category:

research, Treatment, Viruses

Is a U.S. Bioweapons Program Behind Lyme Disease?

http://  Approx. 19 Min

EXPOSED: U.S. Bioweapons Program Behind Lyme Disease?

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks

‘Cancer Disappeared’

**UPDATE**

Listen to this 50 Min interview with Dr. John Campbell and Dr. Makis who is helping cancer patients globally with cheap, safe, repurposed drugs with great success.

https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/dr-paul-marik-on-ivermectin-and-cancer

Dr. Paul Marik On Ivermectin and Cancer: “We know of cases of patients who had solid tumors…and together with some other drugs… the cancer disappeared.”

Dr. Lee Merritt: “Doctors around the world are showing that cancer is intracellular parasites.”

 
2nd Smartest Guy in the World
Jan 21, 2024

Dr. Paul Marik discusses how Ivermectin, aka “horse dewormer,” has not only been vindicated as an effective treatment for COVID, but it is now proving to be an extremely powerful cancer treatment protocol.

Exactly how safe is Ivermectin?

You’re more likely to die from taking aspirin or Tylenol than taking Ivermectin. ~ Dr. Paul Marik

There is essentially no possible way to overdose on Ivermectin, and this drug is so safe there is no established level of toxicity.

According to Dr. Lee Merritt, one of the leading Ivermectin experts in the world, cancer may very well be an intracellular parasitic condition.

Doctors around the world are showing that cancer is intracellular parasites.

If you look at cancer under a light microscope, it’s essentially indistinguishable from parasite egg sacs. ~  Dr. Lee Merritt

Which is exactly why during the PSYOP-19 “pandemic” the democidal powers that be wanted so desperately to put the kibosh on Ivermectin. Not only would  Ivermectin have prevented all of the COVID murders committed at hospitals, it would have rapidly reduced global cancer trends, which are now exploding.

Instead, BigPharma — an asset of the Intelligence Industrial Complex — was tasked with manufacturing the slow kill bioweapon “vaccines” on behalf of their DoD and Pentagon patent holders. And after the recent societal rejection of vaccines in general, the last cash cow for BigPharma is cancer “treatment.”  (See link for numerous articles & videos)

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Category:

Activism, Cancer, Parasites, research, Treatment

More Dead from mRNA Shots Than WWI, WWII, and Vietnam War Combined, State Efforts & Autopsy Data

https://josephsansone.substack.com/p/breaking-standing-alongside-an-army?

BREAKING: Standing Alongside an Army of the Dead, I filed My Appellate Brief Today!

Dr. Joseph Sansone
Feb 06, 2025

More Americans have died from mRNA injections than in WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War Combined.

I am not backing down! Standing alongside an Army of the Dead, I filed my Appellate Brief today. My case number is: 1D2024-3305 in the First District Court of Appeal. The Appellate Brief is below.

The background for those not familiar with my case is as follows. On February 21, 2023, I passed the first GOP Ban the Jab resolution at the Lee County Republican Party. This resolution declared COVID 19 injections biological and technological weapons of mass destruction, called on the Governor to prohibit, and the Attorney General to confiscate the vials and conduct a forensic analysis. In April of 2023, while in congestive heart failure, awaiting triple bypass heart surgery, I was able to get the late Dr. Francis Boyle to endorse the resolution. Eventually 10 Florida Republican County Parties and County Parties in other states passed the resolution, as did the Florida Republican Assembly, National Federation of Republican Assemblies, and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida. The Republican Party of Idaho and the Arizona Republican Party also passed the resolution. The only reason it did not pass all over is because Party leadership often blocked it from the agendas and the movement was being censored.

(See link for article and Appellate Brief)

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https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/us-states-considering-legislation?

U.S. States with Legislative Efforts to Ban mRNA Injections as of February 6, 2025

A critical mass will soon be reached, forcing the federal government to follow suit.

 
Nicolas Hulscher, MPH
Feb 06, 2025

Legislative efforts to BAN the dangerous COVID-19 mRNA injections are now underway across multiple U.S. states, with bills being considered, drafted, and supported at various levels of government:

A critical mass will soon be reached, forcing the federal government to follow suit. If you are aware of any states that are missing from this figure, please let me know in the comments.

The evidence is clear—over 81,000 physicians, scientists, and concerned citizens, 240 elected officials, 17 professional organizations, excess mortality, negative efficacy, and DNA contamination call for the IMMEDIATE removal of COVID-19 “vaccines” from the market. Failure to do so constitutes mass negligent homicide.  (See link for article & graphs)

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https://popularrationalism.substack.com/p/the-autopsy-data-are-in-what-they?

The Autopsy Data Are In: What They Reveal About COVID-19 Vaccines and Public Health Oversight

Editorial from Science, Public Health Policy & the Law

 
James Lyons-Weiler
Feb 07, 2025

Two newly published peer-reviewed studies in Science, Public Health Policy & the Law provide critical forensic evidence that strengthens the link between COVID-19 vaccination and a range of fatal adverse events. The systematic review led by Hulscher et al. and the VAERS-based autopsy analysis by Rose together represent an important step forward in our effort to understand COVID-19 vaccine safety through post-mortem investigation. These studies highlight both the urgent need for greater transparency in pre-release and pre-approval vaccine safety science and the systemic failures that have hindered the collection of autopsy data in the COVID-19 era.

A Pattern in Post-Vaccination Deaths

The Hulscher et al. systematic review examined 325 autopsy cases from 44 published studies, finding that 73.9% of deaths were adjudicated by independent physicians as being directly caused by or significantly linked to COVID-19 vaccination​. The leading causes of death included:

  • Sudden cardiac death (35%)

  • Pulmonary embolism (12.5%)

  • Myocardial infarction (12%)

  • Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT, 7.9%)

  • Myocarditis (7.1%)

  • Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (4.6%)

  • Cerebral hemorrhage (3.8%)

Most deaths occurred within one to two weeks of vaccination, with the highest concentration in the first week. The temporal relationship between vaccination and fatal outcomes suggests an urgent need for deeper forensic investigation.

However, while the autopsies in Hulscher et al.’s study provide invaluable insight, they are only part of the picture. Rose’s (2025) new analysis of VAERS autopsy data exposes an even larger issue: the dramatic decline in autopsy rates despite rising post-vaccine deaths.

The Vanishing Autopsies: What Rose’s Study Reveals

If an increase in unexpected deaths follows the administration of a medical intervention, the logical response is to increase forensic investigations. Yet, Rose’s analysis of VAERS autopsy data from 2021 to 2023 demonstrates the opposite​:

  • The absolute number of autopsy reports in VAERS increased by 1,714% compared to influenza vaccines.

  • Paradoxically, the rate of autopsies per reported death declined by 77.6%.

This paradox suggests that while more post-vaccine deaths were reported, fewer autopsies were conducted to determine causality. The study further demonstrates that the majority of COVID-19 vaccine-associated autopsies linked the cause of death to cardiovascular events, including:

  • Myocarditis (11%)

  • Cardiac arrest (12%)

  • Pulmonary embolism (16%)

(See link for article & the reason for the decrease in autopsy rates)

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Category:

Activism, research, vaccines