Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Study Shows Berberine Induces Cell Death in Leukemia

https://science.news/2019-03-21-berberine-induces-cell-death-in-leukemia-cells-study.html

Berberine induces cell death in leukemia cells – study

03/21/2019 / By

A study published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine revealed that a compound called berberine induces cell death in leukemia cells. In this study, the subcellular localization and the apoptotic mechanisms of berberine were investigated.

  • Berberine is an isoquinoline alkaloid found in medicinal plants used in traditional and folk medicines.
  • In the study, researchers at Nagasaki International University in Japan first treated human promyelocytic leukemia cells with berberine, then examined its antiproliferative activity.
  • Five to 15 minutes after treatment, berberine exhibited powerful antiproliferative activity in the cells.
  • Then, the researchers investigated the effect of berberine on inducing cell death and found that the compound induced cell death in leukemia cells.
In conclusion, these findings suggest that berberine can induce cell death in leukemia cells immediately after administration.

Journal Reference:

Okubo S, Uto T, Goto A, Tanaka H, Nishioku T, Yamada K, Shoyama Y. BERBERINE INDUCES APOPTOTIC CELL DEATH VIA ACTIVATION OF CASPASE-3 AND -8 IN HL-60 HUMAN LEUKEMIA CELLS: NUCLEAR LOCALIZATION AND STRUCTURE–ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. 6 October 2017; 45(7): 1497-1511. DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X17500811

___________________

**Comment**

Berberine is a chemical found in several plants including European barberry, goldenseal, goldthread, Oregon grape, phellodendron, and tree turmeric.  It might cause stronger heartbeats which might help heart conditions.  It also helps regulate how the body uses sugar in the blood which may help with diabetes. It also might also be able to kill bacteria and reduce swelling.  https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-1126/berberine

https://draxe.com/berberine/  According to Dr. Axe, research on berberine shows benefit for the following conditions:

  • Anti-aging
  • Diabetes
  • Gastrointestinal infections
  • Heart disease
  • High cholesterol
  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Immune challenges
  • Joint problems
  • Low bone density
  • Weight control

Another great article by Dr. Mercola:  https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/06/22/berberine-benefits.aspx

Berberine was able to control blood sugar and lipid metabolism as effectively as metformin, with researchers describing berberine as a “potent oral hypoglycemic agent.”4

A separate meta-analysis also revealed “berberine has comparable therapeutic effect on type 2 DM [diabetes mellitus], hyperlipidemia and hypertension with no serious side effect.”5

There is also evidence for reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, tumor growth, & depression and helping with infections, all of which Lyme/MSIDS patients can struggle with.

Category:

Activism, Herbs, research, Supplements, Treatment

Ability of Stationary Phase Persister/Biofilm Microcolonies of Borrelia Burgdorferi to Cause More Severe Disease

https://globallymealliance.org/gla-pov-ability-stationary-phase-persister-biofilm-microcolonies-borrelia-burgdorferi-cause-severe-disease/?

Ability of Stationary Phase Persister/Biofilm Microcolonies of Borrelia burgdorferi to Cause More Severe Disease

borrelia-burgdorferi_mice

by Timothy Sellati, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, GLA

Ying Zhang, Ph.D., a Global Lyme Alliance (GLA)-funded investigator, and his team at Johns Hopkins University just published a seminal study in the journal Discovery Medicine titled “Stationary phase persister/biofilm microcolony of Borrelia burgdorferi causes more severe disease in a mouse model of Lyme arthritis: Implications for understanding persistence, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), and treatment failure”.

Lyme disease patients, infected via tick bite with the bacterial spirochete B. burgdorferi, are routinely treated with two to four weeks of Doxycycline, Amoxicillin, or Cefuroxime, which is curative in many cases if treated at the onset of the infection. However, research shows that despite treatment, up to 20% of patients continue to suffer lingering symptoms of fatigue, pain, or joint and muscle aches, and neurocognitive manifestations that last 6 months or more.  This clinically-defined condition is known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).  A long-standing mystery is whether development of PTLDS reflects

  1. persistence of B. burgdorferi in a patient’s tissues, consistent with chronic infection, or
  2. self-perpetuating inflammation caused by tissue damage triggered by the original infectious insult.

Zhang and colleagues published several influential papers over the past five years revealing a potential answer to this mystery. His lab showed that in vitro stationary phase (non-growing) cultures of B. burgdorferi contain different morphological variants. These bacterial variants include planktonic (free-swimming) spirochetal forms, round body forms, and aggregated microcolony (biofilm-like) forms, which have varying levels of persistence (e.g., the capacity to tolerate antibiotic exposure) in comparison to the log phase culture, which mainly consists of rapidly growing spirochetal forms with no or few persisters. B. burgdorferi develops into these morphological variants under stress conditions but their relevance to severe and persistent Lyme disease was unclear until the publication of this new study.

Zhang et al. report that biofilm-like microcolony (MC) and planktonic (free-swimming spirochete and round body; SP) variants found in stationary phase cultures were not only more tolerant of exposure to antibiotics but also caused more severe arthritis in mice than the log phase spirochetes (LOG). Importantly, the authors show that the murine infection caused by LOG could be eradicated by Ceftriaxone (CefT) whereas the persistent infection established with MC could not be eradicated by Doxycycline (Doxy), CefT, or Vancomycin (Van), or Doxy+CefT or Van+CefT, but could only be eradicated by the persister drug combination Daptomycin (Dapto)+Doxy+CefT.

This GLA-funded work establishes for the first time that:

Varying levels of persistence and the severity of disease pathology caused by infection with B. burgdorferi is linked to different morphological forms of the spirochete.

The following facts highlight the importance of this novel discovery. The number of patients developing PTLDS, or chronic Lyme, which is less clinically well-defined, is on the rise; a trend that is consistent with the rise in annual incidence of Lyme disease, which is ~427,000 cases. The absence of a full understanding of the cause(s) of PTLDS hampers efforts to effectively treat patients suffering with this syndrome. The authors demonstrated that the degree of persistence or persistent infection varied with different inoculae, where biofilm-like microcolony inoculae produced a more severe and persistent disease that could not be eradicated by the current Lyme antibiotics or even some two-drug combinations but could be eradicated by the persister drug combination Dapto+Doxy+CefT. In contrast, the disease induced by the log phase spirochetal forms is more readily eradicated by CefT. That the inclusion of persister drug Dapto, in combination with Doxy and CefT, is critical for eradicating the persistent infection established by persister inoculae validates the relevance of Dr. Zhang’s GLA-funded efforts to screen for drugs or drug combinations against stationary phase bacteria enriched in persisters in vitro, which were published by Feng et al. in 2014 and 2015 (see influential papers here).

Finally, the reported findings may not only provide a new understanding of PTLDS and perhaps chronic Lyme disease, but also will inform and accelerate development and testing of novel persister drug combination regimens that can more effectively cure persistent Lyme disease in the future. GLA’s goal in the near future will be to support human clinical trials to evaluate if the persister drug combination could more effectively treat or cure patients with PTLDS/chronic Lyme disease.

Pictured: Image of joint histopathology taken from a mouse infected with micro-colony/biofilm-like B. burgdorferi. Read Dr. Zhang’s full paper here.

timothy sellatiTimothy J. Sellati, PH.D. is Chief Scientific Officer at Global Lyme Alliance

As GLA’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Sellati leads GLA’s research initiatives to accelerate the development of more effective methods of diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseasesmorphological variantshttps://www.dovepress.com/evaluation-of-in-vitro-antibiotic-susceptibility-of-different-morpholo-peer-reviewed-article-IDR  Metronidazole led to reduction of spirochetal structures by ~90% and round body forms by ~80%. Tigecycline and tinidazole treatment reduced both spirochetal and round body forms by ~80%–90%.
In terms of qualitative effects, only tinidazole reduced viable organisms by ~90%. Following treatment with the other antibiotics, viable organisms were detected in 70%–85% of the biofilm-like colonie

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**Comment**

Great work by Zhang et al.!  Paper found here:  http://www.discoverymedicine.com/Jie-Feng/2019/03/persister-biofilm-microcolony-borrelia-burgdorferi-causes-severe-lyme-arthritis-in-mouse-model/

Unfortunately, they use the falsely skewed 10-20% percentages regarding the PTLDS group when microbiologist Holly Ahern argues convincingly that when ALL subgroups are added, it’s more like 60% that develop chronic/persistent symptoms:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/  This is quite important and reveals the true state of affairs.

When I heard Dr. Zhang a few years back, he was working on this very concept, and please know the mycobacterium drugs have many side-effects that require close monitoring:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/09/mycobacterium-drugs-for-ld/

The drug we used effectively throughout our treatment was Tinidazole which we pulsed throughout the entire time with 2-3 other antibiotics focusing on Bb’s different morphological variants as well as the various coinfections we had:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/  Dr. Eva Sapi found:

https://www.dovepress.com/evaluation-of-in-vitro-antibiotic-susceptibility-of-different-morpholo-peer-reviewed-article-IDR  Metronidazole led to reduction of spirochetal structures by ~90% and round body forms by ~80%. Tigecycline and tinidazole treatment reduced both spirochetal and round body forms by ~80%–90%.  In terms of qualitative effects, only tinidazole reduced viable organisms by ~90%. Following treatment with the other antibiotics, viable organisms were detected in 70%–85% of the biofilm-like colonies.

 

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Treatment

Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome: A Review of its Origin & its Consequences in the Socio-economic Sphere

https://www.ommegaonline.org/article-details/The-Post-Lyme-Disease-Treatment-Syndrome-(PTLDS)-a-review-of-its-origin-and-its-consequences-in-the-socio-economic-sphere./2407#.XKLo6qbumDo.linkedin

Mini-Review
Publish Date : 2019-03-04
Investigative Dermatology and Venereology Research

The Post-Lyme Disease Treatment Syndrome (PTLDS) a review of its origin and its consequences in the socio-economic sphere.

DR. JOSE LAPENTA
Lapenta J, Lapenta JM

Abstract

In the 90s patients treated for Lyme disease, caused by the bite’s tick, which transmit the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi began to show a set of signs and symptoms that started months after concluded the treatment; they began to be reported by various scientists around the world and called Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), mainly characterized by cognitive deterioration, recurring headaches, fatigue, memory problems, musculoskeletal pain and many others. For some individuals the syndrome is clinically evident, while for others it has a psychosomatic element. In this research we will make a chronological description of post-Lyme syndrome, when it appeared, its symptoms and if it really deserves to be recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the new ICD-11 codes. In addition to this aspect, we will clarify the meaning of this term and scope in medical and non medical practice. We will propose a management regimen for Lyme disease that could eliminate this bacterium that is causing so much deterioration in the affected population worldwide.

Main Objective

Make a chronological description of the Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) from its beginnings to the present, its clinical characteristics in all affected age groups regardless of sex, age, race and nationalities.

Secondary Objectives

  • Determine if Post Lyme Syndrome is a scientific reality that should be:
  • Considered within the new ICD-11 codes (International Classification of Diseases year 2018). ?
  • They are cognitive symptoms after the treatment of Lyme disease?
  • It’s a term clearly defined?
  • Lead to new alternative treatments for Lyme disease that would mainly cover the second, third and sequel of the disease.

Methods

The methods to used include analysis of all the databases and articles published in this regard, both for or against Lyme disease post treatment syndrome (PTLDS), using the National Library of Medicine of the USA. (Pubmed, Medline). Scientific and technical literature on Health in Latin America and the Caribbean (LILACS), and Europe (SCOPUS, EMBASE); make a chronological description of the post-treatment syndrome of Lyme disease from the first time it was mentioned in the scientific literature to the present day, highlighting the most relevant. The objective was to determine if this syndrome is a clinical reality, a psychosomatic disease, or a spectrum of conditions needing better defining. In addition to that, we will explain why this term is causing so much controversy today, and we will propose a new treatment regimen that should be considered by the world health authorities for the treatment of Lyme disease.

In the chronology of Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) we will highlight the most relevant ones in the timeline, describing the term first, by the health authorities, and by the scientists concerned in the study of these clinical manifestations.

Introduction

Definition of the Term According to the CDC the definition of Lyme disease as:

“Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. In the majority of cases, it is successfully treated with oral antibiotics. Physicians sometimes describe patients who have non-specific symptoms (like fatigue, pain, and joint and muscle aches) after the treatment of Lyme disease as having Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) or Post Lyme Disease Syndrome (PLDS). The cause of PTLDS “is not known.”

The CDC also dismisses the use of the term “Chronic Lyme Disease” (CLD), arguing that this term is confusing in the scientific community and has been used at times to describe symptoms in patients who “never had actual or past contact” with Borrelia Burgdorferi infection[1].

In summary: For the CDC, Post-treatment of Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) is of “unknown cause” and in addition the term “Chronic Lyme Disease” (CLD) should not be used.

Definition of the term According to the researchers: Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium Borrelia Burgorferi. Some patients show persistent neurological and organic symptoms (Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), even after proper antibiotic therapy. The PTLDS symptoms include: cognitive changes: memory loss, verbal flexibility, association changes, speeds of thought, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, weakness. It is thought that the cause of this is a chronic encephalopathy caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi when it reaches the brain[2,9-15].

Also many, perhaps most researchers recognize the term “Chronic Lyme Disease (CLD), widely described in the literature[2], and could be considered the same Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). In addition, it is considered that in many cases the diagnosis was made late due to failures in the blood tests and resistance to the treatment with antibiotics.

In summary: for the scientific community, the term “post-treatment of Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS)” is a reality and, in many cases, the cause of this is a chronic encephalopathy that causes the symptoms. The failure of the treatment with antibiotics, or the late establishment of it by misdiagnoses, could contribute to the symptomatology.

Chronologic Evolution

Decade from 1990 to 2000

In the year 1991 Krupp et al[3].; describes 15 patients treated for Lyme disease who complained of persistent cognitive difficulty after 6 to 7 months of treatment with antibiotic therapy; they were compared with 10 healthy controls. Post-Lyme patients showed a marked deterioration in cognitive tests: memory loss mainly in selective recognition. Memory deterioration did not correlate with anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies titers in the blood or cerebrospinal fluid. No evidence of alterations in the magnetic resonances was found in the affected patients, also symptoms of depression. The authors conclude that it is an encephalopathy of unknown cause, where factors such as the sequelae of systemic infection by Borrelia and other toxic metabolic factors may be partly responsible for these symptoms[3].

Perhaps this represents the first study in Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), or Post-Lyme Syndrome (PLS) because patients were evaluated months after receiving treatment and presented neurological damage symptomatology in this case chronic encephalopathy[3].

Note: In all the previous studies of Lyme disease the term Post-Lyme Treatment Syndrome (PLTDS) is not mentioned; they describe chronic manifestations as part of the second or late phase of Lyme disease, but not this term until 1991 where these researchers publish the study[2-3].

1995: After the description of Krupp et al., another scientists: Benke, et al.[4], in the year of 1995, published a study on 20 patients with Lyme Borreliosis previously diagnosed several years earlier, with an average of 4.3 years after the acute phase of Lyme, compared with a control group; This study revealed that patients with Lyme revealed deficits in verbal memory, mental flexibility, verbal associative functions and vocal articulation. The authors suggest that these findings are similar to those reported by Krupp et al. in 1991 and reaffirm that it is an encephalopathy associated with a long-term neuropsychological deficit that predominantly affects internal functions[4].

1996: One year later Bujak, et al. in 1996 published a study of 23 patients after had Lyme positively tested with ELISA, and previously treated with standard antibiotic regimens for the disease; neurocognitive impairment, persistent arthralgia, fatigue and memory loss were evaluated, finding the following facts: 7 patients (30 %) had fibromyalgia, 3(13 %) had chronic fatigue syndrome and 22 of 23, they complained about memory problems or decreased concentration. The scores for the attention scale, verbal memory, visual memory, sleep problems, mood swings and depression symptoms were higher for Post Lyme patients (PLS) than the normal.

The authors conclude that despite treatment with appropriate antibiotics for Lyme disease, sequelae mainly neurocognitive disorders, persistent arthralgias and fatigue can arise[5].

1997: In this year, Gaudino, et al. published a study to evaluate the differences and similarities between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and post-Lyme syndrome (PLS) studying 25 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with exclusion criteria for Lyme disease, 56 healthy controls and 38 patients with Post Lyme syndrome (PLS), seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi with positive criteria by the CDC for Lyme, who presented symptoms of severe fatigue 6 months after having complied with the treatment of antibiotics for Lyme disease. All the patients underwent structured psychiatric interviews, evaluating: attention tests, verbal memory, verbal fluency and motor speed.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and Post Lyme syndrome (PLS) were similar in several somatic symptoms and in the psychiatric profile. Patients with PLS had a worse performance on cognitive tests compared to healthy controls.

The authors conclude that despite the overlap of symptoms, patients with Post Lyme Syndrome (PLS) show greater cognitive deficits than patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) compared to healthy controls. This fact became more evident among patients with PLS who lacked premorbid psychiatric disease[6].

1998: Bloom, et al. studied 5 children from the neurocognitive point of view after having been diagnosed with Lyme. They were treated for 2 to 4 weeks with intravenous ceftriaxone and evaluated comprehensively including detailed neuropsychiatric tests. The main objective of the study was to consider the possibility that Lyme disease after treatment left a sequel in children as well, as it had already been demonstrated in adults.

The 5 children were followed up for a period of 2 to 7 years after the treatment with antibiotic (ceftriaxone) and it was found that months after the treatment the children after having had the classic erythema migrans, cranial neuropathy or Lyme arthritis, developed behavioral changes, forgetfulness, decreased school performance, headache, fatigue and in two cases complex seizure disorders.

The five patients were found IgG antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in serum, intrathecal IgG antibodies and two of them pleocytosis of the Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF). Despite normal intellectual functioning, the five children had mild to moderate impairments in auditory or visual sequential processing.

The authors conclude that children can develop neurocognitive symptoms together with or after the classic manifestations of Lyme disease, and attribute it to an infectious or postinfectious encephalopathy related to Borrelia burgdorferi, confirming previous studies in adults[7].

In this study it was demonstrated that the Post-Treatment Syndrome of Lyme Disease (PTLDS) not only affects adults, but also children, and it is reaffirmed that the cause of it is an encephalopathy caused by the infection by the Borrelia burgdorferi.

1999: In the year of 1999 Elkins et al. published a work on 30 patients with Post Lyme Syndrome (PLS), who were surveyed to determine the neuropsychological status found as a fundamental aspect: the mood of PLS ​​participants was characterized by reduced levels of positive affect (PA) and typical levels of negative affect. Authors conclude that these symptoms are the most useful markers in patients with Post Lyme Syndrome (PLS)[8].

That same year Kaplan, et al. conducted a study where they claim that a small group of patients with Lyme develop encephalopathic symptoms months to years after diagnosis and treatment. The most common symptoms reported were fatigue, memory loss, sleep disorders and depression with a controversial etiology of the syndrome (PLS). The study was done comparing patients with Lyme and abnormal Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF), patients with Lyme and normal CSF and healthy controls. Both groups with Lyme showed memory deficits, but more accentuated and measurable in those with abnormal CSF; they also showed higher score in the depression in relation to healthy controls[9].

2000-2001: In 2001 Klempner, et al. conducted a study to test the efficacy of antibiotic treatment in Lyme-positive patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. Two groups of patients were studied: 78 seropositive patients and 51 seronegative patients for Borrelia burgdorferi. Patients received intravenous ceftriaxone, 2 g daily for 30 days, followed by oral doxycycline, 200 mg daily for 60 days, or corresponding oral and intravenous placebos. Each patient had well documented and treated Lyme disease, and had persistent musculoskeletal pain, or dysesthesia associated with fatigue. The authors conclude that there is a considerable deterioration in health-related quality of life among patients with persistent symptoms despite prior treatment for acute Lyme disease. In these two trials treatment with oral or intravenous antibiotics for 90 days did not improve symptoms more than placebo[10].

Morgen, et al. performed a brain Magnetic Resonance (MR) study in 27 patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome to try to help identify the pathological mechanisms of the disease. Of the total, four (4) patients had focal neurological deficits, recurrent remitting disease and lesions in a typical electron microscopy (EM) distribution; 23 (85 %) patients presented non-focal symptoms, such as fatigue, subjective memory deficiencies and mood disorders. Twelve of these patients (44%) had normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); 10 (37 %) had mainly punctate and subcortical lesions, and one patient had multiple periventricular lesions.

The authors concluded that in a portion of patients with Lyme disease syndrome after treatment, hyperintensities of the white matter tend to occur in subcortical arteriolar watershed areas and are not-specific[11].

These last two studies show:

  • Many patients do not improve with long-term antibiotics after presenting chronic symptoms post Lyme and
  • It is demonstrated that there are obvious findings of the damage of the cerebral white matter in post-Lyme patient’s treatment, found by means of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

This means that in the line of time and for the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s, a harsh reality is uncovered: Lyme disease is an illness that in many cases becomes chronic, months or years after symptoms begin, even after having disappeared with proper treatment.

The most frequent symptoms of Chronic Lyme Disease (CLD) or Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS):

2001-2018

Chronic Lyme Disease Symptoms:

  • Fatigue and lack of resistance
  • Nocturnal sweating
  • Pale, dark circle under the eyes
  • Abdominal pain
  • Diarrhea or constipation
  • Nausea
  • Cardiac anomalies: Lyme carditis
  • Orthopedic disorders: sensitivity, spasms and generalized muscle pain, rigidity and / or retarded motion
  • Respiratory infections of the superior tract and otitis
  • Arthritic disorders and painful joints
  • Neurological disorders: Headache Drowsiness, Loss of memory, Convulsions, Facial paralysis, Irritability, Bad mood
  • Suicidal thoughts; Anxiety; Anger or rage; Hallucinations
  • Eating disorders and humor changes: Cognitive speaking, Speech delay, Reading-writing problems, Problems of vocal articulation, Auditory / visual processing problems, Word selection problems, Dyslexia
  • Aggression or violence
  • Irritability
  • Emotional disorders
  • Depression
  • Hyperactivity
  • Photophobia
  • Gastroesophageal reflux with vomiting and coughing
  • Secondary eruptions
  • Other eruptions
  • Ocular problems: posterior cataracts, myopia, stigmatism, conjunctive erythema (Lyme eyes), optical nerve atrophy and / or uveitis
  • Sensitivity of skin and noise (hyperacuity)[12-45].

Probably there are more, the evidence is that there really are chronic symptoms in Lyme disease, with or without adequate treatment.

Conclusion

It is demonstrated that the chronic symptoms of Lyme disease are a reality, referred to as:

Chronic Lyme disease (CLD); or Syndrome- Post-treatment of Lyme disease (PTLDS).

As we said at the beginning, the CDC does not recognize the term Chronic Lyme Disease (CLD) because it is confusing[1].

With respect to this, we conclude that the CDC is wrong because data demonstrated that months or years after adequate treatments with antibiotics, patients can have the same or worse symptoms, which gives truth to the term: chronic Lyme disease (CLD).

On the other hand, the CDC alleges that the term Post-treatment of Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) is used by some scientists to define symptoms after the treatment of the disease and that it is due to “unknown cause”:

With regard to this aspect, the “so called” Post-treatment of Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS), is the same chronic Lyme disease, consisting of:

  • Lyme positive patients who were never treated.
  • Positive Lyme patients who after treatment in acute phase relapsed months or years later, and reached the secondary or late stage with symptoms equal or more severe than at the beginning.

Patients who were misdiagnosed due to lack of effective diagnostic tests and reached the chronic stage. Today the CDC recognizes that its diagnostic tests are not 100% effective.

Well-diagnosed Lyme patients who never responded to the treatments recommended by the CDC.

  • We also disagree with the CDC about the definition of “unknown cause” when most studies and research show that it is a chronic encephalopathy produced by Borrelia burgdorferi, either by:
  • Its persistence in the bloodstream, cerebrospinal fluid and tissues due to resistance to treatment, under the well-known mechanism of “Biofilm”.
  • Generation of neurological damage due to the persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in tissues that do not regenerate, such as the nerve cells.
  • An inflammatory process that remained in the nervous system and tissues after eliminating the causative agent.
In some patients, the coexistence of other diseases such as Erlichiosis, Babesiosis and Bartonellosis, which worsen the symptoms and obstruct the treatment.

We find with an unprotected society, the reality is that thousands of patients are discarded as positive Lyme after 4 months of treatment, because the treatment guidelines of the CDC say that in that time or less you will be cured, which we prove is false in a good proportion of patients.

In 2019 May, is the limit for the recognition of ICD-11 Codes of Lyme disease (International classification of diseases), and the WHO refuse to recognize them all, which will cause patients without coverage for their treatments. One of the unrecognized codes is congenital Lyme[46-54] .

The global community of patients with Lyme must organize well and adequately claim from health authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognize the entire Lyme codes, and ensure coverage of their treatment at all levels.

The Syndrome post-treatment of Lyme disease (PTLDS), which is nothing more than the ”chronic symptoms” of the disease, is being used perversely to cover the reality of this disease, avoid coverage by health insurance, and tell patients: “you have nothing, go to a psychologist” … when their blood and brain are sailing in a sea of ​​Borrelias.

Comments

With regard to the proposal of new treatment guidelines for Lyme disease, we prefer to wait for what the health authorities at the world level will propose; then we will make a new publication about it.

Dr. José Lapenta Dermatologist

Dr. José M. Lapenta Md

Acknowledgments

To the Lyme world community that fights for its rights to be treated as real patients and not as psychiatric patients.

To my son J. Miguel MD, for his logistical support and co-author.

To all patients with Lyme especially Stacy Cellier Gomez whose story was quite motivating.

References
  1. Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome. (2018) Cent Dis Control Prev.

Pubmed| Crossref| Others

  1. Lapenta, J., Lapenta, J.M. Lyme Disease and Dementia, Alzheimer, Parkinson, Autism, an Easy Way to Destroy your Brain. (2018) Inv Dermatol Venereology Res 4(1): 30-43.

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  1. Benke, T., Gasse, T., Hittmair-Delazer, M., et al. Lyme encepha- lopathy: Long-term neuropsychological deficits years after acute neuroborreliosis. (1995) Acta Neurol Scand 91(5): 353-357.

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  1. Gaudino, E.A., Coyle, P.K., Krupp, L.B. Post-Lyme syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome. Neuropsychiatric similarities and dif- ferences. (1997) Arch Neurol 54(11): 1372-1376.

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  1. Weinstein, A., Britchkov, M. Lyme arthritis and post-Lyme disease syndrome. (2002) Curr Opin Rheumatol 14(4): 383-387.

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  1. Shotland, L.I., Mastrioanni, M.A., Choo, D.L., et al. Audiologic manifestations of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. (2003) Ear Hear 24(6): 508-517.

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_________________

For a list of 700 peer-reviewed articles on the persistence of Lyme:  https://www.ilads.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/CLDList-ILADS.pdf

Great article by microbiologist Holly Ahern where she takes the PTLDS moniker head-on showing that the actual number of those with persistent/chronic symptoms is more like 60%:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/25/medical-stalemate-what-causes-continuing-symptoms-after-lyme-treatment/

Please spread the word on this as researchers seeing the falsely skewed low percentages of 10-20% aren’t going to see the relevance in studying this further.  If; however, they see that 60% of patients are affected chronically, that puts the whole matter into a different urgent category.  We need to point out CDC/NIH errors.

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Treatment

Borrelia bissetti Found in Canadian Deer Ticks

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/30395480/

Identification of Borrelia bissettii in Ixodes scapularis ticks from New Brunswick, Canada.

Lewis J, et al. Can J Microbiol. 2019.

Abstract

Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease that is emerging in Canada. The disease is caused by spirochetes of the Lyme borreliosis group, which is expanding as new species are discovered. In Canada, Lyme disease risk has so far been assessed primarily by detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. Of Ixodes scapularis ticks collected between 2014 and 2016 in New Brunswick, Canada, 7 were shown to be infected with Borrelia bissettii by nested PCR and sequencing of 5 B. bissettii genes. Since different Borrelia species are associated with different clinical manifestations and are not detected with the same diagnostic tests, the identification of a previously undocumented or underreported pathogenic Borrelia species has important implications for public and veterinary medicine.

_________________

**Comment**

Again, the important issue here is that current CDC 2-tiered tests only test for ONE strain of borrelia when there are 300 and counting strains worldwide being transported everywhere by migrating birds, rodents, lizards, and mammals – including humans.

Before you discount Borrelia bissetti as being “somewhere else,” please know it was found in Chicago rodents:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11075925. These strains are unlike previous Borrelia isolates from NW Illinois and Wisconsin.

This excellent pdf has studies of bissetti in everything from mice to human heart valves: ws-B.Bissettii1  The pdf also makes an excellent point that desperately needs to be addressed:  Borrelia strains sequenced are strains that have been grown in culture medium. What about the diverse strains identified in the Southeastern United States that cannot be cultured? It also gives two studies showing that changing criteria of the Western Blot & mixing borrelia strains increased testing sensitivity.

 Time for the CDC to roll up their sleeves and deal with this. It is way past time.

For more on testing:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/16/2-tier-lyme-testing-missed-85-7-of-patients-milford-hospital/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/12/direct-diagnostic-tests-for-lyme-the-closest-thing-to-an-apology-you-are-ever-going-to-get/

Key quote:  

“These serologic tests cannot distinguish active infection, past infection, or reinfection.”

In plain English, these tests don’t show squat.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/08/whats-the-best-test-for-lyme-dr-rawls/

Excellent article explaining the tests:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/12/lyme-testing-problems-solutions/

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks

Can You ‘Catch’ Cancer?

https://blog.frontiersin.org/2019/03/27/helminth-worms-cause-cancer/?

Can you ‘catch’ cancer?

by Matthew Prior, Frontiers science writer

March 27, 2019

Frontiers in Medicine: Parasitic worms cause cancer – and could help cure it
In endemic regions, parasitic worms called ‘flukes’ are responsible for the majority of all bladder and liver cancer cases. Image: Shutterstock.

 

Parasitic worms cause cancer – and could help cure it

Billions worldwide are infected with tropical worms. Unsurprisingly, most of these people live in poor countries, kept poor by the effects of worm-related malnourishment.

What may surprise many is that worms are also a major cause of cancer in these countries.

Published in Frontiers in Medicine and Frontiers in Public Health as a Research Topic on parasite-associated malignancy, new research aims to inform prevention and treatment – and perhaps even turn worms against cancer. Frontiers Research Topics are highly visible peer-reviewed article collections led by the world’s leading researchers who harness collaborative knowledge on today’s biggest scientific questions.

Worms cause cancer

Over a million worm species are classified as helminths. A single characteristic unites them: parasitism.

“Helminths take many forms, but all of them harm their host in some way. In humans, they can live in the intestinal tract, urinary tract or bloodstream, causing a variety of illness from malnutrition to organ failure” explains co-editor of the research Dr. Monica Botelho of Portugal’s National Institute of Health.

In 2015 a more bizarre case of infection put helminths into the headlines: a man with HIV-AIDS died after his tapeworm contracted cancer and spread around his body. This remains the only such case ever recorded.

Meanwhile, scientists have known for decades that helminths can turn human cells into cancers.

“Three species of helminth are classified as class 1 carcinogens by the WHO,” adds Botelho. “These are all designated trematodes – after the Latin name for the grisly feeding cavity with which they latch onto their host’s insides.”

Worm-related cancer is not just a fluke – it’s three

Trematodes are known informally as ‘flukes’. In this case however, they’re anything but.

“In endemic regions – predominantly sub-saharan Africa and Southeast Asia – flukes are responsible for the majority of all bladder and liver cancer cases,” says Dr. Joachim Richter, Associate Professor at Charité Berlin and co-editor with Botelho. “Cancers arise in sites of fluke infection including the bladder wall and the bile ducts of the liver.”

But how does a worm cause cancer? According the research collection, their feeding – and breeding – habits might be to blame.

“Flukes constantly wound and re-wound their host as they latch on with their feeding cavity, burrow through organs, and deposit eggs in the bladder wall. This leads to chronic inflammation as the body tries endlessly to heal, meaning lots of cell division and so lots of opportunities for cancer-causing mutations to accumulate over years of infection.”

The flukes’ toxic toilet habits then add insult to injury.

“Worms and their eggs also excrete proteins that exacerbate this chronic inflammation, further promoting cell division as well as the blood vessel growth required to feed it,” adds Richter.

Hyper tapeworms protect hosts from cancer

Fluke infections and early stage cancers are often asymptomatic, so despite availability of anthelminthic drugs patients often present too late for curative treatment. Fortunately, flukes have an Achilles’ heel: they require freshwater snails as a first host before infecting humans.

“Flukes have been successfully eliminated in Japan by economic development and the filling and drainage of snail habitats,” says Richter. “Eradication efforts are underway in Thailand, which has the world’s highest rates of liver fluke infection and bile duct cancer – but some high-risk countries like Ethiopia lack a coordinated monitoring or prevention program for fluke-related cancer and need more help.”

Beyond eradication efforts lies another twist in the bizarre world of worms and cancer: helminths as a cure for malignancy.

“Many parasites, including some helminths like the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica, inhibit cancer growth in vitro. Another of these – the ominously named ‘hyper tapeworm’ – is associated with a significantly lower rate of cancer in human hosts,” reports Botelho.

“In fact, there is evidence that proteins produced by hyper tapeworms as well as F. hepatica not only kill cancer cells directly – but might also enhance their host’s immune response to tumors.”

“Even cancer-promoting fluke proteins might be repurposed as treatments for other conditions: for example, those that promote new blood vessel growth could help resolve chronic non-healing wounds in diabetics, tobacco users, and the elderly.”

__________________

**Comment**

There is a connection between helminths (worms) and Lyme/MSIDS and some patients improve dramatically on anthelmintics:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/03/borrelia-hiding-in-worms-causing-chronic-brain-diseases/

Lyme discoverer, Willy Burgdorfer, wrote of finding nematodes in tick guts way back in 1984 and in 2014 University of New Haven researcher, Eva Sapi, found 22% of nymphs and 30% of adult Ixodes ticks carried nematodes.  

This study shows worms (Onchocerciasis) in Wisconsin ticks:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/11/co-infection-patterns-in-wisconsin-black-legged-ticks-show-associations-between-viral-eukaryotic-bacterial-microorganisms/

The CDC states the treatment of choice is Ivermectin as well as doxycycline. Doxy kills the adult worms by killing the Wolbachia bacteria on which the adult worms depend in order to survive.  https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/onchocerciasis/treatment.html

There is a dog study, however, that shows wide-spread inflammation after heart worm medicine was given (Ivermectin & Pyrantel) so discuss ALL of this with your practitioner:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/10/wolbachia-the-next-frankenstein/.  Since Dr. McDonald has found these worms containing spirochetes in the brain, the vast die-off herxheimer might be severe and needs to be carefully considered and monitored. This is NOT a do-it-yourself treatment!

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/08/09/dr-paul-duray-research-fellowship-foundation-some-great-research-being-done-on-lyme-disease/  Another great article by microbiologist Tom Greer and a repeat warning that anthelmintics can cause severe inflammatory reactions and fatal encephalitis.

Probably one of the most popular hits on this website contains information on parasite treatments:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/03/removing-parasites-to-fix-lyme-chronic-illnesses-dr-jay-davidson/  It’s obviously a big problem.

The CDC’s mono-therapy of doxycycline isn’t ever going to cure the Lyme/MSIDS pandemic. This is a serious polymicrobial illness that takes savvy.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/13/lyme-disease-treatment/

 

Category:

Activism, Parasites, research