Archive for the ‘research’ Category

IDSA Founder Used Potent IV Antibiotics for Chronic Lyme

Dr. Burton Waisbren Sr. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin is no longer with us but he would be speaking out about the CDC’s recent paper in the MMWR of five case reports of people who developed complications with IV antibiotics for Lyme disease. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28617768https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28617768

A founding member of the IDSA, Waisbren disagreed with their stance that Lyme is hard to get and easy to treat, is not persistent, and that IV antibiotics are too dangerous to use as a treatment option.

In his book, Treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease, he discusses 51 difficult cases, nearly all Chronic Lyme disease sufferers that had been misdiagnosed with everything from ALS to mental disorders. They had all been neglected by main stream medicine that was following the CDC/IDSA stringent guidelines of essentially 21 days of doxycycline.

Interestingly, Waisbren stated, “Back in the 1950’s, when many of these drugs were first coming out, infectious disease doctors studied and used them widely,” he says. “We would put children with rheumatic fever on penicillin for twenty years or more to prevent strep throat and it (the penicillin) did not hurt them,” he says. https://www.uppitywis.org/blogarticle/making-difference-milwaukee-doctor-chronicles-silent-epidemic

In regard to IV antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease and other tick born illnesses, Waisbren used it often – and heavy doses at that.  In fact, in essay 10 of his book he gives two protocols to be considered for the treatment of chronic LD that includes 6-8 grams of IV ceftriazone for at least 6 weeks and longer if the syndrome has entrenched itself for over a year or if the response is coming along slowly. In tandem with the IV antibiotics he typically also used doxycycline, an erythromycin, Diflucan, Flagyl, Valtrex, and gamma globulin. When there was not a satisfactory clinical response he would treat Babesia with Mepron and/or other antimalarials. For evidence of intransigent bartonellosis (Bell’s palsy of the face and gut, and chronic dermatitis) he would add rifampin and sometimes intravenous genamicin.

That’s a far cry more than the CDC/IDSA mono treatment mandate of doxycycline.

There were no IV complications mentioned at all in his book from the myriad of patients he treated.

Here’s another case:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/26/important-example-of-iv-antibiotics-for-lymemsids/   Initially diagnosed with dementia, “Once home, McGhee, who had begun receiving two weeks of IV antibiotics, seemed to be getting better. His confusion began to clear, his short-term memory improved and his tremors abated. ‘I could feel myself recovering,’ he recalled.”  This link also shows that Lyme/MSIDS can often present as dementia, ALS, Lupus, MS, and numerous other autoimmune diseases.  

About testing he states that the Western Blot appears to be the most positive finding in clinical LD, but…“setting arbitrary level of antibodies to diagnose a disease that has not been amenable to Koch’s postulates seems open to question.  By the same token, ignoring antibody results unless they meet arbitrary levels seems suspect.  The vast majority of patients in this series showed some WB antibody exposure, but many did not meet the arbitrary limits set….in our present state of knowledge, the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease is a clinical one.  Many of the patients in this series have suffered serious ‘hurts’ when they have been told that they could not have LD because their WB did not meet arbitrary limits.”  

Waisbren gives a stern warning that the public should insist that any new Lyme vaccine be devoid of peptides that mimic those present in humans as this is a potential problem as researchers do not know whether the vaccine can cause molecular mimicry which in turn can cause autoimmunity and circulation with myelin T-cells.  For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/26/lyme-vaccine-to-be-tested-on-humans/

Waisbren states in his foreword, “I have to come to the conclusion that there is an epidemic of chronic Lyme disease occurring in the United States that warrants more attention than it is getting from the government and the academic medical establishment. It is hard for me to believe that 51 cases of what I call the chronic Lyme disease syndrome represent a figment of my imagination….I suggest that those who doubt that the Lyme disease syndrome exists and that it can be treated turn to the over 200 peer-reviewed references included in summary articles written by two giants in the Lyme disease field: Dr. B.A. Fallon and Dr. Steven Phillips.”

If Waisbren thought chronic Lyme disease was an epidemic in 2011, what would he think now?

For more rebuttals to the MMWR article:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/23/no-bias-in-mmwr-for-any-other-infectious-disease-requiring-iv-antibiotics-except-for-lyme/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/19/stricker-johnson-rebuttal-to-article-in-mmwr/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/21/ilads-rebuttal-to-mmwr-article/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/dr-maloney-comments-on-mmwr-article/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/26/lorraine-johnson-interview-on-cdc-mmwr-article/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/dr-shor-on-mmwr-article/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/19/lees-rebuttal-to-cdc-article-in-mmwr/

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Treatment

Global Warming Numbers Fudged

https://player.vimeo.com/video/226928039“>

 Mike Adams, Health Ranger, Approx. 7 min.

Scientists continue to use global warming/climate change as an excuse as to why ticks and the diseases they carry are proliferating.  In scientific circles, global warming is being used as a key to obtain grants to fund more research propagating it.  It’s circular reasoning at its best.

Please remember that Lyme disease began as an epidemic in Lyme, Connecticut in the 70’s.  It is now a pandemic – in every continent but Antarctia and as Dr. Bransfield says, “Given enough time it will be found there too.”  I do not believe for a minute that global warming and/or landscaping practices are causing what we are suffering with today.

This 30 page pdf points out that the steeper warming linear trend of historical GAST data used by the NOAA, NASA, and Hadley CRU, was accomplished by systematically removing the previously existing cyclical temperature pattern.

In sum:

The conclusive findings of this research are that the three GAST data sets are not a valid representation of reality. In fact, the magnitude of their historical data adjustments, that removed their cyclical temperature patterns, are totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data. Thus, it is impossible to conclude from the three published GAST data sets that recent years have been the warmest ever –despite current claims of record setting warming. Finally, since GAST data set validity is a necessary condition for EPA’s GHG/CO2 Endangerment Finding, it too is invalidated by these research findings.

Abridged Research Report found here:

https://thsresearch.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/ef-gast-data-research-report-062717.pdf  June 2017

http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-07-26-nasa-confirms-sea-levels-have-been-falling-across-the-planet-for-two-years-media-silent.htmlAl Gore states he needs $15 trillion to stop rising ocean levels, yet NASA shows Ocean levels have actually been falling for nearly two years dropping from 87.5mm to below 85mm.  Even in the worst case scenerio, oceans rise at 3.4 mm per year – a foot per century!  https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/sea-level/

http://www.climatedepot.com/2017/05/24/global-warming-is-not-about-the-science-un-admits-climate-change-policy-is-about-how-we-redistribute-the-worlds-wealth/

Excerpt:

Ottmar Edenhofer, lead author of the IPCC’s fourth summary report released in 2007 candidly expressed the priority. Speaking in 2010, he advised, “One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. Instead, climate change policy is about how we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth.”

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks

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Columbia University Needs Volunteers for a Chronic Lyme Study

Columbia study

Written

on July 7, 2017

Dr. Shor on MMWR Article

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28617768#cm28617768_69799

Marzec, et al (1) described 5 cases of treated chronic Lyme disease that resulted in poor outcomes. We are concerned about 3 conclusions:

1. Characterization of chronic Lyme disease as an invalid nebulous condition

2 “…..evidence that the recommended two-tiered serologic testing is actually more sensitive the longer B. burgeorferi infection has been present”

3. “Studies have not shown that such treatments lead to substantial long-term improvements for patients.”

  1. We too are concerned about any individual whose outcomes represent complications to well-intentioned intervention. However, there is substantive support in the literature for the existence of 1. Chronic Lyme disease-Our perspective is that this represents the clinical manifestations of ongoing active infection by Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) sensu latu complex in the setting of either chronic untreated or inadequately treated individuals. The likelihood of undiagnosed acute Lyme is increased by the infrequency of patients recalling tick bites. In one study representing CDC criteria diagnosed Lyme disease, only 14% had that recollection. (2) Not all cases of acute Lyme are associated with an erythema (EM) rash. Over 15 years, 31% of the reported surveillance cases lacked an EM rash. (3) The ILADS guidelines (4) describe the Lyme post treatment “….persistence of B. burgdorferi in specific individuals and animal models..” The 2012 Embers (5) nonhuman primate and 2014 Hodzic (6) murine studies provide evidence of persistence of Bb infection after MBC adequate courses of antimicrobials. Additional animal and human studies support this concept (references upon request). We want to emphasize that other etiologies may be causal, but that a cohort of these patients likely have a perpetuation of chronic signs and symptoms due to an active Bb infection.
  2. Sensitivity of two tiered testing in late Lyme: Based upon a 2008 study by Steere et al (7) “the sensitivity of 2-tier testing in patients with later manifestations of Lyme disease was 100%, and the specificity was 99%” Entrance criteria for late stage Lyme: “In all patients with neurologic, cardiac, or joint involvement, a serologic result positive for B. burgdorferi by ELISA and Western blot was required for case inclusion….” “Because the entrance criteria for the aforementioned analysis REQUIRED positive serologies … by definition, all patients with disseminated or persistent Lyme disease were required to have a positive serologic test result. It is disingenuous to define a condition by a positive test result and then state that the test has 100% sensitivity…” (8) By extension, the concept of seronegativity is well-documented in cases of chronic Lyme disease. (references upon request)
  3. “Studies have not shown that such treatments lead to substantial long-term improvements for patients.” A number of studies discount this claim. In 2 of the 4 NIH supported prospective human trials by Fallon (9) and Krupp (10), sub-cohort analysis showed statistically significant benefit to retreatment. In the former study 37 patients who were suspected of having active neuroborreliosis, and were treated with 10 weeks of 2gms/day IV Ceftriaxone. Pain and physical functioning improved at 12 and was sustained at 24 weeks. The authors indicated that “these benefits were felt to be independent of carefully assessed placebo effects.” In the latter study 55 patients who were felt to have active infection by Bb, with persistent severe fatigue of 6 or more months received 28 days of IV Ceftriaxone. A significant improvement in fatigue was sustained at 6 months. Other prospective trials of prolonged antimicrobial treatment were employed that revealed statistically significant improved outcomes. (11-13)

In summary, as unfortunate are the 5 cases reported by Marzec, it is this author’s belief that they should not be used to discount a real entity, chronic Lyme disease. Whether due to the lack of timely diagnosis or adequacy of intervention, the literature supports the concept of chronic active Bb infection. That the diagnostic sensitivity of the 2 tiered paradigm is flawed, and seronegative active Bb infection exists. That emphasis should be made to generate a careful differential diagnosis, proactive management with probiotics and careful monitoring in the selective utility of long term antibiotics. As such, these often disabled individuals will more readily have access to the care they deserve, with compassion and empathetic oversight.

Samuel Shor, MD, FACP President ILADS [International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society] Associate Clinical Professor George Washington University Health Care Sciences 1. Marzec NS, 2017 2. Berger BW, 1989 3. Bacon RM, 2008 4. Cameron DJ, 2014 5. Embers ME, 2012 6. Hodzic E, 2014 7. Steere AC, 2008 8. Stricker RB, 2008 9. Fallon BA, 2008 10. Krupp LB, 2003 11. Cameron D, 2008 12. Wahlberg P, 1994 13. Oksi J, 1998
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Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment

Dr. Maloney Comments on MMWR Article

   June 16, 2017 Approx. 7 Min.

Partnership for Tick-Borne Diseases Education

Dr. Betty Maloney comments on the recent CDC paper  https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6623a3.htm?s_cid=mm6623a3_e that uses 5 anecdotal cases to announce IV treatments for Lyme/MSIDS patients are too dangerous.

“Patients and their physicians are not the problem.  Poor diagnostic tests and the pathogen itself, are.”  

“Hopefully, one day, we will see constructive CDC papers on topics that can truly reduce the numbers of patients burdened with chronic Lyme disease.”  

Dr. Betty Maloney

www.PartnershipforTick-borneDiseasesEducation.org

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Treatment