Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Dr. Paul Duray Research Fellowship Foundation: Some Great Research Being Done on Lyme Disease

https://durayresearch.wordpress.com/about-2/7-provocative-findings-intro/

The link above will lead you to an incredible article written by Microbiologist, Tom Grier.  There is even a pdf version with extra spacing that makes it easier to read.

In a nutshell, he shows that “virtually no funding in any country has been put into Borrelia pathology.”  He also states, “there are more than a dozen species of Borrelia that cause Lyme disease, many of which can penetrate any tissue, and add a couple Relapsing Fevers that tag along for the ride, and it becomes clear that the Lyme disease blood tests based on Borrelia burgdorferi detection that have been used for 30+ years have become pretty much useless.”

There you have it folks – straight from the horse’s mouth – with more to follow.

Grier’s story of how he met and began working with Duray can only be chalked up to Providence as at the time Grier, infected with Lyme himself, could barely walk or stay awake.  The rest would make for great nonfiction – but unfortunately, it’s ALL TRUE.  Let’s just say restraining orders are involved and other stuff you wouldn’t believe – but then again, most of you would because similar things have happened to you.

There are direct links showing:

*Mother-to-child transmission of Borrelia across the womb

*Burgdorferi and miyamotoi associated with amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s brains

*Borrelia found in Lewy Body Dementia

*Nematode worms found in Alzheimer’s brains

*Borrelia found in five deadly brain tumors (Glioblastoma multiforme)

*Borrelia Mayonii and Borrelia burgdorferi found in human testicle

Grier states that what this means is that some dementia patients, if caught early, may improve on antibiotics (similarly to Kris Kristofferson’s story) https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/09/alzheimers-byproduct-of-infection/, or even stop the progression of disease – but that treatment must be from a clinical diagnosis due to the poor testing.  It is also possible that lengthy and/or life-long therapy will be needed – and that adding an anti parasitic medicine might be the first step due to the research showing nematodes in the brain which harbor the Lyme spirochete.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/03/borrelia-hiding-in-worms-causing-chronic-brain-diseases/.

On page four of Grier’s article he tells the story of Jack Gordon – a patient with Lewy-Body dementia.  His wife, Betty, a Lyme patient and advocate in Iowa, donated money to determine if Jack’s brain had borrelia in it.  It did.  Grier states this research is what helped them connect Lyme and Lewy-Body Dementia.

Similarly to the treatment stated above, if Lewy-Body Dementia patients can be found in the early stages, antibiotics could halt the formation of alpha-synuclein, and that the addition of an anti parasitic would be wise for the same reason stated above.

He goes on to discuss the research involving those with MS.  Grier feels that due to their research also discovering nematode involvement, the MS patient should be put on an anti parasite for nematodes, (making sure to kill all parasites in every growth stage including eggs) followed by antibiotics for Borrelia.  He states treatment would have to be aggressive to get past the Blood-Brain-Barrier, and prolonged to eradicate the Borrelia.

He also reports that while the work of veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth Burgess DVM PhD in 1990 showed that dogs infected with LD were transmitting and infecting female dogs through sexual transmission, proof in humans is lacking.  Pathologist Alan McDonald found B. burgdorferi and B. mayonii in the testicle and brain of a man who had been treated nearly continuously on antibiotics for the last seven years of his life.  Grier states the case for sexual transmission is stronger than ever.

The take home:  Treat all Borrelia early and aggressively to prevent Borrelia in immune privileged sites like the testicles and brain, and that antibiotics may not be enough, so infected couples should use a condom.

***Grier gives the caution:  Do not self treat with anthelmintics as they can cause severe inflammatory reactions and fatal encephalitis.

Dr. Zubcevik Challenges TBI Standard of Care

http://www.mvtimes.com/2016/07/13/visiting-physician-sheds-new-light-lyme-disease/

Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, attending physician at Harvard Medical School and co-director of Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, http://spauldingrehab.org/research-and-clinical-trials/lyme-disease/, recently spoke at a weekly meeting of clinicians, which was open to the public at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

In standing room only, Zubcevic admonished that singer/actor Kris Kristofferson’s recent cure of dementia, once diagnosed and properly treated for Lyme Disease, should be a lesson for medical professionals.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/09/alzheimers-byproduct-of-infection/.  She also stated that children present differently than adults, with headache being the most common symptom but to get them tested if they are acting out, experiencing mood issues, irritability, and fatigue.  (They need to be tested; however, with sensitive testing that Lyme Literate Doctors – LLMD’s use.  One lab that offers these tests is Igenex Labs in CA.  The best way to get good information is to contact a Lyme Support Group in your state.  They have all the information regarding LLMD’s, testing, costs, and educational materials.)

She explained of a haunting case of a young male institutionalized for schizophrenia. After proper testing for Lyme Disease, he started daily antibiotics and within six months he was normal.

For more information on how borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme Disease, and various coinfections can and often do affect the brain see: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/10/18/psychiatric-lymemsids/ .  Also, see Amy Hilfiger’s story: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/07/01/ally-hilfiger-on-fox-5-ny/, as well as how Toxoplasmosis can affect the brain: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/05/21/toxoplasmosis/.

She also debunked myths.

*Studies show you can get Anaplasmosis in 15 minutes from tick attachment, 10 minutes for Powassan virus, and that it is UNKNOWN how long it takes for the various strains of borrelia (LD). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=296pVc5Zbxw&index=2&list=UUTXTo-yWGZkRwrQ9X6X7E0A

*Doxycycline CAN be given to children, infants, and pregnant women.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26680308  (no correlation between the use of doxycycline and teratogenic effects during pregnancy or dental staining in children was found)

*A two-day course of Doxy has little to no prophylactic value, and that the proper course is 100-200mg twice a day for 20 days, regardless of engorgement time.

*The current testing misses 69 out of 100 patients who have LD, and doesn’t pick up borrelia miyamotoi at all, not to mention other strains. Miyamotoi is prevalent in Massachusetts.

*The “classic” bullseye rash only happens 20% of the time and when it does present can look like a spider bite or bruise.

*Patients often have coinfections which tests do not pick up. These coinfections make patient cases extremely difficult and complex.

She also stated that borrelia can go into tissue, travel in the bloodstream and is twice the speed of a white blood cell which means it can swim against the flow of blood and evade the white cell by quickly burrowing into tissue, thereby avoiding the immune system.

She stated that having LD is a body-wide toxic war – leaving the patient feeling miserable, and that while she is fairly new to this field, she sees no controversy – that animal studies clearly show persistence after treatment and that human tests do too.

She mentions the work of Dr. Ying Zhang of Johns Hopkins Lyme Center and that his work has indicated that current treatments may not clear persisters. Due to this research she feels a combination of several antibiotics, particularly new combinations, are promising.

Zubcevik found that a patient with chronic LD, when given a PET scan, showed blue and purple, indicating atrophy, whereas after six months of IV antibiotics, presented with yellow and green, indicating metabolically active regions.

Zubcevik has patients who have been ignored, beaten down, and who have lost the will to live. They show signs of post-traumatic stress and have destroyed marriages often leaving them alone. They break down crying with she tells them she believes them.

Dr. Phillips Completely Trounces CDC

Oh, this is good – and it’s going to make your day.

https://www.facebook.com/FOX5NY/posts/10154433090686320:0

 

 

Unedited interview with Dr. Phillips Fox 5 NY

  Approx. 40 min

For those of you who really need TRUTH, please watch this.  Although it’s a bit long, Phillips hits things head on.

My only beef is his statement about tick activity occurring at 35 degrees and warmer.

Again – tick activity – ANYTIME!  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/20/polar-vorticks/  Deer ticks alive and well after 24 hours in minus 3 degree temps.

He talks about sexual and congenital transmission,  and via breast milk at the end.

First Frankenbugs – Now Frankinmice

82_mice316x316

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/06/16/482279851/are-genetically-engineered-mice-the-answer-to-combating-lyme-disease?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr

MIT evolutionary biologist Kevin Esvelt wants to let thousands of genetically engineered white-footed mice loose on Nantucket Island in hopes of breaking the cycle of Lyme (borrelia) infection.

Esvelt explains:

“[The GE technique involves] taking immune cells from an exposed mouse that has protective antibodies and moving the genes encoding those antibodies into the second mouse.
“If we insert the antibody-encoding genes into the genomes of mouse reproductive cells, they will pass immunity on to their offspring. Our plan is to vaccinate many mice against Lyme or tick saliva, identify the most protective antibodies, then encode them all into the reproductive cells of other mice. In this way, we can take the total immune capacity of many different vaccinated mice and give it all to future mouse generations.”

Esvelt explains exactly how this is done:

“We will insert several copies of each protective antibody at neutral sites in the mouse genome using CRISPR, a genome editing tool that lets us precisely edit just about any DNA sequence in any organism. The resulting mice will be engineered to be immune (to either Lyme or tick bites or both), but will be 100 percent mouse with respect to their DNA. Any of their offspring that inherits a copy will be similarly protected, so adding multiple copies means that each mouse counts for several when it comes to protecting future generations.”

The project would take tens or hundreds of thousands of GE mice to be released over a period of years in a small area.  The only way it would work in large areas is if they used foreign non-mouse DNA.  

Anyone feel like they are in a bad Syfy flick yet?  And I have a feeling that “foreign non-mouse DNA” sounds much nicer than it is.

Even the European union has ruled that CRISPR plants are GMO’s and should be regulated as strictly:   https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/611716/in-blow-to-new-tech-europe-court-decides-crispr-plants-are-gmos/

“It means for all the new inventions … you would need to go through the lengthy approval process of the European Union,” Kai Purnhagen, an expert at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, told Nature.

Questioning the practice, University of British Columbia infectious disease expert Jan Hajek, states:

“I wonder how much the scientific interest of the researcher to be innovative and advance our knowledge and ability to manipulate mouse genetics on both an individual and population level is driving this research and how much is the desire to reduce the impact of Lyme disease. It is an important question to ask — especially if public funds and hundreds of thousands of mice are to be used.I am not against bioengineering. I acknowledge the value of innovation and advancing basic science knowledge. However, I also recognize that both Lyme disease and animal welfare are pressing and important concerns.”

Hajek doesn’t support the project at this point and states:

“We have ways to tackle Lyme disease we are not using. We make excuses for needing more animal experimentation and research for the sake of human health — when we do not even use the means already available to us.”

Hajek says distributing vaccine-laden bait to mice has already been shown to reduce the rates of B. burgdorferi infection in ticks.

Why do I get the distinct feeling that what is driving all of this is money with enormous projects involving tons of manufacturing, animals, insects,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/12/28/frankinbugs/, vaccines, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/03/08/fixation-on-zikapolio/ and patents?

I guess going through hell on steroids for over ten years and coughing up about $150K for MSIDS treatment (multi systemic infectious disease syndrome or Lyme with friends), for my husband and I has turned me into a skeptic.

I continue to be baffled by the lack of research on things that will help patients today such as better testing and diagnostics, better treatments, insurance coverage, and practical help on deterring ticks from our yards and bodies.

Could someone please suggest something that doesn’t have to destroy the immune system and the ecosystem?