Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Morgellons – Believe it

https://www.lymedisease.org/new-studies-morgellons/  Two new studies presented at the recent CEHMDF annual meeting in Texas show a bacterial, infective process.

“Morgellons disease is a multi-system illness characterized by the formation of unusual, sometimes brightly colored fibers within skin. It is a debilitating, painful and life impacting condition. In addition to slowly healing skin lesions, an array of multi-system symptoms can occur, including fatigue, joint and muscle pain, intestinal problems and neurological symptoms including behavioral changes. Patients with Morgellons disease may shed unusual particles from the skin described as fibers, “sand” or seed-like black specks, or crystallized particles.”

Many medical professionals believe Morgellons sufferers suffer from delusions.

In both 2013 and 2015, international scientists contradicted this theory by showing borrelia spirochetes in skin samples.  But, similarly to MSIDS (multi systemic infectious disease syndrome or Lyme with friends) denial, most mainstream doctors deny the science.

Two additional laboratories (Oklahoma State and IGenex) have now replicated finding multiple bacterial species as well as three different species of borrelia DNA in Morgellons skin samples.

Defending Morgellon’s patients, Oklahoma State’s Dr. Wymore states,

“Collectively, the research into Morgellons disease clearly shows a bacterial, infective process in these patients. In contrast, and despite the bombastic claims of some, there is zero convincing, scientific evidence that Morgellons is a psychogenic illness.”

The CEHMDF is the recognized authority and primary funding source for Morgellons disease medical-scientific research. There are neither grants, nor any other public or private funding to support research for Morgellons. Donations are tax deductible in the US. To learn more about Morgellons disease go to www.MorgellonsDisease.org.

Category:

Lyme, Morgellons, research

Babesia Cure?

http://news.yale.edu/2016/06/06/combination-therapy-cures-tick-borne-illness-mice

Yale researchers have found that combining atovaquone and ELQ-334, at low doses, cleared Babesia in mice and prevented recurrence up to 122 days.

ELQ stands for Endochin like quinolone and is a preclinical candidate that targets the liver and blood stages of malarial organisms.

http://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2875-13-339  It’s been known since 1948 that Endochin has anti-malarial properties; however, it has proven to be ineffective in vivo against human malaria.  Recent advances have suggested revisiting previously abandoned lead molecules to be possible viable anti-malarial drug candidates.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23019377  ELQ-271 and ELQ-316 are effective against acute and latent toxoplasmosis.

When I asked my pharmacist about the ELQ’s, he said he couldn’t find anything about the manufacturing process, and that as far as side effects, there won’t be a much information available until ELQ-334 proceeds further in the approval process. Sometimes side effects don’t show up until well after drugs have been on the market.  He also stated that there were only 800 cases of neuropathy from 1998-2013 reported to the FDA for quinolines.  

While I could be wrong, Endochin like quinolone could possibly mean it is made with fluoride.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/07/18/antibiotics-to-avoid–the-plague-due-to-fdas-oversight-failure.aspx  Quinolones are made with fluoride, which enables them to penetrate into tissue, including your brain.  This ability is what makes them valuable against tick borne infections.

Omniflox, Raxar, Trovan, Zagam, and Tequin have all been banned due to their side effects; however, Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, and Floxin continue to be prescribed.

In Dr. Cohen’s 2001 study, the following side effects were documented:

*Nervous system symptoms occurred in 91 percent of patients (pain, tingling and numbness, dizziness, malaise, weakness, headaches, anxiety and panic, loss of memory, psychosis)
*Musculoskeletal symptoms in 73 percent of patients (tendon ruptures, tendonitis, weakness, joint swelling)
*Sensory symptoms in 42 percent of patients (tinnitus, altered visual, olfactory, and auditory function)
*Cardiovascular symptoms in 36 percent of patients (tachycardia, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations)
*Skin reactions in 29 percent of patients (rashes, hair loss, sweating, intolerance to heat or cold)
*Gastrointestinal symptoms in 18 percent of patients (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain)
A comprehensive list of reactions can be found at Dr. Cohen’s site Medication Sense.

According to Dr. Mercola, quinolones are too often prescribed for minor problems such as sinus, bladder, and prostate infections. He feels these super-antibiotics should be used as a last line of defense.

 

Be armed with facts to make an informed decision about these antibiotics with your LLMD (Lyme literate doctor).  One of the most experienced LLMD’s in Wisconsin states that he has used quinolones for over 20 years without tendon rupture.  It’s important to notify your doctor immediately if you notice symptoms such as tendon pain or anything else that doesn’t seem right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Babesia, Malaria, research, Toxoplasmosis, Treatment, Uncategorized

Alzheimer’s – Byproduct of Infection?

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/06/09/alzheimers-disease-brain-infection.

Harvard Researchers are saying that beta-alyloid proteins are part of your innate immune response and may be beneficial as they trap foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses; however, these traps form the plaque seen in Alzheimer’s.

Study author Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital states, “Each plaque had a single bacterium at its center.”  Mice that didn’t produce beta-amyloid were at greater risk of dying from the infection and did not have any plaques in their brains.”

They are theorizing that a small amount of beta-amyloid is protective whereas larger amounts could be damaging, and similarly to leaky gut syndrome, we tend to have a leaky blood-brain barrier the older we get.

Ruth Itzhaki, Ph.D., professor emeritus of molecular neurobiology at Britain’s University of Manchester, and colleagues in 1991 linked Alzheimer’s to herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) – the type that causes cold sores.  There are currently more than 100 studies supporting this link.

Itzhaki states,
” … [W]e propose that infectious agents, including HSV-1, Chlamydia pneumonia, and spirochetes, reach the CNS [central nervous system] and remain there in latent form.  These agents can undergo reactivation in the brain during aging, as the immune system declines, and during different types of stress (which similarly reactivate HSV-1 in the periphery).  The consequent neuronal damage — caused by direct viral action and by virus-induced inflammation — occurs recurrently, leading to (or acting as a cofactor for) progressive synaptic dysfunction, neuronal loss, and ultimately AD [Alzheimer’s disease].  Such damage includes the induction of Aβ [amyloid beta] which, initially, appears to be only a defense mechanism.”

In addition to viruses, bacteria, and fungus, an infectious protein called TDP-43 (think prions and Mad Cow Disease) has also been linked to AD as well as low Vitamin D (helps build the immune system and brain chemicals that protect brain cells).  

http://www.examiner.com/article/kris-kristofferson-has-lyme-disease-memory-loss-misdiagnosed-as-alzheimer-s  Singer, Kris Kristofferson, went through this private hell.  He was wrongly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s but had Lyme Disease.  For years doctors told Kristofferson it was either Alzheimer’s or dementia, and may have been the result of blows to his head from boxing, football and rugby.  The medication he was given gave him bad side effects and didn’t help.

Sound familier?

Since starting treatment for Lyme Kristofferson “has made remarkable strides.”  His wife Lisa said,

“all of the sudden he was back.” Although he still has some bad days, there are other days when he is “perfectly normal,” she said.

Please tell your family and friends who have an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis this story.  We need to look out for one another.

Category:

Lyme, research, Uncategorized, Viruses

Good News! Stanford Lyme Working Group

 

Forward Thinking! — Ticktalkireland’s Blog

Thanks to Sherry and Lair Cagan, founders of www.Stand4Lyme.com, there is some great research being conducted at Standford University who is collaborating with numerous institutions.

If you need some hope today, watch this 20 minute video.  Kudos to the Cagans!

More good news:  http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2016/03/researchers-investigate-four-promising-new-treatments-for-lyme-disease/  March 29, 2016

“Uni­ver­sity Dis­tin­guished Pro­fessor Kim Lewis, who leads the Lyme dis­ease research team, is now expanding that ther­a­peutic reach with the help of a $1.5 mil­lion grant from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation.

The team is pur­suing four arms of treatment-related research at Northeastern’s Antimi­cro­bial Dis­covery Center, which Lewis directs.

They are: a mouse study of a reg­imen that erad­i­cated the bac­terium in the test tube, set­ting the stage for human trials; antibi­otic cock­tails using existing drugs; strate­gies to dis­cover new drugs that selec­tively target the Lyme bac­terium; and ways to alter the com­po­si­tion of the microbiome—the com­mu­nity of microor­gan­isms inhab­iting the human body—to stop the autoim­mune reac­tions that char­ac­terize the disease.

All four show exciting promise. The grant, Lewis says, “will give us the flex­i­bility to test our approaches in par­allel, which will save us an enor­mous amount of time.”

“We are going at Lyme dis­ease with every­thing we have.”
— Uni­ver­sity Dis­tin­guished Pro­fessor Kim Lewis

We are rooting for all of you!

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research

Borrelia Hiding in Worms Causing Chronic Brain Diseases

Here’s a Feb 2025 Review: Filarial Nematodes Parasitizing Tick Vectors: Unraveling global patterns in Species Diversity, Host Associations, and Interactions With Tick-borne Pathogens.

In short, while ticks are known to spread filarial nematodes of medical and veterinary importance, even now, very little is known.  However, some recent reports have shown success using using doxycycline and ivermectin (dewormer) for some patients with Lyme disease.

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Borrelia burgdorferi/CDC

Press Release May 23, 2016

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/lyme-discovery-borrelia-bacteria-hides-inside-parasitic-worms-causing-chronic-brain-diseases-13216/

Pathologist Alan MacDonald has done it again.

He found three strains of borrelia living in parasitic nematode worms, worm eggs, or larvae in the brain tissue of 19 autopsies.  

MacDonald states that both worms and borrelia can cause devastating brain damage and that:

“while patients are wrongly declared free of Lyme and other tick-borne infections, in reality, too often they contract serious neurodegenerative diseases which can kill them.”  

MacDonald made his discovery from 10 specimens from the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center Tissue Bank.  All 10 showed evidence of borrelia infected nematodes.  Five patients who died of Glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant brain tumor, and four patients who died of Lewy Body dementia also showed infected nematodes.

MacDonald used FISH, Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization, which uses molecular beacon DNA probes to identify pieces of borrelia’s genetic material which fluoresce under the microscope with a 100% DNA match.

In other words, this is no mistake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZnY871HZhM&feature=youtu.be  YouTube of MacDonald explaining the results

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.  

So where’s the CDC?  I’ll give you a hint: it has something to do with Zika.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/03/08/fixation-on-zikapolio/

http://www.omicsonline.com/open-access/alzheimers-disease-a-novel-hypothesis-integrating-spirochetes-biofilm-and-the-immune-system-2314-7326-1000200.pdf  An excellent read on how autopsies of brains with Alzheimer’s show biofilms created by spirochetes that are present in the characteristic brain plaques of AD.

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, Parasites, research, Ticks, Transmission, Treatment