Lyme Disease is spread by ticks and can be difficult to diagnose because symptoms mimic other illnesses. The group Focus on Lyme is funding research at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix to increase the speed and accuracy of Lyme Disease diagnosis with a test called LymeSeq.
Tammy Crawford, the executive director of Focus on Lyme, explains the new test.
The Ruggiero-Klinghardt (RK) Protocol for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Conditions with Particular Focus on Lyme Disease
Dietrich Klinghardt and Marco Ruggiero
Sophia Health Institute and Klinghardt Academy, Woodinville, WA., USA
Abstract: Here we describe the Ruggiero-Klinghardt (RK) Protocol that is based on integration of Autonomic Response Testing (ART) with diagnostic ultrasonography and on application of therapeutic ultrasounds; the latter are used as a provocation tool and as an instrument to optimize drug uptake and utilization in specific areas of the body. This protocol consists of a precise sequence of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures with the ultimate goal of improving sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis at the same time evaluating and optimizing efficacy of treatments in chronic conditions including, but not limited to, persistent Lyme disease. The RK Protocol represents a paradigm shift in diagnostics and therapeutics: Thus, compartmentalized microbes, transformed cells, toxins and metabolites could be detected using a safe and non-invasive method. In addition, the RK Protocol allows optimization of efficacy of drugs and other therapeutic interventions. Although the RK Protocol was initially developed for persistent Lyme disease, it shows significant potential in conditions ranging from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases and autism. In oncology, the RK Protocol may serve to facilitate early diagnosis and to increase sensitivity of cancer cells to the killing effects of a variety of remedies ranging from conventional radio- and chemotherapy to more recent forms of immunotherapy. Thus, the 1st goal of the RK Protocol is diagnostic: That is, to make pathogens, toxins, transformed cells and cells infected by viruses that are inaccessible to conventional diagnostic and therapeutic tools, “visible” to the therapist who can detect them with laboratory methods and deal with them with appropriate interventions; and also to make them “visible” to the immune system that can fight them in a physiological manner. The 2nd goal is to optimize drug uptake and utilization in the organs and tissues studied and targeted with these procedures.
**An example was given of a patient with a history of angina who could not be causally diagnosed with classic cardiology tests. A urine example was collected before therapeutic ultrasounds which did NOT show any pathogen presence despite a positive Bartonella presence with ART. This patient also tested negative on the Western Blot (CDC criteria) from IgeneX lab; however, the DNA test performed on the urine sample 1 hour after therapeutic ultrasounds identified Bartonella bacilliformis, a well-known cause of endocarditis, commonly diagnosed only post-mortem. “The patient responded rapidly and favorably to targeted biological treatment involving daily therapeutic ultrasound application and sever anti-microbial agents.”
Best of Lyme Ninja Radio #86: Repeat broadcast(Updates are included)
Holly Ahern, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Microbiology at SUNY Adirondack
When Holly Ahern found out that her daughter’s mysterious illness was Lyme disease, she quickly immersed herself in the subject. She soon learned about the controversies swirling around the disease and came to realize that many others were suffering like her daughter. Ahern has become an advocate for developing a broader understanding of Lyme disease – one aimed at treating the chronic symptoms commonly reported by patients who were misdiagnosed or received inadequate treatment in the disease’s early stages. Her goal is to change the official CDC case definition of Lyme disease, which could attract more attention and funding to Lyme disease.
Topic Times:
6:30 Ahern feels the Lyme/MSIDS issue at hand is due to a perfect storm of events. She feels evidence based medicine which comes from clinical trials is part of the problem and that the experts are about half right – they are leaving out bacteria persistence.
Microbiology is ahead and medicine hasn’t caught up.
9:45 HIV, although caused by a virus, was handled similarly to how Lyme is being handled now.
11:00 Lyme Test is a 2-Tiered test – 1st Tier misses over half of all infections and the 2nd Tier is only 70% accurate.
14:00 Ahern explains the history of bacteria and how antibiotics appeared to be the miracle cure; however, it is now understood that many bacteria cannot be grown in a lab because they have stealthy strategies such as the ability to create biofilms to survive as well as the ability to go into the cell to avoid detection by the immune system. The medical implications have not followed up on these aspects. 5% of infecting cells will shut down and sit inside cells and reactivate later. These persisters keep the infection going.
20:00 Cannot kill all bacteria with antibiotics due to persisters
24:00 Persistence – clear from NIH funded research that borrelia persist. They can probably survive long-term abx. What differentiates people with persisting symptoms and those without symptoms? Probably Immune issues, other infections including viruses, etc.
Borrelia goes to collagen containing tissues and leave the blood quickly. So when a blood sample is taken, few if any borrelia will be caught in that sample. In the lab they have found reactivation of 10 month old sitting borrelia cultures.
30:00 Why aren’t animals studies taken more seriously? Ahern claims the microbiologists understand this but the medical folks don’t.
**Update:
https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/22/lyme-equivalent-of-cancer/ Dr. Spector, Director of Developmental Therapeutics at Duke Cancer Institute, suffered irreversible heart failure due to undiagnosed LD. He finds it scientifically ignorant that animals studies are nearly ignored when it comes to tick borne disease, and that if they threw out animal studies in cancer, they’d be nowhere.
31:40 Is it as hard to detect coinfections as it is for borrelia? Yes. Ahern claims borrelia is unique to most bacteria with the largest genome known. Veterinarians understand these coinfections but the tests they use are not approved for humans. Also, most coinfections are intracellular and the immune system doesn’t understand what to do with bacteria within our own cells.
** For information on how to treat. This is for educational purposes only to be used for discussion with your health practitioner.
A new test for Lyme Disease may prove to be the most accurate tool available for the difficult-to-diagnose disease, giving hope to thousands of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed patients, if funding can be found to move it through clinical study to production. This new test, called LymeSeq, is poised to transform the speed and precision of diagnosis over current tests. This test will detect multiple strains of Lyme bacteria, plus all major co-infections and non-Lyme causes of diseases like Influenza and Staph.
LymeSeq, developed by research scientists at Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), has been funded by Focus On Lyme. The test may represent a breakthrough in diagnosis and testing for Lyme Disease, which are currently about 50% accurate.
The researchers are led by Dr. Paul Keim, the Executive Director of the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute and the Cowden Endowed Chair of Microbiology at Northern Arizona University (NAU), as well as Director of the Pathogen Genomics Division TGen North in Flagstaff, Ariz. Dr. Keim is an internationally recognized expert in DNA-based research methods, a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
LymeSeq works by targeting and amplifying specific regions of the Lyme bacteria’s DNA as well as specific genes in related bacteria. That amplified DNA gets sequenced, then researchers determine the bacterial species present in the sample by searching for the DNA code specific to Lyme or other bacteria, explained Dr. David Engelthaler, Director of Programs and Operations at TGen North, and Director of the Public Health and Translational Genomics Center at the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute.
“LymeSeq has the potential to transform emergency rooms and doctor’s offices world wide,” said Holly Ahern, MS, MT (ASCP) and SUNY Adirondack associate professor of microbiology, and a member of the leadership team at Focus on Lyme.
Dr. Richard Horowitz, author of “How Can I Get Better? An Action Plan for Treating Resistant Lyme and Chronic Disease,” said, “more than ever, we need an accurate test” referencing the National Science Foundation’s identification of Lyme disease as an emerging pandemic threat, siting the current “problematic two-tiered testing scheme,” for which LymeSeq shows promise of being “superior in every way.”
With exciting early signs of high accuracy, the next step is to advance the test into human trials. Crawford’s team of volunteers has raised more than $301,730 towards a goal of $500,000 to bring the test to market. BHHS Legacy Foundation recently stepped forward with an additional $100,000 in grant funding. “With the development of any new medical advancement, the steps are long, arduous and expensive. But we’ve come so far in such a short period of time, we need your help to get us to the finish line,” Crawford said. “We are all volunteers. Every single penny we raise goes towards the research, we keep nothing back.”
BACKGROUND:
Bartonellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease of worldwide distribution, caused by an expanding number of recently discovered Bartonella spp.
OBJECTIVES:
This review serves as an update on comparative medical aspects of this disease, including the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, treatment and challenges.
RESULTS:
Of comparative medical importance, Bartonella spp. are transmitted by several arthropod vectors, including fleas, keds, lice, sand flies, ticks and, potentially, mites and spiders. Prior to 1990, there was only one named Bartonella species (B. bacilliformis), whereas there are now over 36, of which 17 have been associated with an expanding spectrum of animal and human diseases.Recent advances in diagnostic techniques have facilitated documentation of chronic bloodstream and dermatological infections with Bartonella spp. in healthy and sick animals, in human blood donors, and in immunocompetent and immunocompromised human patients. The field of Bartonella research remains in its infancy and is rich in questions, for which patient relevant answers are badly needed. Directed Bartonella research could substantially reduce a spectrum of chronic and debilitating animal and human diseases, and thereby reduce suffering throughout the world. CONCLUSION: A One Health approach to this emerging infectious disease is clearly needed to define disease manifestations, to establish the comparative infectious disease pathogenesis of this stealth pathogen, to validate effective treatment regimens and to prevent zoonotic disease transmission.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 