Archive for the ‘Testing’ Category

COVID Testing Company Faked Tests, Threw Samples Away While Taking $83 M in Government Funding, Says DOJ

https://www.theblaze.com/news/testing-company-federal-indictment-23

COVID testing company faked tests, threw samples away while taking $83 million in government funding, says DOJ

ANDREW CHAPADOS

March 15, 2023

Excerpts:
The co-owner of a Chicago, Illinois, company is accused of cheating the United States government out of money through a fraudulent COVID-19 testing scheme.

ABC News reports that Zishan Alvi, a 44-year-old co-owner of company Laboratory Elite, fraudulently planned to seek reimbursements for providing PCR tests and 15-minute rapid antigen tests after lying about the results.

The indictment alleges that the tests were either not performed, done in such a way that results were unreliable, or had already been paid for by customers when the company sought federal reimbursement.

Between February 2021 and February 2022, the company received over $83 million in federal funding, with some of the money allegedly transferred to the Alvi’s personal account.

Alvi also told employees to provide customers with negative results despite tests never being performed.

Alvi is charged by a federal grand jury with 10 counts of wire fraud and one count of theft of government funds.

(See link for article)

For more:

Category:

Activism, Testing, Viruses

CA Ticks Spread Lyme But That’s Not the Whole Story

https://www.globallymealliance.org/blog/california-ticks-can-spread-lyme-disease-but-thats-not-the-whole-story

California Ticks Can Spread Lyme Disease…But That’s Not the Whole Story

by Paul Killinger on February 24, 2023

<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >California Ticks Can Spread Lyme Disease…But That’s Not the Whole Story</span>
If you find a tick bite from an Ixodes tick in California, it’s important to consider possible exposure to pathogens that cause more than Lyme disease

Originally published on Medzulabs.org 

The risk of contracting Lyme disease from a tick bite in California has been well-documented, though there is still a long way to go in educating health providers and the broader community in the exposure risk from a tick bite. TickReport’s surveillance of ticks from California (and Oregon and Washington) goes back as far as 2006 and has expanded in recent years.

What ticks are endemic (commonly and consistently found in wild populations) to California and other West Coast states?

That’s a big question, and there are a few dozen species from different genera or families. Many of those species are specialist feeders and—if everything goes “right” in their life cycle—they will only feed on certain wild mammals, birds, or lizards and will bite humans very rarely. That’s doesn’t mean that finding one of these “specialists” attached to ourselves or a family member is impossible: it’s just much less common (and a topic we’ll try to visit soon in another post).

Our surveillance shows that the majority (91.5%) of human or human-adjacent (dogs, cats, horses, etc) tick bites are caused by the following ticks:

  • Ixodes pacificus (“Western black-legged tick,” a close relative of the Deer tick in the Eastern U.S.)
  • Dermacentor variabilis (“American dog tick”)
  • Dermacentor occidentalis (“Pacific Coast tick”)
  • Dermacentor andersoni (“Rocky Mountain Wood tick”)
  • Ixodes spinipalpis
  • Ixodes angustus
What pathogens can these ticks transmit to humans?

Vector competence (the ability of a vector like a tick to transmit a given disease-causing pathogen) tends to run along genus lines, so species within the Ixodes genus tend to be able to transmit pathogens X and Y but not Z, while Dermacentor species tend to transmit Z but not X and Y.

The most common pathogen found in California ticks is Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease in humans and pets. But there’s more than Lyme in those hills! If you find a tick bite from an Ixodes tick in California, it’s also important to consider possible exposure to these pathogens:

  • Borrelia miyamotoi: a bacterium that can cause hard tick relapsing fever—sometimes called Borrelia miyamotoi disease.
  • Anaplasma phagocytophilum: a bacterium that can cause Human granulocyctic Anaplasmosis.
*For every two ticks we find infected with Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease bacteria), we detect one (or more) of these other pathogens

It’s vital that both tick surveillance and diagnostic approaches keep these non-Lyme pathogens in mind. For every two ticks we find infected with Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease bacteria), we detect one (or more) of these other pathogens, so be sure to resist Lyme Tunnel Vision when responding to a tick bite! Common diagnostic tests for Lyme disease have a specific focus on Lyme disease and will not detect infection by these other pathogens if present. Make sure you and your doctor are considering the whole story of a tick bite.

To learn more about the pathogens we find in West Coast ticks, browse our real-time testing data at TickReport.com/stats. If you find and remove a tick, arrange for fast and accurate identification and testing at TickReport.com.
The above material is provided for information purposes only. The material (a) is not nor should be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor (b) does it necessarily represent endorsement by or an official position of Global Lyme Alliance, Inc. or any of its directors, officers, advisors or volunteers. Advice on the testing, treatment or care of an individual patient should be obtained through consultation with a physician who has examined that patient or is familiar with that patient’s medical history. 

Paul Killinger oversees tick surveillance and pathogen testing at the TickReport testing lab in Amherst, Massachusetts. He has led the lab's public health education and outreach since 2018.

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission

Molecular Detection of Bartonellosis

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/3/22-1223_article

Bartonella spp. Infections Identified by Molecular Methods, United States

David W. McCormick, Sara L. Rassoulian-Barrett, Daniel R. Hoogestraat, Stephen J. Salipante, Dhruba SenGupta, Elizabeth A. Dietrich, Brad T. Cookson, Grace E. Marx1Comments to Author , and Joshua A. Lieberman1
Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (D.W. McCormick, E.A. Dietrich, G.E. Marx); University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA (S.L. Rassoulian-Barrett, D.R. Hoogestraat, S.J. Salipante, D. SenGupta, B.T. Cookson, J.A. Lieberman)
March, 2023

Abstract

Molecular methods can enable rapid identification of Bartonella spp. infections, which are difficult to diagnose by using culture or serology. We analyzed clinical test results of PCR that targeted bacterial 16S rRNA hypervariable V1–V2 regions only or in parallel with PCR of Bartonella-specific ribC gene. We identified 430 clinical specimens infected with Bartonella spp. from 420 patients in the United States. Median patient age was 37 (range 1–79) years; 62% were male.

We identified:

  • B. henselae in 77%
  • B. quintana in 13%
  • B. clarridgeiae in 1%
  • B. vinsonii in 1%
  • B. washoensis in 1% of specimens
  • B. quintana was detected in 83% of cardiac specimens
  • B. henselae was detected in 34% of lymph node specimens

We detected novel or uncommon Bartonella spp. in 9 patients. Molecular diagnostic testing can identify Bartonella spp. infections, including uncommon and undescribed species, and might be particularly useful for patients who have culture-negative endocarditis or lymphadenitis.

______________

Currently, 12 species of Bartonella genus are associated with human infection, but that number is constantly changing. Because Bartonella spp. infections are not nationally notifiable diseases, there is limited knowledge of the epidemiology of this disease in the US.  In my experience it is prolific.

For more:

Category:

Bartonella, research, Testing

How Much Money is CDC Paying Mathematica to Propagate Their False Lyme Narrative?

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/31334901

How much money is the CDC paying Mathematica to propagate their false Lyme disease narrative?

Carl Tuttle

Hudson, NH, United States

FEB 22, 2023 — 

Please see the latest email addressed to the management team at Mathematica hired by the CDC to promote the false Lyme disease narrative under the guise of “Guidance.”

———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: “achen@mathematica-mpr.com” <achen@mathematica-mpr.com>, “info@mathematica-mpr.com” <info@mathematica-mpr.com>, “pdecker@mathematica-mpr.com” <pdecker@mathematica-mpr.com>
Cc: “lwx1@cdc.gov” <lwx1@cdc.gov>, “frederick.chen@ama-assn.org” <frederick.chen@ama-assn.org>, “gmarx@cdc.gov” <gmarx@cdc.gov>, “acoyne@mathematica-mpr.com” <acoyne@mathematica-mpr.com>, “jconstantine@mathematica-mpr.com” <jconstantine@mathematica-mpr.com>, “ctrenholm@mathematica-mpr.com” <ctrenholm@mathematica-mpr.com>, “tbarnes@mathematica-mpr.com” <tbarnes@mathematica-mpr.com>, “sboudreau@mathematica-mpr.com” <sboudreau@mathematica-mpr.com>, “jdevallance@mathematica-mpr.com” <jdevallance@mathematica-mpr.com>, “sara.berg@ama-assn.org” <sara.berg@ama-assn.org>, “jack.resneck@ucsf.edu” <jack.resneck@ucsf.edu>, “jack.resneck@ama-assn.org” <jack.resneck@ama-assn.org>, “todd.unger@ama-assn.org” <todd.unger@ama-assn.org>, “jon.burkhart@ama-assn.org” <jon.burkhart@ama-assn.org>, “karen.kmetik@ama-assn.org” <karen.kmetik@ama-assn.org>, “sanjay.desai@ama-assn.org” <sanjay.desai@ama-assn.org>, “william_henderson@paul.senate.gov” <william_henderson@paul.senate.gov>

Date: 02/22/2023 9:27 AM
Subject: How much money (taxpayer dollars) is the CDC paying Mathematica to propagate their false Lyme disease narrative?

To the management team at Mathematica,

Here are the facts about Lyme disease:

Persistent infection after extensive antibiotic treatment has been identified using direct detection methods in academic centers and autopsy findings [i] yet the average patient cannot obtain these tests to justify how sick they are with their chronic active infection. Serology cannot be used to gauge treatment failure or success which makes it the ideal tool for concealing persistent infection.

Serology has allowed the 30-year dogma to persevere [ii] whereas direct detection methods are exposing the exact opposite.

We are dealing with a life-altering/life-threatening infection with faulty/misleading antibody tests, inadequate treatment, no medical training and absolutely no disease control whatsoever; a public health disaster. And what was the reason for the mishandling of this coexisting hidden pandemic you might ask?

A chronic relapsing seronegative disease does not fit the vaccine model. You cannot prove vaccine efficacy when we do not know who has or does not have the infection.

The rush to create a vaccine here in the United States promoted the denial of persistent infection and focusing on the acute stage of disease hides the horribly disabled.

With nearly 100,000 signatures, the Change.org petition calling for a congressional investigation into the mishandling of Lyme disease has collected 1,100 pages of heart wrenching comments from horribly disabled Lyme patients all across America.

Here are just nine randomly selected comments from patients disabled from Wormser’s “nuisance disease” whose junk science has been financed by the CDC with an open checkbook. (RO1 CK 000152) [iii]

Comments collected from the Change.org petition calling for a congressional investigation:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d40isfeff5h806o/petition_comments_Oct%2028%202020.pdf?dl=0

1.  My 16 year old daughter has late stage, neurological Lyme Disease. I have watch over the past several years as she has had to give up so much. She has stopped playing sports (basketball, soccer, and softball), dancing, eating many different foods, going to school, and even just spending time with friends. We have been to many different doctors with many different specialties looking for answers and have finally received a clinical diagnosis of Lyme Disease from two doctors who are working together to try to help her. The challenge now is to get her strong enough to endure the treatment that she is facing. We are told it may take years of treatment to get her to a reasonable quality of life. It is devastating to see my daughter struggle with all of this at a time when her friends are enjoy things like prom, graduations, and even just youth group activities while she sits at home suffering. This is a terrible disease!
Catherine Weakley, Virginia Beach, VA

2.  My best friend’s life has been devastated by Lyme Disease for the last several years. If only her doctors had taken her concerns and symptoms seriously in the beginning and administered the proper tests, she may not have gone through so many years of pain. I accompanied her to these appointments and watched first hand as her symptoms were ignored and mis diagnosed over and over again. She has gone through years of suffering that could have been prevented had she been diagnosed at the start and given antibiotics. For the sake of her and the many others who are suffering needlessly I urge you to investigate this matter fully and support education, awareness, acceptance and action throughout the medical community.
Samantha Erin Barragar, Malibu, CA

3.  I have been suffering from Neurological Lyme Disease since I was 15 years old. A year and a half ago, I had a serious flare up that has left me disabled with seizures, tremors, cognitive issues, immobility, and chronic pain. The severity of this disease should not be overlooked, and warrants significant research. The outdated and immoral IDSA guidelines must be investigated for the sake of all current and future persons infected with Lyme. Our voices deserve to be heard!
Caren Dandeo, Middletown, NJ

4.  I’m positive for lyme and co infections and was getting better with treatment, then insurance stopped paying. I’m wheelchair bound now and cannot stand, move, or take care of myself. United HealthCare cited the CDC guidelines of 28 days of antibiotics of treatment. THAT’S NOT ENOUGH.
Doug Frenz, Hudson, OH

5.  I’m only 20 years old and I’ve suffered from Lyme Disease for the past 6 years of my life. For the first few years of my disease I went undiagnosed; doctors would tell me I was crazy, and I continued to get sicker and sicker. My 15 year old sister is also really sick with Lyme and has been for years. It breaks my heart. There has to be something serious done about this epidemic, and fast.
Niki Mitchell, Binghamton, NY, NY

6.  My 4 Lyme tests came back “negative” according to my PCP’s. I was “negative” for 8 years while I did indeed have Lyme. When I visited 2 LLMD’s they both verified that I had Lyme. Had it been caught 8 years prior it could have been cured. Instead, it spread to all parts of my body and brain. I in turn became a burden on the healthcare system and lost all of my assets. Accurate testing MUST be developed!
Serenaty S, New York, NY

7.  I am disabled, in a wheelchair, and currently on IV medicine to try and kill off Lyme, Babesia, and Bartonella. I am in huge debt because insurance refuses to pay for anything – not doctor visits, not medicine, nothing. Too many are sick and dying. Enough.
Wendy Vogt, Redwood City, CA

8.  My husband has been diagnosed with neurological lyme and the coinfections of bartonella and babesia. We spent years going form doctor to doctor trying to find out what he has. His illness reached the point where he is no longer able to work. Our insurance company will not approve the IV antibiotics he needs to get better due to the current CDC guidelines. The illness does not just affect the patient but the entire family. Lyme needs to be addressed.
Kathy Wilder Bichler, Fair Lawn, NJ

9.  Spent over $100,000 dollars to get our son well in Oklahoma. 21 doctors would not recognize Lyme disease because of ignorance. We went out of state to find a LLMD. It is an awful disease and in so many ways. His Lyme test only had one band positive so according to the CDC is not proof of Lyme. Well wrong…he was pulled 5 ticks off himself and 3 days later severally I’ll for the next 2 1/2 years of being homebound. We where lucky we had a savings but I took our retirement money.
Diana Clock, Bixby, OK

Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH

“In the fullness of time, the mainstream handling of Chronic Lyme Disease will be viewed as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of medicine because elements of academic medicine, elements of government, and the entire insurance industry colluded to deny a disease.”   -Kenneth B. Liegner, MD, Internal Medicine, New York, USA

References:

[i] 700 articles LYME Evidence of Persistence (personal Dropbox storage area)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n09sk90eo6xz7ua/700%20articles%20LYME%20EvidenceofPersistence-V2.pdf

[ii] Lyme Disease Is Hard to Catch And Easy to Halt, Study Finds
New York Times By GINA KOLATA Published: June 13, 2001
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/13/us/lyme-disease-is-hard-to-catch-and-easy-to-halt-study-finds.html

[iii] Effective propaganda/racketeering scheme all financed through taxpayer dollars!
https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/25694689

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Testing, vaccines

Clinical Microbiology Reviews; “Lab Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis”

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u

Clinical Microbiology Reviews; “Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis”

Carl Tuttle

Hudson, NH, United States

FEB 21, 2023 — 

Please see the inquiry below addressed to the authors of this publication titled Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis. There has been no response from Branda or Steere…

———- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: “branda.john@mgh.harvard.edu” <branda.john@mgh.harvard.edu>, “asteere@mgh.harvard.edu” <asteere@mgh.harvard.edu>
Cc: “cmr-eic@asmusa.org” <cmr-eic@asmusa.org>, “jdienbard@chla.usc.edu” <jdienbard@chla.usc.edu>, “fcfang@uw.edu” <fcfang@uw.edu>, “louisa.messenger@unlv.edu” <louisa.messenger@unlv.edu>, “johann.pitout@cls.ab.ca” <johann.pitout@cls.ab.ca>, “schuetz.audrey@mayo.edu” <schuetz.audrey@mayo.edu>, “cmstaley@umn.edu” <cmstaley@umn.edu>, “achen@mathematica-mpr.com” <achen@mathematica-mpr.com>, “info@mathematica-mpr.com” <info@mathematica-mpr.com>, “pdecker@mathematica-mpr.com” <pdecker@mathematica-mpr.com>, “lwx1@cdc.gov” <lwx1@cdc.gov>, “frederick.chen@ama-assn.org” <frederick.chen@ama-assn.org>, “gmarx@cdc.gov” <gmarx@cdc.gov>, “acoyne@mathematica-mpr.com” <acoyne@mathematica-mpr.com>, “jconstantine@mathematica-mpr.com” <jconstantine@mathematica-mpr.com>, “ctrenholm@mathematica-mpr.com” <ctrenholm@mathematica-mpr.com>, “tbarnes@mathematica-mpr.com” <tbarnes@mathematica-mpr.com>, “sboudreau@mathematica-mpr.com” <sboudreau@mathematica-mpr.com>, “jdevallance@mathematica-mpr.com” <jdevallance@mathematica-mpr.com>, “sara.berg@ama-assn.org” <sara.berg@ama-assn.org>, “jack.resneck@ucsf.edu” <jack.resneck@ucsf.edu>, “jack.resneck@ama-assn.org” <jack.resneck@ama-assn.org>, “todd.unger@ama-assn.org” <todd.unger@ama-assn.org>, “jon.burkhart@ama-assn.org” <jon.burkhart@ama-assn.org>, “karen.kmetik@ama-assn.org” <karen.kmetik@ama-assn.org>, “sanjay.desai@ama-assn.org” <sanjay.desai@ama-assn.org>, “william_henderson@paul.senate.gov” <william_henderson@paul.senate.gov>

Date: 02/10/2023 9:02 AM
Subject: Clinical Microbiology Reviews; “Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis”
Clinical Microbiology Reviews
Published online 2021 Jan 27
 
Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7849240

John A. Branda and Allen C. Steere

“Lyme borreliosis is caused by a growing list of related, yet distinct, spirochetes with complex biology and sophisticated immune evasion mechanisms.”

Dear Drs. Branda and Steere,
I read your manuscript with great interest. While searching for the word “seronegative” I came across seven results in your publication but could not find the following references:

There is a wrongful death lawsuit in the state of NY where a 17yr old collapsed in his front yard later pronounced dead at the hospital. His Lyme test was negative.

1. Wrongful death suit shows pitfalls of IDSA Lyme guidelines
Joseph Elone died of Lyme disease
By Mary Beth Pfeiffer Sept 9, 2019
https://www.lymedisease.org/elone-wrongful-death-lawsuit-lyme/

In Pennsylvania there was a civil lawsuit against doctors who misdiagnosed Lyme disease as multiple sclerosis. The patient had four negative serologies but the fifth one came back positive.

2. Pa. Supreme Court to Hear Medical Liability Case with Statute of Limitations Implications
https://www.pamedsoc.org/list/articles/Statute-of-Limitations

Duke University Oncologist Dr. Neil Spector required a heart transplant; his Lyme serology was repeatedly negative.

3. Gone in a Heartbeat: A Physician’s Search for True Healing
https://lymediseaseassociation.org/book-list/gone-in-a-heartbeat-a-physician-s-search-for-true-healing-by-neil-spector-md/

I would like to point out the following case study from Stony Brook Lyme clinic. I understand the patient received thirteen spinal taps, multiple courses of IV and oral meds, and relapsed after each one, proven by CSF antigens and/or PCR. The only way this patient (said to be a physician) remained in remission was to keep her on open ended clarithromycin- was on it for 22 months by the time of publication. Standard antibody tests were negative.

4. Seronegative Chronic Relapsing Neuroborreliosis.  
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7796837
Lawrence C. Lipton R.B. Lowy F.D. Coyle P.K.

Department of Medicine, Department of Neurology, and Division of Infectious Diseases, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, NY., USA

Abstract
We report an unusual patient with evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection who experienced repeated neurologic relapses despite aggressive antibiotic therapy. Each course of therapy was associated with a Jarisch-Herxheimer-like reaction. Although the patient never had detectable free antibodies to B. burgdorferi in serum or spinal fluid, the CSF was positive on multiple occasions for complexed anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies, B. burgdorferi nucleic acids and free antigen.

5. Seronegativity in Lyme borreliosis and Other Spirochetal Infections 16 September 2003
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3d6m45jzlhhwalu/Seronegativity.pdf?dl=0

Here is a recent wrongful death lawsuit in the state of Maine: (I understand Mr. Smith’s Lyme test was negative)

Mercy Hospital, physician ordered to pay $6.5M for deadly misdiagnosis
Pete Smith, 25, died in 2017 after a doctor failed to recognize the signs of Lyme Disease
https://www.wmtw.com/article/mercy-hospital-physician-ordered-to-pay-dollar65m-for-deadly-misdiagnosis/42745675

Regardless of your so-called “advances in diagnostics” these references prove serology has always been the wrong diagnostic tool for an infection that often produces no detectable antibodies in all stages of disease. 1   “Spirochetes with complex biology and sophisticated immune evasion mechanisms” as you pointed out in your summary.

Is there a reason why the references I have presented here are missing from your publication?
A response to this inquiry is requested.
A copy of this inquiry has been sent to the management team at Mathematica Policy Research who have recently been contracted by the CDC.

Respectfully submitted,
Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH

Cc: CMR Editorial Board

Reference:

1.  HB490 COMMISSION TO STUDY TESTING FOR LYME AND OTHER TICK-BORNE DISEASES
https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/30346445

In November 2021, a commission created by the State of New Hampshire finished an exhaustive investigation of Lyme disease test accuracy. The commission reported that only 20-30% of people exhibit antibodies at detectable levels, and the commission concluded that “CDC-approved serologic tests for Lyme disease are unreliable in all stages of the disease.”

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing