Archive for the ‘Testing’ Category

Lyme Can Affect the Heart in Complicated Ways

https://www.lymedisease.org/baranchuk-lyme-heart-complications/

Lyme disease can affect the heart in complicated ways

By Dr. Adrian Baranchuk, Dec. 3, 2021

Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection caused by bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme carditis is an early manifestation of Lyme disease that can occur two to six weeks after the tick bite.

Approximately five to 10 per cent of patients presenting to family doctors’ clinics or emergency departments with symptoms of Lyme disease may develop Lyme carditis.

The prevalence of Lyme disease in Canada continues to increase year after year. Nearly 2,700 people were diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2019, but the number of reported cases may not reflect the actual number of cases.

How Lyme carditis affects the heart

Lyme carditis most commonly manifests as high-degree atrioventricular block: a complete shut-down of the electrical system of the heart that can evolve rapidly over minutes, hours or days, producing severe symptoms like fainting, extreme dizziness or sudden death.

Less frequently, other serious cardiovascular manifestations may be present, such as:

  • sinus node disease, marked by alterations to the heart’s “motor” or natural pacemaker,
  • atrial fibrillation, which is a disorganization of the cardiac rhythm that increases the risk of stroke,
  • bundle branch blocks, or lesions in the distal cables of the heart that can interrupt electrical impulses, and
  • myocarditis, pericarditis or endocarditis, which are different degrees of inflammation of the layers of the cardiac walls.

Some of these manifestations can be so severe that total cardiac dysfunction may rapidly occur, and the patient may die despite medical efforts. Sometimes a heart transplant is the only option.

Diagnosing and treating Lyme carditis

The initial symptoms of Lyme disease can be mistaken for other common infections or allergic reactions. Delayed diagnosis and delayed initiation of proper treatment can lead to serious Lyme disease presentations including Lyme carditis in all its forms.

We need ongoing education at all levels (medical and nursing schools, community, governments) to close the gap in knowledge and ensure all participants in the health-care system aware of this preventable condition.

The good news is that prompt diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic therapy leads to a much better prognosis. Lyme carditis responds very effectively to treatment, completely eliminating the cardiac manifestations, with a very favourable prognosis in both short- and long-term followup. We now know that when antibiotics are used according to guidelines, the prognosis two years after the infection reveals no residual disease in the heart.

It is important to remember that most heart conduction abnormalities caused by Lyme carditis resolve with appropriate antibiotic therapy without requiring the implantation of permanent pacemakers. As most patients presenting with Lyme carditis are young and otherwise healthy, any medical strategy that could prevent the need to implant a pacemaker for the rest of their lives is welcomed.

Confirming Lyme disease in the age of COVID-19

The current COVID-19 pandemic is posing a new challenge in the diagnosis of Lyme disease. The two conditions have a lot of overlapping symptoms, such as fever, malaise, generalized pain and lack of energy. During these times, it’s advisable to rule out COVID-19 first before embarking on any other test.

Asking focused questions about personal lifestyle may help guiding the diagnosis of Lyme disease. Some key questions include:

Skin examinations and ECGs

A bull’s-eye-shaped rash is a characteristic symptom of Lyme disease, but it isn’t present in all patients. Some have a less defined rash.

Thorough dermatological examination can clarify difficult cases. This happened in my clinic recently, when a nurse practitioner decided to run a full skin examination and discovered typical bull’s-eye rashes on the patient’s back.

Once the diagnosis is suspected, cardiovascular symptoms such as dizziness, palpitations, fainting or near fainting, chest pain and shortness of breath should be investigated. If the patient reports any of these symptoms, along with any other factors suggesting Lyme disease, a 12-lead ECG (the simple and inexpensive electrocardiogram) should be performed.

Quite recently, a team from the United States did 12-lead ECG to a large series of pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department with high-suspicion of Lyme disease, and discovered that nearly 30 per cent of them had some conduction disturbance. Any evidence of electrical disturbance should prompt admission in hospital for a course of intravenous antibiotics while waiting the results of serological tests.

Suspicious Index in Lyme Carditis

From the other perspective, any patient presenting with unexpected high-degree atrioventricular block (full electrical shut down of the electrical system of the heart), the way to test for Lyme carditis is by running a risk score called SILC (Suspicious Index in Lyme Carditis), which was developed at Queen’s University and is now used worldwide.

SILC score is based on the risk factor acronym COSTAR (Constitutional symptoms, Outdoor activities/endemic region, Sex male, Tick bite, Age < 50, Rash), which may help in determining the likelihood of early Lyme carditis.

We need to keep teaching and learning about Lyme carditis. In addition to ongoing education, curricula in medical and nursing schools should be updated immediately to be sure that all new health-care providers are trained in the rapid recognition of this condition. When to order serological tests, how to check for cardiovascular symptoms and the value of the 12-lead ECG are all important steps in the management of Lyme carditis.

The effort to eradicate Lyme disease should involve physicians and nurses, patients and families, rigorous science and political decisions for sound policy implementation.The Conversation

Dr. Adrian Baranchuk is a cardiologist and Professor of Medicine, Queen’s University, Ontario Canada. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Category:

Heart Issues, Lyme, Testing

PCR Can’t Identify Variants – Oops

**UPDATE Dec. 5, 2021**

http://

Aug. 30, 2019

Dr Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos – Dr. Val Turner – House of Numbers

Many may be surprised to learn that there are thousands of scientists who question the alleged isolation of the HIV virus, including PCR creator Kary Mullis.  Also, isolation by itself does not prove cause of infection. This video goes through HIV research and points out scientists have different beliefs about viral isolation and purification.  This is foundational knowledge to understand virology the tests used to detect viruses.  Similarly to COVID, a “scientific consensus” was reached regarding HIV causing AIDS, and therefore all debate closed.

As of a year ago, institutions in over 25 countries have responded to FOI requests.  None have proven SARS-COV-2 isolation or have cited any record describing it. While some claim to have isolated it, with EM photos, scrutiny has shown these claims do not meet the true definition.  SARS-COV-2 genomes were not “discovered” but were in fact manufactured.

“Scientific consensus” is currently keeping those sick from life-saving treatments and is persecuting doctors who prescribe them.

Test for new Omicron variant? We don’t need no stinkin’ test

by Jon Rappoport

(To join our email list, click here.)

This is an article in three layers. I’ve already spelled out the first layer in my current series on the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 (archive: Omicron).

In a nutshell, there is no Omicron because there is no SARS-CoV-2. The “pandemic virus” doesn’t exist. A variation of nothing equals nothing.

However, I often make forays into the bubble-world where most people, including “the experts,” believe the virus is real. I do this to show that, within their world, the experts are constantly lying in their own terms and contradicting themselves.

Within their world, you would think the pros have an easily accessible test to identify the new Omicron variant in thousands or millions of people. Otherwise, how can they claim it’s here and spreading?

But you would be wrong.

And I have the evidence, based on the prior variant, the Delta. That’s level two. I take you there now, with an article I wrote months ago:

—Bombshell: PCR tests can’t identify Delta Variant; it’s all fiction—

Oooo. The Delta Variant. It’s everywhere. (archive: Delta)

Watch out. It’s under your rug. It’s in the clothes closet. It’s on your toothbrush.

And it’s The Unvaccinated who are spreading it. Those devils. We, who are pure, must be protected from the unvaxxed Unclean.

Fauci, god of soccer moms, rises every morning saying DELTA, goes on television saying DELTA, and goes to sleep praying to DELTA.

But read this from the Texas Department of State Health Services FAQ:

“How can I tell if I have the Delta variant? Do labs report that to the state?”

That information may not be readily available. The [PCR] viral tests that are used to determine if a person has COVID-19 are not designed to tell you what variant is causing the infection. Detecting the Delta variant, or other variants, requires a special type of testing called genomic sequencing. Due to the volume of COVID-19 cases, sequencing is not performed on all viral samples. However, because the Delta variant now accounts for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States, there is a strong likelihood that a positive test result indicates infection with the Delta variant.”

Boom.

I can assure you, the number of patients whose samples are genetically sequenced is tiny, contrasted against the number whose samples are simply run through the standard PCR.

So there is no way to know that the Delta variant now accounts for the majority of COVID cases in the US. And using the standard PCR, there is no way to know ANY specific patient has the Delta. It’s all fiction.

We have this from the American Lung Association:

“Regular COVID-19 tests do not detect which variant is involved in a patient’s case—that information does not change the approach to care or therapy. The variant identification requires genomic sequencing, a process separate from regular virus tests and one that not all labs are able to do or do not do on a routine basis for patient care but are done more for public health monitoring.”

Let me break down how this game works. To be excessively generous, let’s say that 3 out of every 1000 positive PCR tests in America are sent to high-level labs, where genetic sequencing is done.

A certain percentage of THOSE sequencing tests come up positive for the Delta Variant. Based on these results, MODELS are constructed.

Now we’re REALLY into fake science. The models estimate what percentage of ALL positive PCR tests are really positive for Delta.

I’m sorry to break this newsflash, but modelers are notorious charlatans. Their dense calculations are as far from science as a Model-T Ford is from a spaceship.

But based on models, public health agencies—who desperately needed a new con, because COVID case numbers were declining—blasted through their media assets the new revelation: THE DELTA MONSTER IS LOOSE AMONG US.

But it gets even worse. Why? Because you can bet the farm that the current model pushing the omnipresence of the Delta Variant was never challenged. It was never handed to several groups of independent scientists who went over it with a fine-toothed comb. That’s called verification. That’s called the Scientific Method. You may have heard of it.

The most notorious modeler in the world, Neil Ferguson, of the London Imperial College, bankrolled by Bill Gates, made a prediction early in 2020: by that summer, there would 500,000 COVID deaths in the UK, and 2 million in the US.

It was this absurd prediction, swallowed whole by Boris Johnson, and swallowed whole by Donald Trump, on the urging of Tony Fauci, that led to the original mass lockdowns in US and the UK. And then other nations followed suit.

As my long-time readers know, all this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. For the past year, I’ve been proving the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t exist, the tests and case numbers are meaningless, and the highly destructive “vaccine” is unnecessary.

But I make frequent forays into the fantasy world of official science, to illustrate that, even within that lunatic bubble, internal contradictions and outright lies abound. (See link for article)

SOURCES:

https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/coronavirus/variant-faqs.aspx

https://www.lung.org/blog/covid-19-delta-variant

https://www.businessinsider.com/neil-ferguson-transformed-uk-covid-response-oxford-challenge-imperial-model-2020-4

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**Comment**

While the spin-doctors are trying to pin Omicron and other “variants” on the unvaccinated, reality shows those contracting these “variants” are the fully “vaccinated,” and a large study clearly showed that increases in cases are unrelated to vaccination levels across 68 countries and 2,947 counties in the U.S. Further, the study also points out the obvious: there is a substantial decline in immunity 6-months post jab.  We’ve been told ad nauseum that the jabs protect against severe hospitalization and death, but that was a lie too.  The CDC reported an increase from 0.01 to 9% and 0 to 15.1% (between January to May 2021) in the rates of hospitalizations and deaths, respectively, amongst the fully “vaccinated” [10].

And of course, the BIG elephant in the room: cheap, effective, safe treatments that are banned.

This enlightening video details how researchers create these ‘pseudo-viruses’ in the laboratory, they then interact them in a cell culture with different antibodies and that’s how they say that it’s more or less transmissible or more or less clinically severe or even that it might be resistant to the vaccine.  It’s all done in a petri-dish and nothing has been validated in living organisms.  Further, in his interview with Attorney Reiner Fuellmich last July, Dr. Martin explained how there are no variants of COVID-19. They are all computer simulations of specific gene sequences.  We extracted about 19 minutes of that interview and it is on our Bitchute channel.

Two weeks before this current “new variant” suddenly appeared in Africa and started making the news cycle, Israel, which has been Pfizer’s human laboratory to test their COVID shots, ran a “war games” simulation to prepare for a “deadly new variant” which at the time had not yet been named. They called this future variant “Omega,” and the simulation was carried out on November 11, 2021.

Up until now, Africa has been an enigma to the Globalists’ narrative on the COVID-19 plandemic, as the continent has the lowest rates of COVID-19 “vaccination”, while also having the fewest amounts of “COVID-19 deaths.”  This article points out that Omicron was detected in Sweden, Israel, Reunion, and the UK before it was detected in Africa.

And of course, Big Pharma already has their “magic pills” almost ready for emergency use authorization to come in and “save the world.”  Source

For more on the COVID testing fiasco:

Category:

Activism, Testing, vaccines, Viruses

LymeMind 2021 Conference

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 1 New Clinical Initiatives

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 2 Clinical Issues Facing Pregnant Women, Children, and Parents

Nov. 22, 2021

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Lyme MIND 2021 Session 3 Q&A

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 4 Learning from Long COVID and Other Infection Associated Conditions

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 5 Progress on Dr. Neil Spector’s Research

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 6 Q&A

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 7 Understanding the Peer Review and Government Grant Selection Process

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 8 Government Action Against Tickborne Diseases

Nov. 22, 2021

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LymeMIND 2021 Session 9 Q&A

Nov. 22, 2021

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment

Re-cap of “Tick-borne Illness Diagnostics” Event, in Tweets

https://www.lymedisease.org/inivisible-international-tweets/

Re-cap of “Tick-borne Illness Diagnostics” event, in tweets

Invisible International is a group of healthcare providers and scientists working to help solve the challenges of tick-borne diseases.

On October 30, the group held an online event called The State of Tick-Borne Illness Diagnostics: Learn, Engage, Accelerate.

LymeDisease.org’s Lonnie Marcum live-tweeted the event.

Go to top link to see the compilation of tweets she posted.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Testing

Delayed Diagnosis of Lyme Disease is a Huge Problem. How Can We Fix it?

https://www.lymedisease.org/delayed-diagnosis-lyme-wright/

Nov. 2, 2021

Melissa Wright is the Director of Patient Engagement & Outreach for LymeDisease.org and Project Manager of MyLymeData.

She spoke at the recent Tick-borne Disease Diagnostics online event spons

  1. Lyme is not recognized as a possibility in their area
  2. Many patients do not present with a classic erythema migrans rash
  3. The diagnostic testing for Lyme is flawed

View her presentation here:

Here’s the text of her remarks:

Hello everyone, my name is Melissa Wright and I am the Director of Patient Engagement & Outreach for LymeDisease.org and Project Manager of MyLymeData. I am happy to be with you today for the Tick-borne Disease Diagnostics Innovation Incubator, and have the opportunity to talk with you about the impact of diagnostic delays in the Lyme community.

Founded over 30 years ago, LymeDisease.org, is one of the oldest Lyme disease organizations in the nation. It is the largest and most trusted communications network for Lyme patients. Our mission is to harness the power of tens of thousands of patients to improve patient care and accelerate the pace of Lyme disease research. We do this through providing tools like our symptom checker, physician directory, and the MyLymeData patient registry and research platform with over 15,000 patients enrolled.

Today I’ll briefly discuss diagnostic issues with data from MyLymeData, the current testing and what we’re doing to push the needle
Using a diagram first developed by the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in its report “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” which identified different points along the path to diagnosis where things can go wrong and diagnosis can be delayed or missed. It has been modified to reflect the diagnostic issues we encounter in Lyme disease. For example:

  • Lyme is not identified as a possibility in (name your state)
  • Many patients do not present with a classic EM rash
  • And the diagnostic testing is flawed

Which leads to a large majority of patients being misdiagnosed.

In MyLymeData we found that 70% of those with late or chronic Lyme disease experienced years of diagnostic delays even though 45% had presented with early symptoms. It had taken the majority, 3 or more years to be diagnosed after seeing 5 or more doctors with 72% being misdiagnosed and likely unnecessarily treated for another disease.

So why the delay? In Lyme disease we know early diagnosis can be a ticket to recovery. 70-80% do become well. Unfortunately, a diagnosis of early Lyme disease is not so straight forward. A lot of the symptoms are not specific for Lyme disease and do occur in other illnesses. So, there’s a big emphasis on whether the patient has distinguishing factors.

– Was the patient exposed to an area where there are ticks that carry the disease? (Remember, no Lyme in name your state)

– Did the patient have a distinctive round rash that could have been caused by the bite of a tick. (only 34% of patients report having a rash)

– And were any blood tests positive? (flawed testing, with 37% receiving a false negative)

In regard to testing, we know during the first four to six weeks of Lyme infection, standard Lyme disease tests are unreliable because most people have not yet developed the antibody response that the test measures, and even later in Lyme the two-tiered testing is highly insensitive.

The chart (Stricker, Johnson 2010) illustrates the studies examining the testing. As you can see, the mean sensitivity for Lyme testing is 46%. This means 108 of every 200 cases is missed in Lyme compared to that of the highly sensitive testing for HIV/AIDS, which has a mean sensitivity of 99.5%, where only 1 in every 200 cases is missed.

Simply put, the likelihood of Lyme disease being diagnosed from a positive lab test is the equivalent of getting a heads or tails in a coin toss. This ultimately means many patients go undiagnosed.

Now everyone knows the saying there is power in numbers, but despite Lyme disease having 475,000 cases annually little has been done to advance Lyme testing or research.

According to research by Goswami, the number of clinical studies for Lyme disease trails behind leprosy–which has an incidence of less than 200 cases per year.  So, Lyme disease should be thought of as a research disadvantaged disease that faces the same challenges that rare diseases face.

Patients are the most underutilized resource in medical research, and we are striving to bridge that gap.

The research cycle illustrated is derived from Groft’s work with rare diseases. His model suggests forming a patient registry that links with a biorepository—we are collaborating with the Lyme Disease Biobank here.

The registry helps to develop a research hypothesis—here we have published three peer-reviewed publications to better characterize the disease, assess patient reported outcomes, and analyze treatment effects among patient subgroups. The registry can then be used to help recruit patients. We have worked on recruiting for two clinical studies.

A team research approach will allow rapid knowledge generation to accelerate the pace of research–-leading to improved diagnostics, treatment and care.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all today and I want to close by encouraging anyone not yet participating in MyLymeData to enroll.

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Category:

Activism, Lyme, Testing