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What You Need to Know About Borrelia Miyamotoi

https://igenex.com/tick-talk/what-you-need-to-know-about-borrelia-miyamotoi/

What You Need to Know About Borrelia Miyamotoi

Researchers are paying more and more attention to Borrelia miyamotoi, a spiral-shaped bacteria related to the types of Borrelia that cause Lyme disease. This bacteria is prevalent on both coasts of the US and is a known cause of Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever, or TBRF.

What is Borrelia miyamotoi?

Borrelia miyamotoi is one of the most recently discovered species of Relapsing Fever-causing bacteria.  In fact, some experts consider it the causative agent of an “emerging” tick-borne disease, and it is not even reportable to the CDC yet.

As will be addressed in detail later in this blog, what makes B. miyamotoi different from other TBRF bacteria is that it is spread by a different type of tick. Whereas most TBRF cases in the US are spread by soft ticks, B. miyamotoi is spread by hard ticks – including the same species of ticks that spread Lyme disease.

Keep reading to learn more about B. miyamotoi and what it means for patients, doctors, and testing and diagnostics.

What you need to know about Borrelia miyamotoi

1. B. miyamotoi is closely related to other TBRF-causing bacteria.

B. miyamotoi is one of several closely related bacteria that cause Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in the US. Like the bacteria that cause Lyme, these are spiral-shaped bacteria or “spirochetes” that cause serious symptoms, including rashes and fevers.

TBRF gets its name from the “relapsing” fevers that show up in some patients. According to the CDC, these are typically high fevers (e.g., 103 degrees) that last for about 3 days, followed by about 7 days without fever, then 3 days of fever again, and so on. Symptoms typically show up within 7 days of infection and can repeat several times if not treated with antibiotics.

However, it is important to note that not all patients experience fevers. Like Lyme disease, TBRF symptoms can vary widely among patients. The non-specific nature of these symptoms can lead to misdiagnosis, especially in the case of patients who think they have Lyme but test negative because the test is not designed to detect other types of bacteria, like those that cause TBRF.

2. B. miyamotoi was first discovered in Japan in 1995.

In 1995, Masahito Fukunaga et al. discovered and named Borrelia miyamotoi after the researcher who had first isolated spirochetes from hard-bodied ticks in Japan. According to the CDC, it wasn’t until 2011 that the first human case of B. miyamotoi infection was found in Russia. The first North American human case was found in 2013, though some research shows the presence of the bacteria in ticks in Connecticut as far back as 2001.

3. Some experts consider Borrelia miyamotoi disease separate from TBRF.

The CDC and some other entities refer to the illness caused by B. miyamotoi as Borrelia miyamotoi disease. Though the CDC does not provide explicit reasoning for this, there are some similarities and differences between B. miyamotoi and other TBRF-causing bacteria that may be of interest to readers. One difference, which will be covered more in detail later, is that B. miyamotoi is spread by a different type of tick than other TBRF-causing bacteria in North America.

However, what CDC calls Borrelia miyamotoi disease causes very similar symptoms to those of TBRF, namely fever, chills, and headache. Additionally, infections caused by B. miyamotoi and other TBRF-causing bacteria can be detected with both PCR tests and serological tests, and both are treated by antibiotics, usually doxycycline (as with TBRF and Lyme) but sometimes amoxicillin or ceftriaxone. For children and pregnant women, erythromycin or penicillin can be successful.

4. Even baby ticks can be infected with B. miyamotoi.

As IGeneX has covered in numerous articles before, humans are most commonly infected by bites from ticks in the nymph stage of development. This is because ticks at this stage have previously fed on animal reservoirs in the larval stage – such as the white-footed mouse – and then move onto blood meals from larger animals, such as dogs or humans, where they are able to transmit pathogens without being noticed due to their small size.

However, research has shown that B. miyamotoi can actually be spread directly from adult female ticks to their offspring through something called transovarial transmission. In other words, baby ticks can be “born” already infected with B. miyamotoi, rather than having to feed on an infected host (as is the case with Lyme-causing bacteria). Larval ticks still make up a very small percentage of overall infected ticks, with a recent San Francisco State University study showing just 0.11% of larvae in the sample being infected with B. miyamotoi. However, the prevalence of infection increases at each stage of life, and transovarial transmission gives B. miyamotoi a head start.

5. B. miyamotoi is the only known TBRF bacteria spread by hard ticks.

One of the main differences between Lyme disease and TBRF is that most cases of TBRF in the US result from the bites of soft ticks. Soft ticks come from the Argasidae family, as opposed to the Ixodidae family of hard-bodied ticks. Soft ticks have more rounded bodies and are missing the hard shell around the mouthparts that is characteristic of hard-bodied ticks. What’s more, soft ticks can transmit disease – typically via the bacteria B. hermsii, the most common TBRF pathogen in the U.S. – in under 15 minutes.

However, B. miyamotoi is the only cause of TBRF that is known to be spread by hard ticks from the Ixodidae family. In the US, B. miyamotoi is found specifically in Eastern and Western blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks) – the main causes of Lyme disease in the US. This means that those living in blacklegged tick-endemic regions, including states along both coasts, are at risk of both Lyme disease and TBRF. It is also possible to be infected with both Lyme and TBRF from the same tick bite.

Doctor uses an in-ear thermometer to take the temperature of a patient.
6. Symptoms of a B. miyamotoi infection look a lot like Lyme symptoms.

It’s important to understand that symptoms of B. miyamotoi infections and TBRF, in general, can look just like Lyme symptoms. These include:

  • Fever – can be recurring in a pattern of 3 days with fever, 7 days without, and so on
  • Chills
  • Headaches
  • Muscle and joint pain

Again, not all patients experience fevers, and patients who do have fevers will not necessarily experience recurring fevers. And since the same hard-bodied ticks that carry Lyme disease can also carry B. miyamotoi, you can be infected with both diseases at once (among other tick-borne co-infections). This means it is extremely important for doctors to test patients for all possible disease-causing bacteria, including B. miyamotoi.

IGeneX offers comprehensive tick-borne disease testing designed to detect all major tick-borne disease pathogens in the US, not just those that cause Lyme. Learn more about testing for TBRF with IGeneX today.

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**Comment**

Great information on a pathogen that isn’t reportable yet. This is a real problem. Prevalence is completely unknown due to this – which desperately needs to change. Borrelia Miyamotoi (Bm) could very well be a reason many are going undiagnosed. Since Lyme testing will not pick it up, many with legitimate symptoms are being sent home after testing negative for Lyme.

For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/?s=Borrelia+M

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Stigma – A Morgellons Discussion on Mental Health & Kris Kristofferson’s Example of Misdiagnosis

https://anchor.fm/morgellons/episodes/Stigma-em8tkp/a-a1plh1    Go here for Podcast  Approx. 14 Min

Stigma – A Morgellons Discussion

Jeremy Murphree discusses the mental health aspect of Morgellon’s Disease and Lyme disease.  

https://www.imnotgonnagetticked.com/kris-kristoffersons-lyme-disease-misdiagnosed-as-alzheimers/

Kris Kristofferson’s Lyme disease misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s

Post authorBy Tonya DeFriest

Post dateFebruary 14, 2020

2018_Kris_Kristofferson_-_by_2eight_-_DSC5062-1200x1803Musician and actor Kris Kristofferson at a memorial service for the late boxer Muhammad Ali in Louisville, June 10, 2016. The 80-year-old star was misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s, say friends, but he actually has Lyme disease.

​Actor and songwriter Kris Kristofferson and some of those closest to him are speaking out about his health problems and their surprising cause.

Kristoffferson struggled with memory problems in recent years and was told he had Alzheimer’s disease, but it appears he was misdiagnosed and all along has actually been suffering from the tick-borne illness Lyme disease.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

After Kristofferson obtained Lyme treatment his friend stated:

“It’s like Lazarus coming out of the grave and being born again.”  Chris Gantry

For more:

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Moose Ticks Are Dining on Local Deer

https://www.telegram.com/story/sports/2020/10/29/outdoors-moose-ticks-dining-our-deer/

Moose ticks are dining on local deer

Back-breaking work begins after succeeding in hunt
By Mark Blazis
Correspondent
Tufts University infectious disease authority Dr. Sam Telford collects a vial of engorged moose ticks from a local white-tailed deer.Tufts University Infectious disease authority Dr. Sam Telford Collects a vial of engorged moose ticks from a local white-tailed deer.Photo/Mark Blazis

Any time you shoot a deer that’s heavier than you are is worthy of celebration. So I was ecstatic when I dropped a big buck with my arrow last Monday evening. Few events are more exciting than finally getting a deer you’ve worked hard for. But once he’s down, the reality of potentially backbreaking work just begins.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Excerpt:  

Besides the ubiquitous moose ticks — also called winter ticks — there were many lice, louse flies and only male deer ticks, which are of no value to Sam’s research. “The female deer ticks must have already engorged and dropped off,” Sam concluded disappointingly.

This article mentions a very practical tip: spraying the area under dead bucks with permethrin or other acaricide right away to kill any females that drop off that could lay 2,000-3,000 eggs infesting your yard.
Hanging deer in the backyard can unintentionally spread ticks and disease.

Laying the ground with an insecticide-sprayed tarp is the answer to this.

Telford states that moose ticks in Northern New England suck the blood of 1st year moose enough to cause over half of them to die every winter. He states they don’t prefer human blood but the native Americans had an expression for them that translates, “bite like fire,” so they evidently DO bite humans!

Moose ticks also typically spend their entire life on one host.

The article states there were abundant, wingless louse flies or keds – which unfortunately Telford did not collect. The female releases her young on the forest floor where they attach to bedded deer, which they feed on almost exclusively.  Again, the article states they don’t care for humans but they CAN carry bacteria and their potential disease threat remains unclear.

Yet, the following articles show THEY DO TRANSMIT TO HUMANS:

It’s truly unfortunate that transmission studies remain in infancy.  The one all the researchers refer to has an inch of dust on it.

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Bartonella & Brucella: Cousins in the Bacteria Kingdom

https://www.galaxydx.com/what-is-brucella-and-bartonella/

written on 

Bartonella and Brucella: Cousins in the Bacteria Kingdom

Bartonella and Brucella species are cousins in the taxonomy that describes the relationships between all life, and developed out of a common ancestor. The extent of similar DNA sequences in their genomes suggests their division occurred relatively recently. They are both intracellular pathogens (live inside certain kinds of cells in their hosts) that manipulate the host cell and immune response in similar ways. Consequently, they both have a wide variety of possible presentations, from mild to severe illness to chronic infections that may exist with or without symptoms.

These overlapping characteristics, along with their similar-sounding names, often make it difficult to keep them separate when patients and providers are researching zoonotic pathogens.

Zoonotic Pathogens

Both bacteria are considered zoonotic, or transmissible between animals and people. Although there are preferred host species that they likely evolved with, Bartonella and Brucella species can be found in a variety of animals. Only one species out of both genera seems to prefer humans, Bartonella bacilliformis, and even that preference is an assumption because an animal reservoir has not been determined.

This ability to survive in hosts that are not preferred means that these bacteria are able maintain their populations in animals (known as a “reservoir”) and cause illness in people when transmission occurs. A major distinction between these relatives is that Bartonella species typically require a vector to gain access to a new host, whereas Brucella species do not.

Bartonella henselae, the causative agent of cat scratch disease, is primarily associated with cats. Although there is case report evidence of direct transmission from cat bites, current research suggests that transmission is more likely where fleas and ticks are prevalent. Viable bacteria can be found in flea feces for up to 8 days following excretion.

Brucella canis is primarily associated with dogs. These bacteria can be transmitted to humans through direct mucosal contact with infected bodily fluids. The highest concentration of viable bacteria is found in vaginal discharge, semen, and placenta, but studies show that urine, feces, saliva, and blood are all potentially infective as well. Brucella canis, along with other Brucella species, can also become airborne and infect people via inhalation of live bacteria.

Scientific History

Both bacteria genera have been rediscovered several times in history, identified by their symptoms. Between the early 1900s and the 1980s, scientists gradually realized that the same bacterial families were causing various diseases. It wasn’t until 2006 that scientists finally settled on the division of species in Brucella, and new species of Bartonella are still being identified today.

Find out more about the history of human Bartonella identification.

The disease caused by infection with Brucella species is called brucellosis and infection with Bartonella species is called bartonellosis. Both species can cause cyclic fever, arthritis and neurological symptoms as well as endocarditis (swelling around the heart).

Surveys of fever around the world turn up Brucella along with the other usual suspects, including Bartonella. Even when the expectation is that most fever comes from a similar outbreak of disease such as Dengue virus, these additional pathogens are found.

Brucellosis and bartonellosis are both occupational risks for animal care workers. Before milk pasteurization was common, brucellosis was a household risk from milk products. In the United States, brucellosis is the most common infection acquired by laboratory workers. In China, there have been recent large infections among animal researchers, as well as a large community exposure when a production facility without adequate sanitary procedures spewed the bacteria into the air.

Source: Shutterstock

The fact that Brucella can be acquired by breathing it in makes it more of a target as a bioweapon than Bartonella. Consequently, there has been more funding available for a vaccine.

Conclusion

Comparing these pathogens can help identify genetic differences that lead to significant differences in the host response. For example, Bartonella shares a change to its flagella (whip tail) with H. pylori (a pathogen discovered in 1982 that causes certain gastric diseases) but not with Brucella. This change helps it evade identification by the host immune system. By studying these differences, it is possible both to learn more about how these species function and also to identify potential diagnostics or treatments.

Because of its impact on agriculture and agricultural products and its potential as a bioweapon, Brucella has received some research funding that isn’t available to Bartonella researchers. Nonetheless, Bartonella researchers can benefit from Brucella research findings.

Consequently, scientific developments around Brucella are important to anyone with an interest in Bartonella.

References

Ben-Tekaya, H. et al. (2013). Bartonella and Brucella – Weapons and strategies for stealth attack. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 3(8), a010231. 10.1101/cshperspect.a010231 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3721268/

Saenz, H. L. et al. (2007). Genomic analysis of Bartonella identifies type IV secretion systems as host adaptability factors. Nature Genetics, 39(12), 1469-1476. 10.1038/ng.2007.38 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18037886/

Ali, M. A. et al. (2020). Etiologic agents of fever of unknown origin among patients attending Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, Zanzibar. Journal of Community Health, 45(5), 1073-1080. 10.1007/s10900-020-00832 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32399732

Cyranoski, D. (2019, 17 December). Chinese institutes investigate pathogen outbreaks in lab workers. Nature. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03863-z

Yeung, J., & Cheung, E. (2020, September 17). Bacterial outbreak infects thousands after factory leak in China. CNN.com. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/17/asia/china-brucellosis-outbreak-intl-hnk/index.html

Moreno, E. (2020). The one hundred year journey of the genus Brucella (Mayer and Shaw 1920) [online ahead of print]. FEMS Microbiology Review, fuaa045. 10.1093/femsre/fuaa045 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33016322/

Kazmierczak, J. (2012). Public health implications of Brucella canis infections in humans.Available at: http://www.nasphv.org/Documents/BrucellaCanisInHumans.pdf

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Brucellosis. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/clinicians/brucella-species.html

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/06/review-of-psi-joint-infections-in-pediatrics-all-with-negative-blood-cultures-bartonella-brucella-among-others/  An retrospective review of a specific type of joint infections in the pediatric population that showed Brucella and Bartonella.  I also show in the comment section that transmission occurs through animal contact (birth) or animal products, inhalation of infected particles, STD, breastfeeding, bone marrow transplants, blood products, and yes, ticks.  Pathogens are found in macrophages which are transported to lymph nodes, then spread throughout the body.  Treatment consists of doxycycline, rifampicin, & gentamicin.  

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33016322/  The One Hundred Year Journey of the Genus Brucella

Outbreak in China:  https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-10-24-thousands-infected-by-bacterial-outbreak-in-china

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Remdesivir Gets FDA Approval, But WHO Says Drug Ineffective For COVID

**UPDATE Sept. 2022**

Not only is remdesivir ineffective, it’s toxic and a group of attorneys representing the families of patients who claim their loved ones were injured or killed after being administered Remdesivir for covid are suing hospitals.

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/remdesivir-fda-approval-who-ineffective-covid/

OCTOBER 23, 2020

Remdesivir Gets FDA Approval, but WHO Says Drug Ineffective for COVID

By Jeremy Loffredo

As far back as April, U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci was touting Gilead’s antiviral remdesivir as “the standard of care for patients with COVID-19.”

Remdesivir is the only antiviral authorized in the U.S. to treat COVID and is also authorized for use in roughly 50 countries. Yet the drug has absolutely no effect on a COVID patient’s chances of survival, according to recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Starting in March 2020, WHO’s Solidarity Trial followed 11,266 adults in 30 countries to study the effects on COVID of four antivirals: remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and interferon.  On Oct. 15, WHO reported that remdesivir not only failed to produce any measurable benefit in terms of mortality reduction, but that it also didn’t reduce the need for ventilators, or the length of hospital stays.

After WHO issued its report, remdesivir’s manufacturer, Gilead, was quick to point out that the Solidarity Trial hasn’t been peer reviewed or published in a scholarly journal. In a statement, the company said: “It is unclear if any conclusive findings can be drawn from the study results.”

Gilead also called attention to an earlier trial by the NIAID, which showed remdesivir to reduce the duration of one’s hospital stay from 15 days to 10 days (median). Yet while this study was ongoing, NIAID researchers changed the study’s primary outcome from mortality to recovery length.

Still, citing the “promising results” of this NIAID study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May issued an emergency use authorization to Gilead for remdesivir. This allowed remdesivir to be distributed throughout the country without formal FDA approval.

Gilead is now marketing remdesivir under the brand name Veklury, which was recently projected to generate $3 billion in sales for the drugmaker in the upcoming year. Numerous governments already pre-ordered the drug in July, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) purchased500,000 treatment courses.

U.S. taxpayers covered some of the research and development costs for Veklury, to the tune of $70.5 million.

On Oct. 1, the FDA revised the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Veklury, withdrawing government responsibility for the drug’s allocation, leaving Gilead responsible for its distribution and U.S. hospitals responsible for its purchase.

But the cost of the drug hasn’t changed in the transition from government allocation to commercial sales. Medicare does not reimburse directly for remdesivir, and one five-day treatment course costs more than $3,000 for U.S. patients with private insurance and more than $2,000 for government purchasers like the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This high price stands in stark contrast to that of another antiviral, hydroxychloroquine, which costs 30 cents a pill. Hydroxychloroquine, FDA-approved since 1955, is far safer than most popular over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol and aspirin. Physicians can prescribe it for any off-label use and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deems the drug safe for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children, elderly patients, immunocompromised patients and healthy persons of all ages.

Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, dozens of new studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and its first cousin, chloroquine, against COVID. These studies occurred in China, France, Saudi Arabia, Italy, India, New York and Michigan. However, such proof of hydroxychloroquine’s benefit to patients with COVID has posed an existential threat to Gilead sales throughout the COVID outbreak.

Under federal law, new treatments do not qualify for emergency use authorization if an FDA-approved treatment exists for the same disease. If hydroxychloroquine had been shown to be effective in COVID patients, Gilead, along with other companies making therapeutics and vaccines for COVID, could not have been granted EUA. The companies would have had to complete standard safety testing and await FDA approval — meaning less profits, longer runways to market, and an end to the lucrative COVID vaccine gold rush.

As Dr. James Todaro wrote in OmniJournal, “Perhaps no other company has more to gain in the immediate future from hydroxychloroquine’s failure than Gilead.”

In June, French epidemiologist Didier Raoult testified to the French Parliament that after being vocal about the possibility that hydroxychloroquine could reduce mortality for COVID patients, he began to receive death threats from a scientist working for Gilead. Raoult and his team in Marseille have used hydroxychloroquine on more than 4,000 patients, reporting a mortality rate of about 0.8%.

The U.S. government’s preferential treatment of Gilead has been transparent. For the past half a year, U.S. national authorities have championed remdesivir while discrediting the use of hydroxychloroquine as a cheaper alternative.

“Right now, today, the cumulative scientific data that has been put together and done over a number of different studies have shown no efficacy,” Fauci said of hydroxychloroquine in July. “[Remdesivir] does work,” said White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Deborah Birx. “The President has been very clear and given me very clear direction to get that out to every single state.”

In April Fauci said: “The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect.”

When Fauci was asked about a Chinese study published in the Lancet which concluded remdesivir failed to help COVID-19 patients, Fauci criticized it, calling it “underpowered” and “not an adequate study,” despite the fact that the Chinese study was published and peer reviewed, and his NIH study was ongoing, neither published or peer reviewed.

Bill Gates, who has emerged as an unofficial national authority on the pandemic, has weighed in on several occasions, both dismissing hydroxychloroquine and promoting remdesivir. In August, Gates told Wired Magazine that if he were infected with COVID, he would want to be prescribed remdesivir.

Gates didn’t mention during this interview that his foundation owns more than $1.3 million in Gilead stock and more than $3.2 million in Gilead bonds, according to the drugmaker’s most recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

According to the  latest update to the NIH COVID webpage, the Treatment Guidelines Panel still recommends doctors give remdesivir to certain hospitalized patients. Since the beginning of the pandemic, as many as 81% of the people on this panel who declared financial conflicts of interest were taking money from Gilead.  So far, the NIH panel hasn’t yet updated its recommendation based on the new data from the WHO.

Watch Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., chairman of Children’s Health Defense, discuss this topic on RT America:

Jeremy Loffredo is a reporter for Children’s Health Defense.

Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children’s Health Defense. CHD is implementing many strategies, including legal, in an effort to defend the health of our children and obtain justice for those already injured. Your support is essential to CHD’s successful mission.

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**Comment**

The conflicts of interest revolving around our public ‘authorities’, Remdesivir, and Gilead Sciences reads like a rap sheet:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/01/gilead-big-pharma-and-the-who-an-unholy-trifecta-of-corruption-and-bioterrorism/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/03/gilead-announces-its-selling-remdesivir-direct-lining-the-pockets-of-many-government-officials/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/02/remdesivir-for-covid-19-not-backed-by-results/

The following article also points out an ugly conflict of interest web between Gilead, the manufacturer of Remdesivir and UNITAID which Soros, Gates, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, are large investors – with Drs. Fauci and Birx associated with the Clinton Health Access initiative.  And of course, Dr. Fauci has worked with Gilead for a long, long time. Government employees should not be allowed to have financial ties to manufacturing companies and then turn around and make public health policy.  https://principia-scientific.org/a-tale-of-2-drugs-deep-state-chose-money-power-over-lives/

Excerpt:

Approximately $70 million in U.S. taxpayer funding began Gilead’s partnership with the U.S. Army, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop remdesivir. Initially for treating Ebola, it failed to show benefit and was shelved. If remdesivir is used to treat COVID-19, Gilead shareholders, not the taxpayers, will profit.

Early results of the first clinical trial of remdesivir against placebo in coronavirus showed modest benefits, according to The New York Times. Surviving patients given remdesivir were discharged four days sooner than patients given placebo, though no criteria were given for determining improvement. Death rates were not significantly different. About 25% of patients receiving remdesivir had potentially severe side effects, including multiple organ dysfunction, septic shock, acute kidney injury and low blood pressure. Another 23% showed evidence on lab tests of liver damage.

Gilead’s own press release revealed the side effect of acute respiratory failure in 6% of patients in the remdesivir five-day treatment group, and 10.7% of patients in the 10-day treatment group, clearly ominous findings with a drug designed to treat respiratory failure caused by COVID-19.

Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who has conducted dozens of clinical trials, explained to The New York Times:

“The disclosure of trial results in a political setting, before peer review or publication, is very unusual. Scientists will need to see figures on harms associated with the drug in order to assess its benefits. … This is too important to be handled in such a sloppy fashion.”

Going back to 1997, Donald Rumsfeld chaired the Board of Directors at Gilead and after 2001 he held share packages valued at $5-25 Million. Gilead originally developed Tamiflu. George P Shultz, US Secretary of State also was on the board. He sold stocks at a value of more than $7 million. CA governor’s Pete Wilson’s wife also sat on the board.

“‘I don’t know of any biotech company that’s’ so politically well-connected [as Gilead],‘ Andrew McDonald, of the analyst firm Think Equity Partners, told Fortune.” (Source: “Virus Mania, How the Medical Industry Continually Invents Epidemics Making Billion Dollar Profits At Our Expense”)

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