Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

How Can Mother to Fetus Transmission of Lyme disease Be Rare When No One Is Counting?

For those of you just tuning in, the CDC website recently admitted that Lyme disease can be spread congenitally (mother to baby) but that it’s “rare.”  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/02/01/cdc-website-updated-today-possibility-of-mother-to-fetus-transmission-of-lyme-disease/

https://www.lymedisease.org/cdc-mother-fetus-lyme-transmission/

But, Lyme advocate Carl Tuttle makes a great point.  How can it be “rare” when no one’s looking for it or counting it?

https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/25767675?

What’s going on here Secretary Azar?

FEB 18, 2020 — 

Please see today’s letter to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services……

——— Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: Alex.Azar@HHS.GOV, tickbornedisease@hhs.gov
Cc: (92 undisclosed recipients)
Date: February 18, 2020 at 11:40 AM
Subject: U.S. health agency acknowledges Lyme disease mother-to-fetus transmission

Feb 18, 2020

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Attn: Alex Michael Azar II, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I would like to call attention to the following Chronicle Herald article:

U.S. health agency acknowledges Lyme disease mother-to-fetus transmission
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/provincial/us-health-agency-acknowledges-lyme-disease-mother-to-fetus-transmission-409641/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website was updated Jan. 27 to include mother to fetus as a possible way of transmitting the disease. The new section states,

“Untreated Lyme disease during pregnancy can lead to infection of the placenta. Spread from mother to fetus is possible but rare.”

Comment:

Mother-to-fetus transmission is rare? If no one is looking; no one is counting.
___________________________________

The 1988 publication below identified mother-to-fetus transmission despite antibiotic treatment:

Borrelia burgdorferi in a newborn despite oral penicillin for Lyme borreliosis during pregnancy.
Published 1988 Paul H. Duray, Infectious Diseases
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3130607

The attached list of 26 references identified mother-to-fetus transmission of Lyme disease dating back to 1985 but it took 35 years for the CDC to acknowledge Congenital Transmission of Lyme?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z10em0szgpm8bll/Congenital%20Transmission%20of%20Lyme%202015.doc?dl=0

What’s going on here Secretary Azar?

In reference to “other modes of transmission” please refer to the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group website:

Clinical Aspects of Lyme Disease Subcommittee Report to the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group
https://www.hhs.gov/ash/advisory-committees/tickbornedisease/reports/clinical-aspects-lyme-2020/index.html

Priority 3: Further evaluate purported human-to-human sexual transmission of Lyme disease.

“But because of the implications of sexual transmission, some members recommended that further studies be conducted to validate or refute this possible mode of transmission,….” [1]

Please see the following 2003 publication

‘Lyme disease’: ancient engine of an unrecognized borreliosis pandemic?
http://www.samento.com.ec/sciencelib/4lyme/lymediseasepandemic.pdf
T. Harvey, P. Salvato Diversified Medical Practices, Houston, Texas, USA

“The data suggest there may exist a much larger unrecognized pool of Bbsl-infected individuals sustained by persistent intra-human transfer that we provisionally call “Epidemic Borreliosis” Treatment modalities and schedules to eradicate B. burgdorferi from all patients regardless of infection route or duration must be created. If our experience holds, this will be a difficult task and will require serious and rapid commitment from all nations.”

“Our clinical experience strongly suggests that predictable, possibly inevitable Lyme disease transfer between sexually active couples occurs. The preponderance of infected spouses we have tested to date also exhibit positive serology or PCR for Bbsl presence.”

“Substantial data support the probability that human Bbsl infection can persist indefinitely.”
______________________________________

The attached PDF published in 1999 by the Canadian Office of Biosafety Information which was edited by the Colorado State University Office of Biosafety references laboratory acquired infections. https://www.dropbox.com/s/pjqxu42638071sq/Infectious%20Agent.pdf?dl=0

Section VI: LABORATORY-AQUIRED INFECTIONS: 45 reported cases up to 1976 with  2 deaths

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Infected guinea pig blood – 28 to 35 days at room temperature, survives for short periods in urine.

Transmission by Contact via Feces, urine or Tick excretes-can Borrelia burgdorferi enter through intact mucous membranes?http://lymerick.net/Transmission-Bb-contact.htm

Per the study below, North Carolina has gone from the CDC declaring there was no Lyme disease 15 or so years ago to now declaring it an “emerging” state. Shows what happens when you exercise sufficient medical neglect: an unbridled epidemic!

Trends and Patterns in Lyme Disease: An Analysis of Private Claims Data
A FAIR Health White Paper, December 2019
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media2.fairhealth.org/whitepaper/asset/Trends%20and%20Patterns%20in%20Lyme%20Disease%20-%20An%20Analysis%20of%20Private%20Claims%20Data%20-%20A%20FAIR%20Health%20White%20Paper.pdf

__________________________

Summary:

It would appear that the US Centers for Disease Control has failed to recognize the severity of Lyme disease while aligning itself with the academics focused on suppressing evidence of Congenital Transmission along with persistent infection after aggressive antibiotic treatment. (Racketeering scheme)

These actions have misguided an entire medical community as some physicians here in New Hampshire claim they don’t believe in Lyme disease as depicted in the attached caricature. (Reference available upon request) We have lost three decades to this racketeering activity [2] while the attention and research dollars should have been used to find new approaches to fight this antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dljlsmjbvk2trur/lyme%20toon.JPG?dl=0

“We are seeing so many young people, previously completely healthy & vital with lives totally de-railed by (the disease that does not exist) chronic Lyme disease.  The medical profession is entirely ‘blind’ to this devastating, complex, multi-system illness that, in aggregate, can be totally disabling. (not to mention, of course, the compounding factors of co-infections making their illnesses even more complex). To me, like playing 3 simultaneous games of chess against 3 opposing ‘Chess-masters’”  -Kenneth Liegner, MD

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.

Lyme disease is a 21st Century plague hidden in plain sight as patient testimony all across America is describing a disease that is destroying lives, ending careers while leaving its victim in financial ruin. ….. Lyme disease is a public health emergency Secretary Azar!

Respectfully Submitted,

Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

Cc: New Hampshire Senate Health and Human Services Committee and the NH Medical Society.

References:

1 Stricker, R. B., & Middelveen, M. J. (2015). Sexual transmission of Lyme disease: Challenging the tickborne disease paradigm. Expert Review of Anti-Infective Therapy, 13(11): 1303–1306.

2 Racketeering antitrust lawsuit against the Infectious Diseases Society of America
https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/22161412

Circular reasoning: “Suppress all evidence and then proclaim there is no evidence”

_________________

**Comment**

A moratorium on ALL Lyme vaccines should be demanded until the issues of congenital, sexual, and other means of transmission are cleared up as well as the very real issue of persistent infection.

Funny how the CDC will admit things (congenital transmission) right before they want to promote a vaccine that will line their pockets.  Coincidence?  I think not.

The following news story is a great example.  They used sick patients to explain how devastating this is only to be supposedly “saved” by a new magic-bullet vaccine:

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Uncategorized

News Story on WKOW Tonight at 10 pm

https://wkow.com/2020/02/14/researchers-move-forward-with-shot-to-prevent-lyme-disease/ News video here 

News story on WKOW tonight at 10 pm.

(WKOW) — Lyme Disease cripples hundreds of people in Wisconsin each year and now researchers are working on a shot to prevent the problem.

The Badger State is a hot spot for the tick-borne disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average number of cases has more than doubled over the last decade. In 2018, Wisconsin saw 1,121 cases.

Now researchers are looking for a way to prevent the spread of Lyme disease with medicine.

“You give the shot right at the beginning of the season,” said Dr. Mark Klempner, a researcher from the University of Massachusettes Medical School. “Take the shot sometime in March or April and then we are anticipating that it would work for eight months.”

The shot will enter the human testing phase this spring.

Monday on 27 News at 10, we explore what this shot could mean for you and your family ahead of tick season.

Rebecca Ribley

Wake Up Wisconsin Anchor

___________________

**Comment**

You never know what pieces and parts reporters are going to use when reporting a story.  For the record, I am opposed to any and all Lyme vaccines until they clear up the issues concerning the last one that maimed hundreds of people and dogs.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/10/new-effort-for-lyme-disease-vaccine-draws-early-fire/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/26/lyme-vaccine-to-be-tested-on-humans/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/10/28/researchers-race-to-develop-lyme-disease-vaccine/

For a great read on Lymerix, the first vaccine that caused horrific debilitating side-effects:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/02/10/the-bitter-feud-over-lymerix/

Category:

Lyme Vaccine, Uncategorized

Image

Happy Valentine’s Day With An Honest Valentine :)

iu-44

Written

on February 14, 2020

Bartonella Bacteria Found in Cancer of the Blood Vessels in Dogs

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200116121833.htm

Bartonella bacteria found in hemangiosarcoma tumors from dogs

Date: January 16, 2020
Source: North Carolina State University
Summary:
Researchers have found a very high prevalence of Bartonella bacteria in tumors and tissues – but not blood samples – taken from dogs with hemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels.
FULL STORY

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found a very high prevalence of Bartonella bacteria in tumors and tissues — but not blood samples — taken from dogs with hemangiosarcoma, a cancer of the blood vessels. The work further supports the connection between persistent infection and some types of cancer and adds to the evidence that Bartonella can remain and thrive, undetected, within tissue.

Hemangiosarcoma (HSA) is an aggressive, deadly cancer that arises from cells lining the blood vessels. It is responsible for two-thirds of all heart or splenic tumors in dogs, and is most common in medium-sized and middle-aged dogs. Since HSA usually cannot be diagnosed without major abdominal surgery, most HSA remains undetected until it has reached an advanced stage, resulting in a one-year survival rate of only 12 to 20%.

“There are clear precedents for the involvement of bacterial infections in tumor development,” says Ed Breitschwerdt, Melanie S. Steele Distinguished Professor of Medicine at NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine and corresponding author of a paper describing the work. “Given the established links between chronic inflammation and cancer, we wanted to determine whether chronic infection of blood vessels due to bacteria could be a contributing cause of this cancer.”

Breitschwerdt and colleagues from NC State looked at tumor tissue, non-tumor tissue and blood samples from 110 dogs with HSA from across the U.S. They screened both the tissues and the blood for Bartonella, Babesia, and Mycoplasma, three bacteria associated specifically with blood infections.

Bartonella DNA was amplified and sequenced from 80 of the dogs with HSA: it was present in 34% of tumor tissue and 63% of non-tumor tissue, but appeared in none of the blood samples. Mycoplasma DNA was only amplified from 5 of the dogs and Babesia wasn’t detected in any dog.

“Research in recent years has confirmed that persistent infection with or inflammation caused by stealth pathogens is a risk factor for developing cancer later in life,” Breitschwerdt says. “With the exception of Helicobacter pylori, the emphasis on evaluating the relationship between infection and cancer has focused on viruses. But intracellular bacterial pathogens such as Bartonella may also play an important and previously uninvestigated role.

“Bartonella is a stealth pathogen — it can ‘hide’ in the cells that line blood vessel walls, which is part of what makes it so difficult to detect,” Breitschwerdt says. “This work adds more evidence to the connection between infection and cancer risk, and demonstrates that molecular testing of whole blood samples does not rule out the tissue presence of this pathogen. Future studies are needed to investigate whether Bartonella infection can be a cause of HSA. Our team will be focusing on creating more sensitive diagnostic testing as part of this effort.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by North Carolina State University. Original written by Tracey Peake. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. Erin Lashnits, Pradeep Neupane, Julie M. Bradley, Toni Richardson, Rachael Thomas, Keith E. Linder, Matthew Breen, Ricardo G. Maggi, Edward B. Breitschwerdt. Molecular prevalence of Bartonella, Babesia, and hemotropic Mycoplasma species in dogs with hemangiosarcoma from across the United States. PLOS ONE, 2020; 15 (1): e0227234 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227234

____________________

**Comment**

I posted this work before but am posting it again due to the expert comments of Dr. Breitschwerdt, the Bart guru:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/01/21/molecular-prevalence-of-bartonella-babesia-and-hemotropic-mycoplasma-species-in-dogs-with-hemangiosarcoma-from-across-the-united-states/

Dr. Breitschwerdt has a long history of Bartonella in his family:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/02/07/one-health-trio-dr-breitschwerdts-three-publications-about-vector-borne-pathogens-and-his-family/

Unfortunately, he’s not alone.  Entire Canadian family with Bart:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/02/bartonella-in-entire-canadian-family/

Dr. Dempsey on Bartonella being the ‘New Lyme’:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/07/fox-news-bartonella-is-the-new-lyme-disease/

More on Bartonella:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/category/bartonella-treatment/

 

Category:

Bartonella, Uncategorized

Lyme Action Fly-In Planned for Washington DC

https://www.lymedisease.org/touched-by-lyme-lyme-action-fly-in-planned-for-washington-dc/

17 JAN 2020

Lyme Lobby Day

TOUCHED BY LYME: “Lyme Action Fly-In” planned for Washington DC

By Dorothy Kupcha Leland

Getting the Kay Hagan TICK Act signed into law was an important step in the right direction for the Lyme community. But the job isn’t over yet.

You’ll recall that the TICK Act recommends $150 million for vector-borne diseases over a five-year period. However, federal funding happens on a year-by-year basis. Thus, Congress must decide every year how much money goes where.

So the immediate challenge, relative to funding, is to persuade our Congressional representatives to appropriate $30 million for tick-borne diseases in Fiscal Year 2021. (The coming fiscal year runs from Oct 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.)

And that’s not all we want from upcoming Congressional appropriations. We also want to triple the National Institutes of Health’s projected Lyme budget, from $31 million to $93 million.

And increase the Funding for the Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Tick-Borne Disease Research Program.

All of these items were included in the federal budget passed last month by Congress and signed by the President. The budget is a policy statement, essentially saying “We think we should spend this much money on these specific things.”

The appropriations process–the important next step–is where the rubber actually hits the road. It officially gives the money for the project in question. (Sometimes items are included in the budget, but never end up getting funded. Obviously, that’s not what we’re going for here.)

“Nothing is going to change unless we have more money for Lyme disease,” says Bonnie Crater, one of the founders of the Center for Lyme Action (CLA). It’s a new lobbying group set up specifically to help increase federal funding for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

Lyme Action Fly-in

To that end, the CLA has organized a “Lyme Advocacy Day,” also called the “Lyme Action Fly-in.” It’s scheduled for February 11-12, in Washington DC.

The idea is for members of the Lyme community from around the country to converge on Washington DC. We’ll meet with lawmakers and their staffs—and ask for the funding we need.

I’m in! How about you?

Tuesday, Feb. 11, will be an education and training day for the visiting advocates, as well as a reception with lawmakers. There will be speakers and a dinner. That day’s events run from 2 – 8 pm.

Wednesday, Feb. 12, will be the actual Lobby Day, where teams of advocates will call on legislative offices. (Appointments will be set up in advance.) Events will run from 7:30 am (breakfast) to 6 pm.

We’ll have information packets and talking points from the CLA. And we’ll also have the chance to tell the people we meet with why these Lyme appropriations mean so much to us.

The CLA requests a $65 fee for each advocate, to help defray food and beverage costs over the two-day event.

I know this Advocacy Day isn’t something that everybody can do, for all sorts of reasons. But if you can, I hope you’ll join us. Click here to find out more and to register for the event.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s Director of Communications. She is co-author of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Uncategorized