Archive for the ‘Viruses’ Category

ME/CFS Summit – “Test for Lyme”

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/893766?nlid=121255_4503&src=wnl_dne_180313_mscpedit&uac=166940EN&impID=1580105&faf=1#vp_1

Much Can Be Done to Ease ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’ Symptoms

Miriam E. Tucker, March 12, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY, UT — The illness commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome is complex and currently incurable, but clinicians can still do a great deal to manage symptoms and improve patients’ quality of life, experts agree.

In a 2-day meeting held March 2 and 3, 2018, specialists in the condition, now termed myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), met to discuss their assessment and treatment approaches. The aim of the “summit,” organized by Lucinda Bateman, MD, and held at her Bateman-Horne Center facility here, was to initiate development of expert consensus ME/CFS guidance for primary care and specialist clinicians, and to identify research priorities to address major knowledge gaps.

“One of the messages I’d like to send to physicians is not to have an all-or-nothing approach to this illness, but to break it down into its parts, and see what you can get hold of with the history, objective markers, and clinical intuition. And then, it’s not unreasonable to try some things that are not harmful or expensive,” Bateman told Medscape Medical News.

The 13 panelists, who hail from primary care, infectious disease, immunology, neurology, endocrinology, pediatrics, and integrative medicine, discussed and prioritized elements of history-taking, physical exam findings, diagnostic tests, and treatment approaches for each of the illness’ major components. The core features include fatigue, impaired function, postexertional malaise, sleep dysregulation, neurocognitive impairment, and orthostatic intolerance; other commonly reported features are widespread pain, immune dysregulation, and infection.

Panel members focused on approaches they have found to be most helpful and that can be accomplished in primary care, as well as more advanced modalities that would be more feasible in specialty practices.

Assessing the Illness

The document the group produces will endorse the 2015 Institute of Medicine diagnostic criteria, which defineME/CFS as 6 months of unexplained fatigue with substantial functional impairment, postexertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, and either cognitive dysfunction or orthostatic intolerance. The symptoms must be moderate to severe and present at least 50% of the time. (Five summit participants, including Bateman, were on the writing committee for that report, and three others served as reviewers for it.)

Assessing functional capacity is key, Bateman said.

“It’s an illness that impairs people’s ability to function in their daily lives. Clinicians need to ask about function, and what happens when people exert themselves both physically and cognitively.”

One revealing question is, “What would you be doing now if you weren’t ill?” Typically, as opposed to depressed patients, those with ME/CFS will have a laundry list. “Our patients are trapped in bodies that don’t work,” Bateman said. “They’re desperate to do more.”

Laboratory tests such as complete blood count with differential, complete metabolic panel, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, antinuclear antibody, rheumatoid factor, lipid panel, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and celiac screen should all be performed to investigate symptoms, but are often unhelpful. (As reported previously by Medscape Medical News, evidence suggests that the inflammatory cytokines involved in ME/CFS are different from those that induce C-reactive protein.)

In contrast, assessments that often yield valuable information in patients with ME/CFS include evaluation for orthostatic intolerance and autonomic dysregulation (ideally via tilt-table, but also can be accomplished with the 10-minute “Lean” test), and laboratory tests for Lyme immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM;lymphocyte subsets; IgG subclasses; Epstein-Barr virus, including early antigen antibody; herpes viruses; urine or serum markers of mast cell activation syndrome; small intestinal bacterial overgrowth; and natural killer cell function (almost universally low in patients with ME/CFS).

Brain imaging with magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography may be indicated in patients who exhibit “brain fog,” headaches, or other neurocognitive symptoms.

“A lot of the testing we do is the differential diagnosis, and we’re looking for comorbid conditions, treatment targets, and subgroups, like people with [small intestinal bacterial overgrowth] or mast cell activation. In the clinical setting, we don’t have to make sense of it all. We just have to identify it, and see if the patient responds to treatment,” Bateman said.
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Category:

Activism, Gut Health, Inflammation, Lyme, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), Pain Management, Testing, Viruses

Congress Receives Vaccine Safety Project Details Since the CDC & FDA Ignore Their Own Data and Proclaim Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism

https://worldmercuryproject.org/news/congress-gets-vaccine-safety-project-details-including-actions-needed-for-sound-science-and-transparency/

Congress Receives Vaccine Safety Project Details Including Actions Needed for Sound Science and Transparency

 

 Approx. 9 Min.

Vaccine Safety Project Trailer

Since the FDA considers vaccines to be “biologics” not drugs, they have the capacity to fast track them without mandating rigorous studies as drugs must go through.

This short informative video shows exactly how vaccines are not rigorously studied with any sort of sincere science.

According to HHS’s own calculations, if they were able to capture ALL adverse events, they state that nearly 6 MILLION Americans would be adversely affected every year by vaccines if all of them were reported to the current Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).

The committee overseeing vaccine safety should be absolutely free of any conflicts of interest, particularly the pharmaceutical industry, yet the opposite is true.

A new investigation in 2009 found that:

  • CDC has a systemic lack of oversight of the ethics program.
  • 97% of committee members’ conflict disclosures had omissions.
  • 58% had at least one unidentified potential conflict of interest.
  • CDC & FDA scientists receive royalties of $150K per year on vaccines they develop.

Looking at the IOM 700 page report on DTap, the conclusion reads,

“The evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between diphtheria toxoid-, tetanus toxoid-, or acellular pertussis-containing vaccine and autism.”

What this means is they claim they couldn’t find any study on the relationship between Dtap and autism.  But, in fact they acknowledge in the first paragraph that there is one study that does show a causal relationship between Dtap and autism, but they reject it because it provides data from passive surveillance (VAERS) that lacked a comparison of an unvaccinated population.

So while the CDC website cites the 2011 Institute of Medicine study that “vaccines do not cause autism,” they seem to be counting on people not reading the 700+ page report. Anyone who does can find that the researchers behind this study ignored existing research showing a correlation between vaccines and autism.

Rather than doing their due diligence (scientific studies) they just proclaim vaccines do not cause autism.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/01/vaccines-could-contribute-to-disease-epidemics-due-to-retrovirus-contamination/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/04/ingredients-in-kinrix-a-dtap-ipv-vaccine/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/04/pharma-using-scare-tactics-over-pertussis-vaccine-failure/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/09/21/aluminum-flawed-assumptions-fueling-autoimmune-disease-and-lyme/

Vaccines have been found to activate latent Lyme/MSIDS infections: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/02/scottish-doctor-gives-insight-on-lyme-msids/ (Please read comment section after article for more links)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/24/gardasil-and-bartonella/ Asymptomatic girls after receiving Gardasil activated dormant Bartonella which was confirmed by testing.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/28/the-secret-x-files-the-untold-history-of-the-lymerix-vaccine/

 

Category:

Activism, Bartonella, Lyme, vaccines, Viruses

PCR of Skin Infections With Eschar on Travelers – Rickettsia Most Detected

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29501703/

Seek and Find! PCR analyses of skin infections in West-European travelers returning from abroad with an eschar.

 Travel Med Infect Dis. 2018.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Skin infections are among the leading causes of diseases in travelers. Diagnosing pathogens could be difficult.

METHOD: We applied molecular assays for the diagnostic of a large collection of skin biopsies and swabs from travelers with suspected skin infections. All samples were tested by qPCR for Coxiella burnetti, Bartonella sp., Rickettsia sp., Borrelia sp., Ehrlichia sp., Tropheryma whipplei, Francisella tularensis, Mycobacteria sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Leishmania spp., Ortho poxvirus and Para poxvirus and then screened for the presence of bacteria by PCR amplification and sequencing, targeting the 16S rRNA gene.

RESULTS: From January 2009 to January 2017, 100 international travelers presenting with a suspected skin infection were enrolled. We detected 51 patients with an identified pathogen on skin samples. Travelers presenting with eschars were more likely to have a positive PCR sample (n = 44/76, 57.9%) compared to other patients (n = 7/24, 29.2%). Spotted fever group Rickettsia (n = 28) was the most frequently detected pathogens (19 R. africae, 6 R. conorii, 3 R. mongolitimonae); S. aureus were detected in 11 patients; S. pyogenes in 3; Leishmania sp.; M. leprae and B. henselae in 1 patient, respectively.

CONCLUSION: By targeting the most commonly encountered causative agents of travel-related skin infections, our strategy provides a sensitive and rapid diagnostic method.

 

 

Category:

Bartonella, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, Rickettsia, Tularemia, Viruses

Wed Nite @ The Lab – Talk on Mosquitoes, Ticks, & Disease


Approx. 1:24:00

Wednesday Nite @ The Lab
Published on Jan 16, 2018

“Susan Paskewitz’s talk will focus on the activities of the newly created Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease. The center was established in 2017 as a response to the increasing rate of human illness caused by tick and mosquito-transmitted diseases in the region, including Lyme disease and West Nile encephalitis. In addition to these familiar problems, new ticks, mosquitoes, and pathogens have been discovered. Solving these issues will require a new generation of trained vector biologists, cooperation and collaboration among public-health professionals and scientists, and creative and innovative research to reduce human and insect contact.”

About the Speaker

Paskewitz is the director of the Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Disease and the chair of the Department of Entomology at UW–Madison. Her research focuses on the ecology, epidemiology, and management of ticks and mosquitoes. She teaches classes in global health, medical and veterinary entomology, and the One Health concept, during which she enjoys working with undergraduate and graduate students who seek to gain experience in public health, infectious disease, and vector-biology research. Paskewitz earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southern Illinois University–Carbondale and her doctorate at the University of Georgia–Athens.

___________________

Highlights:

4:45 Believe it or not, Wisconsin used to have cases of Malaria.

Zika, discovered in 1947, wasn’t even in our hemisphere. Very few people infected until 2007 when there were 13-14 cases. 2015 it showed up in Brazil. First time a mosquito spread disease that is also sexually transmitted. A medical entomologist felt he gave it to his wife and then wrote a paper on it.

(I guess we need a medical entomologist to infect his/her wife with Lyme/MSIDS so that a paper can be written to prove sexual transmission…..) Please see:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/26/transplacental-transmission-fetal-damage-with-lyme-disease/ and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/24/pcos-lyme-my-story/

UW did a lot of work on Zika. Cases in the U.S. occurred when people traveled abroad, became infected, were bit by mosquitoes here, and then spread from there. Only 63 infected people in 2016, 9 more in 2017.

Do we have the mosquitoes that can pick up the virus and transmit it? The Yellow Fever mosquito is the one transmitting Zika. The mosquito is here in U.S. but NOT in WI.  The Asian Tiger mosquito is a secondary vector that transmits the same viruses but not as well. Has a wider distribution and is a daytime feeder.

She looked in all the records – couldn’t find the Asian Tiger in Wisconsin.  It is found in Illinois and Indiana.  However, since that time they have laid many traps and found the Asian Tiger Mosquito here but she doesn’t feel they are abundant or wide spread.  She also feels they won’t survive our winters but experiments are in progress.  Females bite, lay eggs in wet aquatic spots, as larvae need water to grow.

(The same sort of diligence needs to happen in the world of Lyme.  For instance, borrelia has been found in other insects, but entomologists downplay it and say numbers are small.  This is a great example of how Lyme is treated differently then other diseases that are big money-makers for researchers.)

25:32 The Lone star tick has popped up in a number of places in WI – she doesn’t feel they will survive our winters.

Spent a lot of time talking about mosquito issues happening down South.

She admits the Center was created due to Zika.  

(Don’t be shocked when all the research dollars go to Zika & not tick borne illness despite the much higher prevalence of TBI’s in WI)

Wisconsin has cases of West Nile, La Crosse Virus, and Jamestown Canyon Virus – which has increased human cases – they don’t know why.

They are working on a bacterial based topical repellent.  Also working on using fish and copepods to eat mosquitos at the larval stage.

38:00 TICKS

Ticks transmit Lyme Disease – a lot and it’s not just in the North. Could pick it up anywhere in Wisconsin.

Please see:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/06/remembering-dr-masters-the-rebel-for-lyme-patients-who-took-on-the-cdc-single-handedly/

Map showing Deer tick population between 1907-1996 and 1907-2015 –

Our entire state is infested.  

Sky rocket of LD in WI CONFIRMED.  She admits the CDC says the cases are hugely underestimated – more like 30,000 cases per year in WI.

WI is a hotspot for newly emerging TBI – Anaplasma, Ehrlichia muris, borrelia miyamotoi (relapsing fever), Babesia divergens (in Michigan but Paskowitz feels it’s probably here too).

Anaplasma seeing 400-600 cases a year in WI.  Again, much underreporting.

44:00 talks about tick distribution maps.

Please see:  http://steveclarknd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/The-Confounding-Debate-Over-Lyme-Disease-in-the-South-DiscoverMagazine.com_.pdf (go to page 6 and read about Speilman’s maps which are faulty but have ruled like the Iron Curtain, and have been used to keep folks from being diagnosed and treated)

They are working on a way for public to take pictures of ticks, send it to the lab and get answers.

Trying to reduce the risk….they think it’s the nymphs that do most of the transmission because they are tiny and we don’t feel them.

Larvae and nymphs love little rodents
Adults love adults, dogs, and deer

50:00 what we can do to stop LD

52:30 One experiment removed buckthorn – looked like a significant impact after first year but nothing after that.

53:20 tick tubes for mice – found a decrease in host-seeking nymphs with this seen it three years running.

Trying to come up with a do it yourself toolkit to implement methods for tick control.

55:55 Working on the tick app – to pool info to show where we are picking up the ticks so education can be more targeted.

ends @ 58:30 then questions

Funding by:  CDC, NIH, USDA, WI Dept HEalth services, WI Dep Natural resources

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Lyme, mosquitoes, research, Ticks, Viruses, Zika

Hantavirus & Tularemia Warnings Issued in San Diego County

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/hantavirus-tularemia-warnings-issued-san-diego-county-78987/

Hantavirus, tularemia warnings issued in San Diego County

by NEWS DESK
March 1, 2018

In a follow-up on two infectious disease issues in San Diego County, mice with hantavirus and tularemia positive ticks, San Diego County Vector Control has issued some updated information and warnings for the public.

Image/Thadius856
Image/Thadius856

Vector Control officials said five Western harvest mice caught in routine trapping in open fields in 4S Ranch and in the rural Black Mountain area have tested positive for hantavirus, bringing this year’s total number of rodents to test positive to 17. That is the highest number of rodents to test positive in San Diego County since 2012, when 35 mice and one meadow vole tested positive over the course of the year.

Vector Control officials said the high number was not a cause for alarm. Hantavirus is common in San Diego County, but it is mainly carried by wild mice that do not live around humans so people are rarely exposed to the virus. In addition, the 17 rodents that tested positive represent 4.8 percent of the 351 wild rodents that Vector Control has trapped  and tested this year, a figure within normally-expected ranges.

Still, officials said people should remember to protect themselves from potentially being exposed to hantavirus. The virus can cause deadly infections in people and there is no vaccine or cure for it.

Hantavirus:  An interview with Dr. Paul Ettestad (Approx. 10:30 Min)

In addition, County Vector Control officials said Friday that several more batches of ticks trapped along Lopez Canyon Trail in Sorrento Valley have tested positive for tularemia, a potentially dangerous bacterial disease also known as “rabbit fever.”

County officials are reminding people again to protect themselves and their pets from ticks — which can transmit tularemia and other diseases when they bite people — whenever they are hiking, bicycling or walking in grassy backcountry areas, on trails or in the wild.

Vector Control officials said last week that several batches of ticks trapped in routine monitoring in the area of Lopez Canyon Trail had tested positive for the disease. Because they are small, ticks are “batched” together into larger groups to conduct testing.

County officials said they posted signs warning people to protect themselves from ticks last week and have posted additional signs in the wake of the new find.

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**Comment**
While Tularemia is spread by ticks, Hanta virus so far is not:
http://health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/disease/hanta.aspx; however, it is interesting that this virus loves mice and well…..ticks love mice.  Time will tell.
https://securitystudiesonline.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/potential-uses-of-the-hantavirus-as-a-biological-weapon/   As it turns out, the hantavirus is not a new disease and is far more widespread than previously suspected in the United States. For example, tissues analysis has revealed that the earliest proven case of hantavirus occurred in Utah in 1959, and has been found in 32 states….From 1993 to 2004, there were 362 cases of HPS diagnosed[1] with 132 fatalities in the US alone.[2] However, HPS is also found throughout Latin America. Panama, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina have had reported cases of HPS.[3] From 1993 to 2004, there have been 1548 cases and 252 deaths throughout Latin America.[4] The hantavirus is newly discovered by modern science, but people have lived with it for years previous…..However, because USAMRIID was involved and conducted the research at Fort Detrick, HTN was grandfathered into the ongoing US bioweapons program. Despite its ability to effect military operations as demonstrated in the field, military studies of hantavirus do not appear to have gone past the research stage.[6]…the hantavirus will enter a host cell and replace itself with a negative strand of messenger RNA (mRNA), so when the mRNA brings the genetic information for reproduction, the virus is reproduced instead of the original host cell’s molecule. As the cell reproduces more hantavirus, the hantavirus kills the host cell and infects others. As this spreads throughout the body, the internal structures fail and can lead to death….It is a virus that does not skip any demographic, is found naturally, and has a 50% mortality rate. These factors frighten some who worry about its use as a bioweapon.
Hantavirus has not been known to be weaponized or used for bioterrorism, but it is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a Category C Agent.2 Its presumed ease of production and dissemination, as well as its high potential for severe morbidity and mortality, raise concern for the possibility that this emerging pathogen could be engineered for future mass exposures.2
Although no cases of human-to-human transmission have been identified in the United States, investigation of an epidemic in Argentina in 1995 provided strong evidence for person-to-person transmission; strict barrier nursing techniques are now recommended for the management of suspected cases.
Prevention – stay away from mice and their droppings.  Since people often catch the virus by breathing it into their lungs, don’t use anything that allows particles from mouse droppings to get into the air (like sweeping with a broom).  Soak droppings down with a good disinfectant for 20 min and then wipe up with a mop.  In Spring, open doors and windows to sheds and allow them to air out well before entering.
Let’s pray ticks and other insects can not transmit Hantavirus and that it’s not been tweaked for biowarfare purposes.
Tularemia:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/25/of-rabbits-and-men/  Tularemia, in aerosol form, is considered a possible bioterrorist agent that if inhaled would cause severe respiratory illness. It was studied in Japan through 1945, the USA through the 60’s, and Russia is believed to have strains resistant to antibiotics and vaccines. An aerosol release in a high population would result in febrile illness in 3-5 days followed by pleuropneumonitis and systemic infection with illness persisting for weeks with relapses. The WHO estimates that an aerosol dispersal of 50 kg of F. tularensis over an area with 5 million people would result in 25,000 incapacitating casualties including 19,000 deaths.
https://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/disease_emergence/Chapter6.pdf  Scroll to page 237 for Table 6.1 which shows Tularemia was used in Europe during WWII.  Debate remains whether massive outbreaks of Tularemia on the Eastern Front was a biowarfare application against German troops or occurred naturally.  Then on page 246 Table 6.3 shows confirmed applications of Tularemia during wartime, by terrorists, and/or as criminal activity.23,33,37,179, as well as it’s an agent produced for weapons use by nations with biowarfare programs.14,22,23,33,52.  It is a category A agent, which is of highest priority and a critical biological agent for public health response activities.
Hantavirus is not listed on page 250 Table 6.5 as a biowarfare agent, but mosquito transmitted Yellow Fever Virus is.

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Ticks, Transmission, Tularemia, Viruses