University of Kentucky Study to Explore Why Lyme Disease Symptoms Persist For Some

March 30, 2022

http://uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-study-explore-why-lyme-disease-symptoms-persist-some

UK Study to Explore Why Lyme Disease Symptoms Persist for Some

By Elizabeth Chapin March 4, 2022

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 4, 2022) — Although most cases of Lyme disease can be cured with a two-to-four-week course of antibiotics, some patients still experience lingering, debilitating effects of the disease months after they finish treatment.

Researchers in the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine are seeking to understand if the antibiotic regimen used to treat Lyme disease could also be contributing to Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), which includes ongoing symptoms of pain, fatigue or difficulty thinking.

Antibiotics can cause imbalances to the gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes essential to health and immune system function. Known as dysbiosis, these disruptions are linked to various autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, as well as cardiovascular disease and depression.

The study, supported by the Global Lyme Alliance and co-led by Ilhem Messaoudi, Ph.D., and Brian Stevenson, Ph.D., in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, will be the first to assess the role of dysbiosis in the development of PTLDS.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 476,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year.

The research will provide new insights into the interaction between B. burgdorferi infection, antibiotics, and the gut microbiome that may lead to more effective ways to treat Lyme disease, says Messaoudi.

“Lyme disease can be just an acute episode, but for some people, it becomes a prolonged disease with a lot of complications and scientists don’t fully understand where these complications come from,” Messaoudi said. “This study may provide targets that could lead to the development of new antibiotic treatment plans that address the microbiome as well as the immune system.”

Messaoudi and Stevenson will be collaborating with researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center to carry out an in-depth analysis of host responses. The research will also establish an ideal animal model for future studies on the cognitive and physical effects of PTLDS.

The University of Kentucky is increasingly the first choice for students, faculty and staff to pursue their passions and their professional goals. In the last two years, Forbes has named UK among the best employers for diversity, and INSIGHT into Diversity recognized us as a Diversity Champion four years running. UK is ranked among the top 30 campuses in the nation for LGBTQ* inclusion and safety. UK has been judged a “Great College to Work for” three years in a row, and UK is among only 22 universities in the country on Forbes’ list of “America’s Best Employers.”  We are ranked among the top 10 percent of public institutions for research expenditures — a tangible symbol of our breadth and depth as a university focused on discovery that changes lives and communities. And our patients know and appreciate the fact that UK HealthCare has been named the state’s top hospital for five straight years. Accolades and honors are great. But they are more important for what they represent: the idea that creating a community of belonging and commitment to excellence is how we honor our mission to be not simply the University of Kentucky, but the University for Kentucky.

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Activism, Gut Health, Lyme, research, Treatment

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Shocking New COVID Shot Side Effects

March 29, 2022

https://thehighwire.com/videos/shocking-new-covid-vaccine-side-effects/ Video Here (Approx. 13 Min)

Welcome to the next generation of “vaccine” harms being reported. From mouth blisters to debilitating nervous system disorders, scientists are continuing to report troubling side effects from COVID-19 vaccines.

POSTED: March 25, 2022

Hour long video of adverse events after COVID shots. People dropping and spasming uncontrollably.

Another 20 Minute compilation of athletes, reporters, musicians and others collapsing after shots.

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Activism, vaccines, Viruses

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Researcher Blows Whistle on Data Integrity Issues in Pfizer’s COVID Shot Trial

**UPDATE April, 2022**

As they say: “Follow the money”.

More and more is trickling out about Pfizer including whistleblowers stating the shot is a bioweapon, data was falsified, internal emails tried to cover up fetal cell usage, that it copies the mRNA spike protein into human DNA, has caused increased COVID in young kids, and the suspicious coincidence that the 2022 Oscars were sponsored by Pfizer, the company that just happens to have a new Alopecia drug coming out very soon, and the Rock/Smith distraction. Seems everything today is “brought to you by Pfizer.”

https://thevaccinereaction.org/2022/03/researcher-blows-whistle-on-data-integrity-issues-in-pfizers-covid-vaccine-trial/

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Researcher Blows Whistle on Data Integrity: Pfizer COVID shot

Brook Johnson was fired for exposing problems with the integrity of Pfizer’s trial data

For researchers who were testing Pfizer’s vaccine at several sites in Texas during that autumn, speed may have come at the cost of data integrity and patient safety. A regional director who was employed at the research organization Ventavia Research Group has told The BMJ that the company falsified data, unblinded patients, employed inadequately trained vaccinators, and was slow to follow up on adverse events reported in Pfizer’s pivotal phase III trial. Staff who conducted quality control checks were overwhelmed by the volume of problems they were finding. After repeatedly notifying Ventavia of these problems, the regional director, Brook Jackson , emailed a complaint to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Jackson has provided The BMJ with dozens of internal company documents, photos, audio recordings, and emails.

My name is Brook Johnson. I was fired in September of 2020 for being a whistleblower. I was working on Pfizer’s phase III […] trial on their COVID-19 vaccine. My first day on the job was the 8th of September, and from the very beginning I noticed irregularities, things that were questionable. I would bring up the concerns to my managers and it was always… ‘We’re understaffed, we’re really trying hard to make this work.’ At one point, when I was going through e-mails, there were e-mails from ICON begging Ventavia to follow up on severe adverse events that had been reported. There were several e-mails about mislabeled specimens—blood specimens—and nasal swabs.

Read the full investigation: Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n…

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Fulminant Lyme Myocarditis Without Any Other Signs of Lyme Disease in 37 Year Old With Microscopic Polyangiitis – Case Report

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35291336/

Fulminant Lyme myocarditis without any other signs of Lyme disease in a 37-year-old male patient with microscopic polyangiitis-a case report

Marco R Schroeter  1 , Karin Klingel  2 , Peter Korsten  3 , Gerd Hasenfuß  1

Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Lyme disease is a tick-borne multisystem infection. The most common cardiac manifestation is an acute presentation of Lyme carditis, which often manifests as conduction disorder and rarely as myocarditis.

Case summary: We report the case of a 37-year-old male with a history of microscopic polyangiitis (blood vessel inflammation or vasculitis) receiving immunosuppressive therapy. He was admitted for severe dyspnoea secondary to acute heart failure. Echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging indicated a severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) with global hypokinesia. Coronary heart disease was excluded, and endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) were performed. The left ventricular EMB revealed a rare case of fulminant Lyme carditis with evidence of typical lymphocytic myocarditis. Borrelia afzelii-DNA was detected without any relevant atrioventricular blockage or systemic signs of Lyme disease. The patient had no clinically apparent tick-borne infection or self-reported history of a tick bite. Immunological testing revealed a positive ELISA and Immunoblot for anti-Borrelia immunoglobulin G antibodies. After specific intravenous antibiotic therapy and optimized medical therapy for heart failure, the LVEF recovered, and the patient could be discharged in an improved condition. Repeat EMB a few months later revealed a dramatic regression of the cardiac inflammation and absence of Borrelia DNA in the myocardium.

Discussion: A severely reduced LVEF can be the primary manifestation of Lyme disease even without typical systemic findings and can have a favourable prognosis with antibiotic treatment. A thorough workup for Lyme carditis is required in patients with unexplained heart failure, particularly with EMB, especially in immunosuppressed patients.

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Borrelia Miyamotoi Found in 3-5% of New England Blood Samples = Tens of Thousands Possibly Infected

https://www.futurity.org/borrelia-miyamotoi-new-england-ticks-2716322-2/

Another tick bacteria turns up in New England blood samples

March 25th, 2022 Posted by

Human blood samples from across New England show evidence of Borrelia miyamotoi, a relative of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

The findings add important new details to understanding the bacteria species, Borrelia miyamotoi, which was only recently found to infect humans. The tiny species is transmitted by the same deer ticks that carry the Lyme disease pathogen, and can cause meningoencephalitis and relapsing fevers.

“We thought that Borrelia miyamotoi, because it was so recently discovered, would have been more locally confined,” says Peter Krause, senior research scientist at the Yale School of Public Health and senior author of the study. “To our surprise, it was found at all our testing sites throughout New England.”

Krause and Durland Fish, professor emeritus of epidemiology (microbial diseases), were part of a team of researchers who first discovered Borrelia miyamotoi’s ability to infect humans in 2011. Graduate student researcher Demerise Johnston is first author of the new study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

By testing more than 1,100 blood samples gathered from states across New England in 2018, the team of researchers discovered that almost 3% of the study subjects showed evidence of an immune response (antibody) to Borrelia miyamotoi, with some collection sites demonstrating as much as 5%. These samples were so geographically dispersed in New England that the researchers were unable to determine whether the origin of the infection was southeastern New England, as is the case for Lyme disease and babesiosis, another tick-borne infection.

The proportion of samples containing Borrelia miyamotoi antibody was low compared to that of Lyme disease pathogen, which reached more than 15% in some areas. But Krause says the level of Borrelia miyamotoi antibodies found in the samples indicates that physicians should keep an eye out for the bacteria in patients who present with Lyme disease-like symptoms.

“We’re talking about the possibility of tens of thousands of New England residents becoming infected with Borrelia miyamotoi based on what we found,” he says. “I think it’s important for people to realize that this disease is out there.”

For the study, the researchers also looked into the prevalence of another microorganism, Babesia microti, in their samples. That species is the primary cause of human babesiosis, and it can be spread through ticks just like the other two. Their analysis suggested that around 10% of the samples showed evidence of antibodies against this pathogen. These infections can be transmitted at the same time and coinfection is possible.

“Still, Lyme predominates, but the gap is not as great as is assumed,” Krause says. “There’s more Babesia infections than people realize. Physicians working in areas where babesiosis occurs should be aware of the disease and test for it when patients have consistent symptoms.”

Borrelia miyamotoi disease is much less frequent than those for the microbial species that cause Lyme disease and babesiosis. Krause says there are dependable treatment strategies that can cure individuals who have Borrelia miyamotoi infection. Those strategies involve essentially the same antibiotic treatments that treat Lyme disease. He and his colleagues say in the study that tracking the geographic spread of the species could help health care workers be on alert for potential transmission through ticks and possibly through blood transfusions, although additional studies are needed to confirm that this could happen.

Coauthors are from the Laboratory of Emerging Pathogens at the US Food and Drug Administration and L2 Diagnostics in New Haven, Connecticut.

Source: Matt Kristofferson for Yale University

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Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), Lyme, research, Treatment

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