https://www.wpr.org/health-departments-overwhelmed-tick-and-mosquito-surveillance-scaled-back

A woman examines a long piece of white canvas with strands at the end

Susan Paskewitz examines a canvas tick drag, a tool that’s used to capture ticks, on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum. Angela Major/WPR

With Health Departments Overwhelmed, Tick And Mosquito Surveillance Is Scaled Back

Tracking Disease-Carrying Pests Is One Of Many Routine Duties Departments Have Had To Juggle In Midst Of Pandemic
By Shamane Mills
Published: Friday, August 21, 2020, 5:00am

In 2018, over 3,000 people in the state contracted Lyme disease from blacklegged ticks found on deer. Susan Paskewitz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of entomology, said that number just represents known and suspected cases, and is only the tip of the iceberg.

But this summer, the attention of health departments across Wisconsin is focused squarely on the coronavirus pandemic — taking scarce public health dollars and time away from other, more routine health threats. That includes tick and mosquito surveillance.

“Folks are more hesitant potentially to go in and see their providers to get checked out if they have headaches or fever. Things like muscle, joint aches and fatigue. They may be more willing to dismiss those symptoms instead of going and getting checked out and get tested,” said Ryan Wozniak, who supervises vector-borne diseases within Bureau of Communicable Diseases at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Wisconsin continues to track how many people get sick from tick and mosquito infections. But if people ignore symptoms, reported cases could be lower than they actually are during a time more people are going outdoors in hopes of bolstering both mental and physical health. 

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**Comment**
This is a real problem.

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=&eventid=2558827&sessionid=1&key=BD6279F7018D8D42845D0EE73E7101F2&regTag=&sourcepage=register  Register Here

lyme_peds_webinar_banner

Title: Pediatric Lyme Disease, When You Least Expect It!

Date: Thursday, August 27, 2020

Time: 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Duration: 1 hour

Join Quidel and Dr. Robert A. Dracker, MD, MHA, MBA, CPI, Medical Director at Summerwood Pediatrics and Infusacare Medical Services, for an informative and engaging discussion of Lyme and how it affects the pediatric patient population, especially during summer time.

Dr. Dracker served on the NYS Governor’s Council for Blood and Transfusion Services for 17 years, and was the Chairperson and member of the Hematopoietic Progenitor Cell Committee for the New York State Department of Health. He has been Chairman of the Heart, Lung and Cancer Committee for the  Medical Society of New York State from 2015 to the present date. He also serves as a board member of the Office of Professional Conduct for the New York State Department of Health. Dr. Dracker has also served as a member of the Pediatric Advisory Committee of the FDA since 2014 and was the Chairman of the committee from 2018 until June 2019.

_________________

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/11/gestational-lyme-other-tick-borne-diseases-dr-jones/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/18/symptom-resolution-in-pediatric-patients-with-lyme-disease/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/08/12/bartonella-american-academy-of-pediatrics/

 

   Approx. 1 Hour 15 Min

5G Space Wars

August 17, 2020

Ben Levi, Joe Sandri, Arthur Firstenberg and Julian Gresser discuss the growing problem of 5G satellites in space and what can be done. Presented by Americans for Responsible Technology. For more information, please visit 5GCrisis.com.

Arthur Firstenberg’s latest newsletter:

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THE CURRENT SITUATION IN SPACE

SpaceX

The launch of 57 more satellites by SpaceX in the early morning of Friday, August 7, at 1:12 AM EDT, has brought the number of SpaceX’s “Starlink” satellites orbiting in the Earth’s ionosphere up to 595.

Although this was the first launch since June 13, SpaceX has not been idle during this time. It has built additional ground stations and has received permission from the Federal Communications Commission to operate (so far) 40 ground stations, scattered throughout the United States. It has signed up customers to begin “beta testing” of the satellites that are already in orbit. Beta testing will occur initially, says SpaceX, with customers who live between 44 and 52 degrees latitude in the northern U.S. and southern Canada. SpaceX plans to begin the testing sometime in September.

As I reported in a previous newsletter, SpaceX’s launch of April 22, which brought the number of its satellites up to 420, was accompanied by reports of heart palpitations from far and wide, including from yours truly. I again felt strong heart palpitations that began early in the morning on August 7. Actually I began to experience a feeling of oppression Thursday night about two hours before the launch time. Please contact me if you have been having heart palpitations since Friday’s launch.

OneWeb

OneWeb, which is based in the UK, and which had declared bankruptcy in March, has been bailed out to the tune of one billion dollars by the UK government and Indian telecommunications company Bharti Global. And on May 26, 2020, OneWeb applied to the FCC for permission to compete on an equal footing with SpaceX by launching 47,844 satellites into the ionosphere.

Although OneWeb’s offices are in the UK, none of its Directors live there. Its CEO, Adrián Steckel, is Mexican, and the rest of its Directors live in the U.S., Germany, Israel and Mexico. Its major stockholders are Qualcomm (Singapore), SoftBank Group (Japan), and 1110 Ventures (U.S.).

Amazon

On July 29, 2020, the FCC granted Amazon’s application to launch 3,236 satellites into the ionosphere. Like the satellites of SpaceX and OneWeb, Amazon’s satellites will operate at millimeter wave frequencies and use phased array technology to cover the Earth with focused beams of radiation enabling customers to access the Internet from anywhere on Earth, on land or ocean.

The satellites of SpaceX, OneWeb and Amazon alone, if they are all launched, will total, together, about 92,000 satellites. If you add in Iridium and Globalstar, which are already operating small constellations, and the plans of Facebook, Link, Canadian companies Kepler and Telesat, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, Russia’s Roscosmos, and other competitors, there could soon be 100,000 satellites orbiting in the ionosphere.

“But will you wake for pity’s sake”*

The out-of-control satellite industry is one of the stupidest things humankind has ever created. It treats the life-giving envelope of our atmosphere as if we don’t depend on it. It poses an immediate threat to life on Earth, in so many ways.

The 100,000 planned 5G satellites, each with a designed lifespan of 5 to 10 years, must be constantly de-orbited and replaced. This means that at least 10,000 satellites will have to be launched every year, forever into the future. If an average of 50 satellites can be launched on each rocket, that’s 200 rocket launches per year, just to maintain the satellites used for cell phones and Internet. And it means the de-orbiting of 10,000 worn out satellites per year, burning them up in the atmosphere and turning them into toxic dust and smoke. And that’s not counting the ever-increasing numbers of weather, research, tracking, monitoring, surveillance, military, and other kinds of satellites and missiles being launched in what will soon be a parade of rockets burning prodigious quantities of fossil fuels, punching holes in our atmosphere on a daily basis, and treating the source of all life as Earth’s largest garbage pit.

Martin Ross of the Aerospace Corporation and other researchers have been modeling the effects of daily rocket launches on ozone and global temperatures. Rocket exhaust, depending on the type of fuel used, may contain chlorine and/or oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen, and/or aluminum, all of which destroy ozone. SpaceX’s kerosene-fueled rockets deposit enormous amounts of black soot into the stratosphere, where it accumulates, absorbing solar radiation and warming the stratosphere. The warming of the stratosphere accelerates the chemical reactions that destroy ozone.

Most rockets are launched from the northern hemisphere. And the winter and spring of 2020 saw the largest and longest-lasting Arctic ozone hole in history. Ozone-watchers did not know what caused it, but they were not communicating with the scientists who are studying rocket exhaust. Our world is full of specialists, deaf and blind to other specialties, collectively asleep and marching toward oblivion.

Atmospheric physicists do not study astronomy. Astronomers do not study electricity. Electricians do not study biology. Medical doctors do not study acupuncture. Doctors of oriental medicine do not study atmospheric physics. But the universe is not fragmented, it is a whole, and our culture has forgotten what that is, to its peril and to the peril of everything alive.

The ionosphere is a source of high voltage that controls the electric circuitry of the biosphere and everything in it, including the fine-tuned circuitry of every human, every animal, every tree, and every fish. If we do not immediately stop the destruction of our fragile blanket of electrified air, upon which we depend for growth, healing, and life itself, climate change and ozone destruction may not matter. Beta testing begins in September.

NATIONAL MEETING ABOUT SATELLITES, AUGUST 13

On Thursday, August 13, 2020, from 7 to 9 PM EDT (2300 to 0100 UTC), Americans for Responsible Technology will host a meeting about the 5G satellites on Zoom that will be simulcast on Facebook. In the first hour, four presenters will speak for 15 minutes each:

Ben Levi, technology consultant, will summarize the current satellite situation. Where are we now, and what is forecast over the next few years?

Joe Sandri has a law degree and has training and experience in radiofrequency engineering. He will describe how the satellites work. How will a typical 5G transmission use the satellites? What kinds of earth stations will be required?

Arthur Firstenberg will talk about the impact of the satellites on people and the environment. How will the electrical environment of the earth be altered by constant transmission of 5G signals?

Julian Gresser, attorney, will address what is being done legally to stop this. What right does the FCC or any other agency have to authorize the use of space for private commercial interests? What are the legal and ethical principles involved?

The second hour of the meeting will consist of a discussion among the presenters, followed by questions from the online audience, which will include members of the press.

Attend by Zoom (limited space). Participants must register in advance: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkdeqoqjIiGNx6dqXjti7HrZHqle3LNwrH

Watch on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1176845649355076 

CORONAVIRUS’S HIDDEN THREAT

When SpaceX begins its beta testing in the northern United States and southern Canada later this summer, the single biggest obstacle to recognizing its effects on humans will be COVID-19. Because no matter how many people sicken or die in that part of the world, it will be blamed on the coronavirus.

As I pointed out in a previous newsletter, the pandemic began with 5G. 5G came to Wuhan shortly before the outbreak of COVID-19 there. 5G came to New York City streetlamps shortly before the outbreak of COVID-19 there. COVID-19 deprives the blood of oxygen, while radio waves deprive the cells of oxygen. COVID-19, alone, is just a respiratory virus like the common cold. But together with 5G, it is deadly. To deal with COVID-19 effectively, society must first recognize the harm done to the body by radio waves. 5G is radio waves on steroids.

This worker’s death was not caused by hot weather, as was reported by the media

Instead of acknowledging the harm from radio waves, society is tearing its fabric apart by instituting measures that are protecting no one and are instead sickening and killing people. I will mention just one of those measures here: facial masks.

As a person who went to medical school, I was shocked when I read Neil Orr’s study, published in 1981 in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.Dr. Orr was a surgeon in the Severalls Surgical Unit in Colchester. And for six months, from March through August 1980, the surgeons and staff in that unit decided to see what would happen if they did not wear masks during surgeries. They wore no masks for six months, and compared the rate of surgical wound infections from March through August 1980 with the rate of wound infections from March through August of the previous four years. And they discovered, to their amazement, that when nobody wore masks during surgeries, the rate of wound infections was less than half what it was when everyone wore masks. Their conclusion:

“It would appear that minimum contamination can best be achieved by not wearing a mask at all” and that wearing a mask during surgery “is a standard procedure that could be abandoned.”

I was so amazed that I scoured the medical literature, sure that this was a fluke and that newer studies must show the utility of masks in preventing the spread of disease. But to my surprise the medical literature for the past forty-five years has been consistent: masks are useless in preventing the spread of disease and, if anything, are unsanitary objects that themselves spread bacteria and viruses.

  • Ritter et al., in 1975, found that “the wearing of a surgical face mask had no effect upon the overall operating room environmental contamination.”
  • Ha’eri and Wiley, in 1980, applied human albumin microspheres to the interior of surgical masks in 20 operations. At the end of each operation, wound washings were examined under the microscope. “Particle contamination of the wound was demonstrated in all experiments.”
  • Laslett and Sabin, in 1989, found that caps and masks were not necessary during cardiac catheterization. “No infections were found in any patient, regardless of whether a cap or mask was used,” they wrote. Sjøl and Kelbaek came to the same conclusion in 2002.
  • In Tunevall’s 1991 study, a general surgical team wore no masks in half of their surgeries for two years. After 1,537 operations performed with masks, the wound infection rate was 4.7%, while after 1,551 operations performed without masks, the wound infection rate was only 3.5%.
  • A review by Skinner and Sutton in 2001 concluded that “The evidence for discontinuing the use of surgical face masks would appear to be stronger than the evidence available to support their continued use.”
  • Lahme et al., in 2001, wrote that “surgical face masks worn by patients during regional anaesthesia, did not reduce the concentration of airborne bacteria over the operation field in our study. Thus they are dispensable.”
  • Figueiredo et al., in 2001, reported that in five years of doing peritoneal dialysis without masks, rates of peritonitis in their unit were no different than rates in hospitals where masks were worn.
  • Bahli did a systematic literature review in 2009 and found that “no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infection was observed between masks groups and groups operated with no masks.”
  • Surgeons at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, recognizing the lack of evidence supporting the use of masks, ceased requiring them in 2010 for anesthesiologists and other non-scrubbed personnel in the operating room. “Our decision to no longer require routine surgical masks for personnel not scrubbed for surgery is a departure from common practice. But the evidence to support this practice does not exist,” wrote Dr. Eva Sellden.
  • Webster et al., in 2010, reported on obstetric, gynecological, general, orthopaedic, breast and urological surgeries performed on 827 patients. All non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries, and none of the non-scrubbed staff wore masks in half the surgeries. Surgical site infections occurred in 11.5% of the Mask group, and in only 9.0% of the No Mask group.
  • Lipp and Edwards reviewed the surgical literature in 2014 and found “no statistically significant difference in infection rates between the masked and unmasked group in any of the trials.” Vincent and Edwardsupdated this review in 2016 and the conclusion was the same.
  • Carøe, in a 2014 review based on four studies and 6,006 patients, wrote that “none of the four studies found a difference in the number of post-operative infections whether you used a surgical mask or not.”
  • Salassa and Swiontkowski, in 2014, investigated the necessity of scrubs, masks and head coverings in the operating room and concluded that “there is no evidence that these measures reduce the prevalence of surgical site infection.”
  • Da Zhou et al., reviewing the literature in 2015, concluded that “there is a lack of substantial evidence to support claims that facemasks protect either patient or surgeon from infectious contamination.”

Schools in China are now prohibiting students from wearing masks while exercising. Why? Because it was killing them. It was depriving them of oxygen and it was killing them. At least three children died during Physical Education classes — two of them while running on their school’s track while wearing a mask. And a 26-year-old man suffered a collapsed lung after running two and a half miles while wearing a mask.

Mandating masks has not kept death rates down anywhere. The 20 U.S. states that have never ordered people to wear face masks indoors and out have dramatically lower COVID-19 death rates than the 30 states that have mandated masks. Most of the no-mask states have COVID-19 death rates below 20 per 100,000 population, and none have a death rate higher than 55. All 13 states that have death rates higher 55 are states that have required the wearing of masks in all public places. It has not protected them.

“We are living in an atmosphere of permanent illness, of meaningless separation,” writes Benjamin Cherry in the Summer 2020 issue of New View magazine. A separation that is destroying lives, souls, and nature.
_____________
* from Christopher Fry, A Sleep of Prisoners, 1951.

Arthur Firstenberg

August 11, 2020

For more on 5G, just type 5G into the search bar on the website.

 

 

 

https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/boothbay-harbor-man-recovering-near-fatal-lyme-disease-infection/

Boothbay Harbor man recovering from near fatal Lyme disease infection

Andrew Hawke contracted rare tick-borne illness
Mon, 08/10/2020 – 3:30pm

July 15 began as a difficult day for Andrew Hawke, a 23-year-old Boothbay Harbor lobsterman. He woke up around 6:30 a.m. and complained about being “extremely tired.” He sat beside his bed and shortly afterwards went unconscious and collapsed. His girlfriend called 9-1-1 and, after a brief observation, paramedics determined something “funky” was going on in his heart. Paramedics transported him to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick so he’d be close to Maine Medical Center in Portland, according to Hawke’s mother, Stephanie Hawke.

At the hospital, doctors believed the mysterious illness should be attributed to Lyme disease, a tick-borne illness. According to the Center for Disease Control, Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S. and is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and, rarely, Borrelia  mayoni. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart and nervous system.  (See link for article)

____________________

**Comment**

Important quote:  

Stephanie Hawke remembers hearing about a 17-year-old Massachusetts male who died of Lyme carditis recently while mowing his lawn.

Dr. Neil Spector wrote about his heart issues with Lyme in his book “Gone in a Heartbeat”:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/25/tick-talk-a-conversation-about-lyme-dr-neil-spector/

Unfortunately Spector passed recently:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/06/16/lyme-community-has-lost-a-hero-friend-dr-neil-spector/

I find it interesting that our ‘authorities’ are trigger happy with numbers and are often wrong.  Since the beginning of time they’ve been wrong about Lyme/MSIDS and they continue to downplay it with words like “rare” when nobody’s counting and testing misses over half of all cases.  So many patients go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.  I assure you that many die of heart conditions caused by tick-borne illness that are falling through the cracks.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/07/20/cavalier-attitude-towards-lyme-infection-is-misplaced/  Here a doctor, after his son collapsed into unconsciousness with a heart rate of 35/minute, admits that a “cavalier attitude towards Lyme infection is misplaced.”

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/05/24/lyme-carditis-symptoms-may-go-undiagnosed-in-mexico/

Here a study identifies 189 children with Lyme carditis:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/12/09/study-identifies-189-children-with-lyme-carditis/

Lyme; however, isn’t the only tick-borne illness that can infect the heart:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/03/heart-problems-tick-borne-disease/

Lyme advocate, Phyllis Mervine, makes a case that autopsies should be performed on those with unexpected, sudden death:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/09/with-unexpected-death-autopsies-should-look-for-lyme-carditis/

Excerpt: 

In his talk, a young doctor from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) described three cases where young people had died suddenly and had donated tissues to a tissue bank for possible transplantation. Testing at the tissue bank showed inflammation in tissue from their hearts, suggestive of Lyme carditis. Further tests were positive for infection with the spirochetes that cause Lyme disease.

“Authorities’ continue to downplay the seriousness of Lyme/MSIDS by repeatedly telling us it’s rare.

https://danielcameronmd.com/atypical-symptoms-of-lyme-disease-numbness-paresthesias-and-abdominal-wall-weakness/

ATYPICAL SYMPTOMS OF LYME DISEASE: NUMBNESS, PARESTHESIA AND ABDOMINAL WALL WEAKNESS

hands, elderly

Doctors are beginning to consider Lyme disease as a possible diagnosis in patients who present with unusual symptoms. This case study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, features a patient with unique manifestations of Lyme disease. Physicians presented the case at neurology grand rounds at Massachusetts General Hospital. [1]

“A 58-year-old woman was seen in the outpatient neurology clinic of this hospital in early autumn because of hypoesthesia [numbness], paresthesia, and weakness,” writes Reda and colleagues.

Her initial symptoms began 10 weeks prior with back pain occurring between her shoulders. But the pain resolved without intervention.

Several weeks later, numbness developed in a bandlike distribution around her trunk, writes Reda from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The following week, the numbness spread, extending to her upper abdomen.

“The patient was unable to sit up from the supine position without using her arms, and she had abdominal distention,” explains Reda.

Her symptoms progressed. Paresthesia (tingling or burning sensation) developed in the third, fourth, and fifth fingers of her left hand and the fourth and fifth fingers of her right hand.

The numbness that she was experiencing extended to the genital area, causing urinary incontinence.

The woman, who lived in a wooded area of Connecticut, reported having a “small, uniformly erythematous, painless, nonpruritic rash that was consistent with the hallmark skin lesion of early Lyme disease, erythema migrans,” the authors explain.

She believed the rash, which occurred three months prior to her admittance to the hospital, was caused by an insect bite. It resolved without treatment.

Her medical history also showed hypertension, hypothyroidism, and left tibial and fibular fractures resulting from a fall, along with L4 – L5 decompression and bilateral medial facetectomy.

She also presented with diabetes with a blood glucose level of 291 mg per deciliter and a glycated hemoglobin level of 11.8% (normal less than 5.7).

There were no other identifiable causes for her symptoms, despite having an extensive evaluation.

“Her recent rash and associated risk factors for Lyme disease made Lyme radiculopathy our leading diagnosis,” the authors write.

A Lyme disease Western blot test revealed 9 out of 10 IgG bands were positive.

The woman did not need a spinal tap to confirm her Lyme disease diagnosis because, as Reda explains, “When a patient is seropositive and has a characteristic clinical syndrome for Lyme neuroborreliosis, as in this case, CSF tests for Lyme disease are unnecessary to establish a diagnosis.”

Nevertheless, a spinal tap was performed. “Direct detection of the infectious agent with CSF PCR assays is usually not possible,” the authors explain.

“CSF PCR assays for Lyme-related Borrelia are not recommended,” they state, “and a negative assay (which was present in this case) does not influence diagnostic considerations, because sensitivity of the assay is poor.”

Final diagnosis

“On the basis of the patient’s clinical features and seroreactivity, the final diagnosis was Lyme meningoradiculitis,” writes Reda.

The patient improved with a 3-week course of intravenous ceftriaxone. Although her pain diminished over the next 4 weeks, she continued to have some residual problems.

Four months after her initial treatment began, “her sensation and strength of the abdominal wall had increased such that she could contract the rectus abdominis muscles while standing,” Reda explains. “But she continued to have difficulty sitting up from the supine position.”

“The weakness of the left foot had diminished, but she still had difficulty walking on the heel,” writes Reda.

Editor’s note: The authors did not discuss the concerns some doctors have raised regarding a persistent infection. (There is no reliable test to rule out a persistent infection.)

Related Articles:

Neurologic Lyme disease presenting as abdominal pain in 71-year-old patient

Atypical findings in Lyme disease make diagnosing difficult

Case demonstrates importance of follow-up with Lyme disease patients

References:

  1. Reda HM, Harvey HB, Venna N, Branda JA. Case 34-2018: A 58-Year-Old Woman with Paresthesia and Weakness of the Left Foot and Abdominal Wall. N Engl J Med. 2018;379(19):1862-1868.

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**Comment**

In my experience, numbness, tingling, and burning are pretty common.

At least this research is honest in reporting that this woman continued to have symptoms.  It doesn’t appear like they did anything about that due to the accepted narrative that Lyme is not a chronic infection.  This is a perfect example of how research studies are not long enough to truly followup with patients over time. There also is very little on the effectiveness of extended therapy – but living examples all around who defy the research bias.