Lyme disease bacteria may persist even after a complete antibiotic treatment course, according to a study by Dr. Brian Fallon, director of Columbia University's Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center. Ticks that fed on mice infected and subsequently treated for Lyme disease still acquired the spirochete bacteria, according to the study. "[The research] has forced the academic community to rethink their understanding of Lyme disease," Fallon said. "No longer do they think that the antibiotic treatment necessarily wipes out all the spirochetes." Star-Gazette (Elmira, N.Y.) (tiered subscription model) (3/27)
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Alternative to deep brain stimulation: Spinal Stimulation
Leave the Brain Out of It: Spinal Stimulation Could Offer an Alternative to Treat Parkinson's Motor Symptoms
Posted by Maggie McGuire, March 10, 2014
Image of spinal cord and nervous system courtesy of NIH
Deep brain stimulation is a game changer for many Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. This therapy can alleviate motor symptoms and improve quality of life, but it does require brain surgery and is not a possibility for all people with PD.
A group of researchers from Duke University and the Edmond and Lily Safra Institute of Neuroscience of Natal in Brazil is working toward the same end result without the need for such an invasive procedure. These investigators made a splash earlier this year when they published in Scientific Reports that spinal cord stimulation in pre-clinical models improved motor symptoms and showed neuronal protection.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Melittin KILLS borrelia Burgdorferi and HIV
I know nothing about it this but I corresponded with Dottie whose blog this came from. I found it interesting and will be doing more research about it.
- Bob
Claude Garon and Lori Lubke of the NIH did a study at the Rocky Mt. Labs back in 1997. I inteviewed Ms. Lubke for Public Health Alert. She came right out and told me, "The melittin poked holes in the outter surface antigen of the borrelia rendering it immobile."In March of 2013, Washington Uni in St. Louis Mo publishes "Nanoparticles loaded with bee venom kill HIV" in this article it states, "the melittin that can poke holes in the protective envelope that surrounds HIV, and other viruses."
After i intervied Ms. Lubke of the NIH, i became the petri dish. I used Manuka Honey/with bee venom in it for 18 months everyday, two heaping teaspoon fulls. That equaled two bee stings per day. That was over 4 years ago. I have not had to go on any other abx nor any other agent and i say i am "cured" from Lyme and Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever. I have not had ONE symptom of the horrible 40+ symptoms that i used to have. In the past 4 years, i have not had one flu or cold either. My Lyme doctor, God rest his soul, Dr. Edwin Masters would bee really proud of me!I am living proof this works on humans.
----Dottie
"When you know the truth, the truth makes you a soldier." --Gandhi
"The Greatest Imitator" OspA/pam3cys
Dottie L. Heffron, AAS, LLA
Sunday, March 23, 2014
What ticks do under your skin....
What ticks do under your skin: two-photon intravital
imaging of ixodes scapularis feeding in the presence of the
lyme disease spirochete.
Bockenstedt LK, Gonzalez D, Mao J, Li M, Belperron AA,
Haberman A.
/Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine/, 2014 Mar
5;87(1):3-13. eCollection 2014.
Abstract
Lyme disease, due to infection with the Ixodes-tick
transmitted spirochete /Borrelia burgdorferi/, is the most
common tick-transmitted disease in the northern hemisphere.
Our understanding of the tick-pathogen-vertebrate host
interactions that sustain an enzootic cycle for /B.
burgdorferi/ is incomplete.
In this article, we describe a method for imaging the
feeding of /Ixodes scapularis/ nymphs in real-time using
two-photon intravital microscopy and show how this
technology can be applied to view the response of Lyme
borrelia in the skin of an infected host to tick feeding.
Free, full text including images and supplementary movies:
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Lyme and various skin problems such as Sarcoidosis
The expanding spectrum of cutaneous borreliosis.
Abstract
The known spectrum of skin manifestations in cutaneous Lyme disease is continuously expanding and can not be regarded as completed. Besides the classical manifestations of cutaneous borreliosis like erythema (chronicum) migrans, borrelial lymphocytoma and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans evidence is growing that at least in part also other skin manifestations, especially morphea, lichen sclerosus and cases of cutaneous B-cell lymphoma are causally related to infections with Borrelia. Also granuloma annulare and interstitial granulomatous dermatitis might be partly caused by Borrelia burgdorferi or similar strains. There are also single reports of other skin manifestations to be associated with borrelial infections like cutaneous sarcoidosis, necrobiosis lipoidica and necrobiotic xanthogranuloma. In addition, as the modern chameleon of dermatology, cutaneous borreliosis, especially borrelial lymphocytoma, mimics other skin conditions, as has been shown for erythema annulare centrifugum or lymphocytic infiltration (Jessner Kanof) of the skin.
- PMID:
- 19357623
- [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Note: In Australia there is a website 'Sarcoidosis & Lyme Australia" which has quite a bit of information: http:/www.karlmcmanusfoundation.org.au
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Update on Lyme disease, Diane Rehm NPR radio show
Each year an estimated 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease, and many say this number is likely to be low because not all cases are reported. Those cases that are reported are concentrated in the Mid-Atlantic states into New England and in the Upper Midwest. The disease is associated with a number of debilitating symptoms including fever, joint pain and headaches. Antibiotics can usually be effective an treatment but not always. Guest host Frank Sesno and panelists discuss the challenges of diagnosing and treating Lyme disease.
Guests
Dr. Paul Mead
chief of epidemiology and surveillance, Lyme disease program at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. John Aucott
assistant professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and clinical researcher, founder and president, Lyme Disease Research Foundation.
Monica Embers
PhD, Tulane National Primate Research Center.
Pamela Weintraub
senior editor, Discover Magazine and author of "Cure Unknown."
Click to hear the show:
Cardiac Risks With Antibiotics Azithromycin, Levofloxacin
Here is something a little concerning. Azithromycin is a antibiotic that is often prescribed for Lyme disease. I took it for many months in conjunction with intravenous ceftriaxone. So I kind of keep my ear to the ground when discussions like this come up. -Bob
Cardiac Risks With Antibiotics Azithromycin, Levofloxacin Supported by VA Data
Michael O'Riordan
March 10, 2014
COLUMBIA, SC – Data from a large cohort of patients enrolled at US Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers support recent conclusions that treatment with the antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax/Zmax, Pfizer) significantly increases the risk of death and cardiac arrhythmia in the first five days of treatment[1].
In addition, investigators showed the antibiotic levofloxacin (Levaquin, Janssen Pharmaceuticals) was associated with a significantly increased risk of death and cardiac arrhythmia when compared with patients treated with amoxicillin.
"Like all medications, clinicians should remember that the uses of antibiotics are not free of serious adverse events," lead author Dr Gowtham Rao (University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC) told heartwire . "For every patient, we should weigh the risks and benefits of antibacterial therapies and promote patients to be part of a shared decision making." ....
Read the whole story here:
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
LymeLightRadio interview with Dr Alan MacDonald
Link to Alan MacDonald on the radio today.http://thedrpatshow.com/searchshowsAll.php?search=katina+makris&x=-951&y=-98
If you haven't checked out this Web-based "radio" station, you should do so. All the interviews are about Lyme disease. -Bob
Neurological Lyme Borreliosis with Dr. Alan MacDonald
by Katina I. Makris, CCH, CIH
It is with great honor I interview the preeminent Lyme disease research neurologist physician, Dr. Alan MacDonald, on Lyme Light Radio with Katina Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 4 pm ET/1 pm PT.
Many people recall Dr. MacDonald and his historic work linking Lyme disease to Alzheimer while at South Hampton Hospital Labs, NY from the documentary film "Under Our Skin".
Sadly, the US Government, nor the CDC would fund further studies Dr. MacDonald aimed to do, proving the neurological connection advanced Lyme disease infections can create in humans. MS, Lou Gehrig's Disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's type illnesses all are potential outcomes of a bacterial infection caused by borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the common tick.
Dr. MacDonald has much to share on air with us. This is an interview I have been so excited for that I feel like a kid before Christmas, as I know this brilliant man's ongoing current research could change the face of out future regarding chronic neurological illnesses.
Though the CDC in 2013 upped their annual estimated new acute Lyme disease infection count from the long-standing 30,000 per year to a ten time higher figure of 300,000, we can't help but wonder where these other several hundred thousands of cases each year have been?
What symptoms do these people exhibit and yet have not been diagnosed as Lyme disease? Are they dementia cases? Fibromyalgia? ALS? RA? MS? CFS?
Dr. MacDonald has proven still births and stroke to be Lyme induced. He cited an astonishing fact to me.
Germany has a public health care system with meticulous diagnostic and treatment record keeping. They acknowledge Lyme disease diagnosis by clinical symptoms and openly treat it. In 2012 they reported 750,000 new Lyme disease cases. In 2013, they recorded 1,000,000 new Lyme disease cases!
This country is a 1/3 the size of the USA. Our country is in denial, using an outdated lab test, screening for only 1 strain out of 300+ for Borrelia burgdorferi, and will adhere to a standard diagnosis from the IDSA and CDC of merely 4 qualifying symptoms for Lyme disease diagnostics:
- Bulls-eye rash
- Joint pain - knee
- Meningitis migraine
- Bell's Palsy - facial droop
The former clinical diagnostic evaluation of pre-1980's is no longer 'permitted' and physicians must rely on confirmation from a blood test, or they tell a patient 'you do not have Lyme disease', though a patient presents with couples of symptoms; joint pain and headaches, heart palpitations and knee pain, facial droop and weakness in extremities. The list goes on.
Alan MacDonald, MD, is a pathologist with a brilliant career spanning over 30 yrs. In the late 1970's, he worked diligently to create tests to detect the newly discovered pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb).
Dr. MacDonald was among the first to study Bb in humans. He was the first to publish evidence of Bb cystic forms, granular forms and cell wall deficient forms.
In 2008, Dr. Eva Sapi and Dr. Alan MacDonald published a groundbreaking paper concerning Bb forming protective biofilms, similar to other bacterial pathogens, providing evidence Bb infections are harder to eradicate and more difficult to treat. This information can be seen in the movie Under Our Skin.
Through his research, and with the help of other leading researchers in the fields of molecular and cellular biology, Dr. MacDonald is continuing to pioneer a broader understanding about the behavior of Borrelia burgdorferi as an infectious pathogen.
Thank you Dr. MacDonald for your commitment to the Lyme disease crisis, for your tireless research and for joining me on "Lyme Light Radio".
Here's the link to the show:
http://thedrpatshow.com/searchshowsAll.php?search=katina+makris&x=-951&y=-98
LymeLightRadio.com