Lyme disease vaccine targets mice, not humans

Reservoir Targeted Vaccine Against Borrelia burgdorferi: A New Strategy to Prevent Lyme Disease Transmission

1. Luciana Meirelles Richer1,2,a,
2. Dustin Brisson3,
3. Rita Melo1,
4. Richard S. Ostfeld4,
5. Nordin Zeidner5 and
6. Maria Gomes-Solecki1,2

+ Author Affiliations

1. ¹University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
2. ²Biopeptides, Memphis, Tennessee
3. ³University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
4. ⁴Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York
5. ⁵Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, One Health Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Dhaka, Bangladesh

1. Correspondence: Maria Gomes-Solecki, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, MIB 301A, Memphis, TN 38163 (mgomesso@uthsc.edu).

1. Presented in part: Tick-Borne Disease Integrated Pest Management Conference, Arlington, Virginia, 5–6 March 2013; 13th International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Diseases, Boston, Massachusetts, 18–21 August 2013 [abstract 19].

2. ↵a Present affiliation: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee.

Abstract

A high prevalence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi in ixodid ticks is correlated with a high incidence of Lyme disease. The transmission of B. burgdorferi to humans can be disrupted by targeting 2 key elements in its enzootic cycle: the reservoir host and the tick vector. In a prospective 5-year field trial, we show that oral vaccination of wild white-footed mice resulted in outer surface protein A–specific seropositivity that led to reductions of 23% and 76% in the nymphal infection prevalence in a cumulative, time-dependent manner (2 and 5 years, respectively), whereas the proportion of infected ticks recovered from control plots varied randomly over time. Significant decreases in tick infection prevalence were observed within 3 years of vaccine deployment. Implementation of such a long-term public health measure could substantially reduce the risk of human exposure to Lyme disease.

http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/02/11/infdis.jiu005.abstract

(NOT OPEN ACCESS)

ARTICLE:  http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1734262

"Field Trials Show New Technology Able To Prevent Lyme Disease Transmission"

Candidate Oral Bait Vaccine Targets the Vector, Not Humans, to Interrupt Cycle of Transmission

PR Newswire

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb. 12, 2014

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new technology has been shown to reduce the level of tick infection of Borrelia burgdorferi, the cause of Lyme disease. Study details were published online today in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, in advance of print publication.

The oral bait vaccine was distributed to white-footed mice, which account for the majority of the transmission of Borrelia. The mice created antibodies in response to the vaccine. When ticks later fed on the mice, the ingested antibodies killed the Borrelia and prevented the transmission of Lyme disease..."  (CONTINUED)

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1734262#ixzz2tA7cydUZ

Lyme, Alzheimer's and Gin - What is the Connection?

Found on the Web at this blog site: http://www.elenacook.org/

I'm not making a statement here, nor can I vouch for this article's accuracy. However, it does raise some interesting questions.  -Bob

Lyme, Alzheimer's and Gin - what is the Connection?

Now here's a quote for the day.

It comes from the bulletin of PHLS, which was the old name for Britain's leading public health agency, Public Health England (before it was called the Health Protection Agency).

"Borrelia is a spirochete which can cause Lyme Disease in humans, the symptoms of which include fever, rash, arthritis, and meningitis, sometimes with subsequent dementia."

Antibiotics Found Effective in Mania and Schizophrenia

Here are reports of two studies done that seem to show the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy for psychological mania and schizophrenia. A little off-topic, but I find these studies about the intersection of brain infection and mental illness to be very important. In my psychotherapy training we tended to focus on the psychological causes of depression, anxiety, and so forth. 

With schizophrenia, for example, there is even a lot of literature about the so-called "schizophrenigenic mother" and gene mutations as common causes of schizophrenia. However, I don't recall even a single  mention of low-level infection and chronic brain inflammation being potential causes of mental illness. 

I now know from my own experiences both with Lyme and with what appears as Parkinson's disease, the state of affairs with my infection level often correlates closely with my mental state, including my ability to sleep, my experience of anhedonia (the inability to feel joy), my level of anxiety, and so forth. 

I've been having a relapse into some psychological symptoms in the last six months and I find it curious that my recent Borrelia culture test showed highly positive this time around. Maybe not a cause-and-effect, but certainly an interesting correlation.

-Bob

Antibiotics Found Effective in Mania and Schizophrenia -- Two Studies

Bipolar Disord. 2013 Sep 18. doi: 10.1111/bdi.12123. [Epub ahead of print]

Dickerson F, Stallings C, Origoni A, Vaughan C, Katsafanas E, Khushalani S, Yolken R.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Increased rates of infection with Toxoplasma gondii have been found in individuals with schizophrenia as compared to control groups but this issue has not been studied in mania.

METHODS:

We measured immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM class antibodies to T. gondii in 57 individuals with mania who were assessed at up to three time-points. We also measured these antibodies in 743 individuals in other psychiatric groups and in 314 non-psychiatric controls. T. gondii antibody levels were compared among groups by multivariate analyses. IgG class and IgM class antibodies to cytomegalovirus were also measured in the same samples. T. gondii antibody levels were also compared over time in the mania group.

RESULTS:

The mania group had a significantly elevated level of IgM antibodies to T. gondii as compared to the control individuals without a psychiatric diagnosis [odds ratio (OR) = 2.33, p < 0.04 at hospital admission; and OR = 2.32, p < 0.02 at study entry during the hospital stay]. Elevated IgM class antibodies to T. gondii were not found in individuals with the other psychiatric diagnoses. We also did not find an increased level of IgG class antibodies to T. gondii or IgG or IgM class antibodies to CMV in the individuals with mania. Within the mania group, there was a significant difference between the prevalences of increased levels of T. gondii IgM at the baseline and the follow-up time-point (t = 2.97, p < 0.003).

CONCLUSIONS:

Infection with T. gondii may confer risk for mania.

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

KEYWORDS:

Toxoplasma gondii , bipolar disorder, infection, mania, parasite

Antibiotics Found Effective in Schizophrenia

Tetracyclines help treat psychosis as well as tick-borne disorders.

Published on February 8, 2014 by Richard Horowitz, MD in Why Can't I Get Better?

A controlled clinical trial was just published in the psychiatric literature, showing that minocycline is effective in treating negative symptoms in early phase schizophrenia. A prior pilot study, published in 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, also showed that minocycline was effective in schizophrenia, helping executive functioning such as working memory. The authors postulate that the mechanism of action of minocycline would include affecting glutamate pathways in the central nervous system, blocking nitric oxide-induced neurotoxicity, or inhibiting microglial activation in the brain, causing inflammation. All of these are reasonable potential mechanisms of action. Neither author discusses the obvious fact however that minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic and that it may be treating an occult infection. Have infections ever been reported to cause schizophrenia?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/why-can-t-i-get-better/201402/antibiotics-found-effective-in-schizophrenia

 

 

 

Massachusetts funding first tick surveillance program

Here's an exciting development and tick surveillance. This is something I've been thinking about for a while here in Berkeley California. I would love to know the statistics on  tick prevalence ((and infected ticks, specifically), in my area. Even around my house. Today I wrote to a couple people asking if they were interested in brainstorming about maybe how we could get something like this going in California.

Bob

 

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State's first tick surveillance program launched

http://necir.org/2014/02/07/states-first-tick-surveillance-program-launched/

By: BETH DALEY | 17 HOURS AGO

Massachusetts is forming its first ever tick surveillance network to better track and understand the prevalence of ticks and tick-borne diseases, state officials said this week.

Bedford's Board of Health will receive $111,000 from the state to collect and test ticks for three pathogens in 31 communities in Middlesex, Franklin County and Barnstable counties and Nantucket.

Lyme disease and at least four other tick-borne illnesses are a growing threat in Massachusetts and the Northeast, yet there are virtually no public funds to control them. In the last year, the federal government has dramatically increased estimates of Lyme, saying it is 10 times more common than previous national counts and much of it is centered in New England. Those new figures translate into an estimated 40,000 new Lyme disease infections each year in Massachusetts alone.

The Laboratory of Medical Zoology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which currently tests ticks the public sends in for a fee, will test 100 ticks from each participating town – 50 this spring and 50 in the fall. Residents in participating towns can mail in ticks to be tested for free until the limit is reached for their community.

The program is designed to provide estimates of how many ticks are carrying pathogens and allow each town to see rates of tick biting in real time, according to medical zoologist Stephen Rich, the UMass lab's director. Each tick will be tested for the pathogens that cause Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis, all of which can cause serious illness and even death. Distribution of these pathogens is poorly understood and likely varies substantially across the state, Rich said.

In addition to the Nantucket Health Department, Franklin County participating public health departments are in Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Hawley, Heath, Leyden, Monroe and Shelburne. In Middlesex County participating departments are in Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lincoln and Winchester. In Barnstable County they are Barnstable, Brewster, Bourne, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth. The testing is being funded as part of the Governor's Community Innovation Challenge Grant program.

Super anti-inflammatories?

Keep eating turmeric! Seems it's 1000x more efficacious if ingested with black pepper.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22742420

and

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23132777

Death by antibiotics? Or a fear tactic?

Three articles about antibiotics and associated illness and/or death worth checking out if you are considering extended antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease treatment. 

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/51/3/369.full

"Death Due to Community-Associated Clostridium difficile in a Woman Receiving Prolonged Antibiotic Therapy
for Suspected Lyme Disease " (Year 2010)

* * * * * * 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/06/us-lyme-disease-rare-cause-death-study-idUSTRE70553O20110106

"Lyme disease a rare cause of death: study"

* * * * * *

http://www.minnesotamedicine.com/PastIssues/PastIssues2008/July2008/ClinicalKempermanJuly2008.aspx

"Dispelling theChronic Lyme Disease Myth" (Year-2008)

Early Lyme disease with spirochetemia - diagnosed by DNA sequencing

Early Lyme disease with spirochetemia - diagnosed by DNA sequencing

Abstract

Background

A sensitive and analytically specific nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) is valuable in confirming the diagnosis of early Lyme disease at the stage of spirochetemia.

Findings

Venous blood drawn from patients with clinical presentations of Lyme disease was tested for the standard 2-tier screen and Western Blot serology assay for Lyme disease, and also by a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for B. burgdorferi sensu lato 16S ribosomal DNA. The PCR amplicon was sequenced for B. burgdorferi genomic DNA validation. A total of 130 patients visiting emergency room (ER) or Walk-in clinic (WALKIN), and 333 patients referred through the private physicians' offices were studied. While 5.4% of the ER/WALKIN patients showed DNA evidence of spirochetemia, none (0%) of the patients referred from private physicians' offices were DNA-positive. In contrast, while 8.4% of the patients referred from private physicians' offices were positive for the 2-tier Lyme serology assay, only 1.5% of the ER/WALKIN patients were positive for this antibody test. The 2-tier serology assay missed 85.7% of the cases of early Lyme disease with spirochetemia. The latter diagnosis was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

Conclusion

Nested PCR followed by automated DNA sequencing is a valuable supplement to the standard 2-tier antibody assay in the diagnosis of early Lyme disease with spirochetemia. The best time to test for Lyme spirochetemia is when the patients living in the Lyme disease endemic areas develop unexplained symptoms or clinical manifestations that are consistent with Lyme disease early in the course of their illness.

Read the whole study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2984391/

Taurine and heart issues

Something to consider if you have heart issues. This was picked up from a listserv. Do your own research. -Bob

In light of the three recent cardiac deaths related to Lyme disease I think it is important to share the following information. I have recommended this to many Lyme patients complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath with good results. This is a brief overview.

The amino acid taurine controls the electrical signals of the heart and the highest concentration of taurine is found in the muscle of the heart.

Previous heart condition: Poor R-wave progression, Left anterior fascicular block. 
The amino acid taurine has been used for decades by the Japanese to treat heart disease. A cardiopulmonary exercise test reviled poor oxygen utilization. Chest pain and shortness of breath were eliminated within a few days of taking 500mg three times per day as recommended by Dr Leonard Smith:

Are You Dangerously Deficient in Taurine

Part 2: Testing & Supplementation

Taurine did not eliminate the need for antibiotics in treating Lyme disease however but it was useful in treating the symptoms. Perhaps Lyme is creating the taurine deficiency. One additional benefit of taurine was that it helped with anxiety.

Here is the product used:

Now Foods Taurine  $4.19

There are 239 reviews for that product and you will read that it has helped many with heart conditions, depression/anxiety and sleep issues

More on taurine.........

Feline Cardiomyopathy has also been treated with taurine as veterinarians have known for years that a taurine deficiency causes heart disease.

• Taurine deficiency has been associated with reversible myocardial failure and central retinal degeneration in the cat. Taurine is a dietary essential amino acid in the cat because cats lack the ability to synthesize taurine from other amino acids.

• Taurine deficiency has been associated with a reversible myocardial failure in dogs and foxes.

• Taurine is an amino acid that has many biological roles in many different tissues. Its highest concentrations are in the heart, retina, central nervous system, leukocytes and skeletal muscles. One of taurine's best defined functions is conjugation of bile in mammals.

Neuro issues -- A few books to consider

I have seen recent references to these books on one of the doctor-based listservs. I thought I should pass them on. I'm currently reading the first one. - Bob

1) One is Dr. Horowitz's new Lyme (and other chronic diseases) book, which for those of us struggling with this illness for a while.

Why Can't I Get Better?  By Richard Horowitz, MD

 2) The second book may be useful for anyone who has any kind of brain problems. It's not about Lyme, it is about how the brain functions and lots of things that can go wrong with it. He says in conventional Western medicine the docs wait until there is a diagnosable "brain disease" and then slap a label on you when it is already pretty much too late. He claims that in reality there are lots of signs of a brain that is not working optimally and there is much that can be early on, before irreparable damage is done.  

Why My Brain Isn't Working, by Dr. Datis Kharrazian.

 
3)  "...blows the lid off a topic that's been buried in medical literature for far too long: carbs are destroying your brain. And not just unhealthy carbs, but even healthy ones like whole grains can cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, and much more"

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers

by David Perlmutter, MD

Death plunge of the wealthy woman turned paranoid by a tick bite

Note the lack of detail at the bottom of the article. The "bull's eye" rash often does not occur,  or is on a part of the body where the victim cannot see it. There should be mention of the CDC just increasing the estimated number of annual cases in the US by a factor of 10, from 30,000 to 300,000. Lyme carditis (inflammation of the heart) and heart block (blocking of the signal from the brain to the heart telling it to beat) are also missing, even though there was recent wide-spread press coverage of three young people dying from Lyme carditis in the US within the last 10 months.  If you feel so inclined, please write to the publisher of The Daily Mail and kindly request more in-depth coverage of Lyme in the UK. I have recently been informed by a Lyme patient from the UK that there is essentially zero coverage of Lyme disease treatment by the National Health insurance program.  -Bob

Death plunge of the wealthy woman turned paranoid by a tick bite

From The Daily Mail, "Mail Online"
(c) The Daily Mail, UK
Sunday Feb 2, 2014

A woman plunged to her death from her bedroom window after suffering paranoid delusions caused by a tick bite, an inquest heard.

Jan Linton, 56, was bitten when she stayed on a friend's nine-acre estate in France.

Within six months she was acting "very strangely" and claimed the police were "out to get her", Westminster Coroner's Court was told.