".....Through the experiments, UT researchers have found that B. burgdorferi is a sneaky organism. Not only does it move much more quickly than the neutrophils and dendritic cells that try to capture it in the skin, but it also seems to trick these cells into no longer seeing it as a threat. It is as if the bacterium camouflages itself and mouse cells perceive it as part of their normal environment, thus ignoring it....."
Monday, July 14, 2014
Is it Autism or Lyme?
PubMed:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24986703
Medical Hypotheses:http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(14)00233-3/abstract
Med Hypotheses.2014 Jun 16. pii: S0306-9877(14)00233-3. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2014.06.005. [Epub ahead of print]
Divergent opinions of proper Lyme disease diagnosis and implications for children co-morbid with autism spectrum disorder.
Kuhn M (1), Bransfield R(2).
Author information:
(1)University of Northern Iowa, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, 1227 W
27th St, Cedar Falls, IA 50614, USA. Electronic address:MasonKuhn@hotmail.com.
(2)Robert Wood Johnson University of Medicine and Dentistry Medical School,
Education and Research Building,401 Haddon Avenue, Camden, NJ 08103, USA.
Electronic address:bransfield@comcast.net.
This paper proposes that some children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States have undiagnosed Lyme disease and different testing criteria used by commercial laboratories may be producing false negative results. Two testing protocols will be evaluated; first, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)and Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) approved two-tiered Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) or Immunofluorescence Assay (IFA) followed by an IgM and/or IgG Western Blot test. Second, a clinical diagnosis (flu like symptoms, joint pain, fatigue, neurological symptoms, etc.) possibly followed by a Western Blot with a broader criteria for positive bands [1]. The hypothesis proposes that the former criteria may be producing false negative results for some individuals diagnosed with an ASD. Through an online survey parents of 48 children who have a diagnosis of an ASD and have been diagnosed with Lyme disease were asked to fill out the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) before they started antibiotic therapy and after treatment. Of the 48 parents surveyed 45 of them (94%) indicated their child initially tested negative using the two-tiered CDC/IDSA approved test. The parents sought a second physician who diagnosed their child with Lyme disease using the wider range of Western Blot bands. The children were treated with antibiotics and their scores on the ATEC improved. Anecdotal data indicated that some of the children achieved previously unattained developmental milestones after antibiotic therapy began. Protein bands OSP-A and/or OSP-B(Western Blot band 31) and (Western Blot band 34) were found in 44 of 48 patients. These two bands are so specific to Borrelia burgdorferi that they were targeted for use in vaccine trials, yet are not included in the IDSA interpretation of the Western Blot.
Copyright © 2014.Published by Elsevier Ltd.
PMID: 24986703 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Manganese and pathogens
Here is a very technical study concerning the role of manganese in bacterial infection. Many Lyme patients (including me) have abnormal levels of manganese. At times, mine has been too low, while at others times alarmingly high. I say alarmingly because high manganese levels (called manganism) can trigger a syndrome that looks like Parkinson's disease. Some would say it actually is Parkinson's disease. Before reading this study I wasn't aware of the role manganese plays in protecting the human body from bacterial colonization. -- Bob
"Pathogenic bacteria acquire transition metals for cell viability and persistence of infection in competition with host nutritional defenses. The human host employs a variety of mechanisms to stress the invading pathogen with both cytotoxic metal ions and oxidative and nitrosative insults while withholding essential transition metals from the bacterium. For example, the S100 family protein calprotectin (CP) found in neutrophils is a calcium-activated chelator of extracellular Mn and Zn and is found in tissue abscesses at sites of infection by Staphylococcus aureus. In an adaptive response, bacteria have evolved systems to acquire the metals in the face of this competition while effluxing excess or toxic metals to maintain a bioavailability of transition metals that is consistent with a particular inorganic "fingerprint" under the prevailing conditions. This review highlights recent biological, chemical and structural studies focused on manganese (Mn) acquisition and homeostasis and connects this process to oxidative stress resistance and iron (Fe) availability that operates at the human host-pathogen interface."
Read the scientific study at the National Institute of Health, here:
Friday, July 11, 2014
Libido and Lyme disease
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24987563
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24987563
Int Neurourol J. 2014 Jun;18(2):95-7. doi: 10.5213/inj.2014.18.2.95. Epub 2014 Jun 26.
The association of lyme disease with loss of sexual libido and the role of urinary bladder detrusor dysfunction.
Puri BK1, Shah M2, Julu PO3, Kingston MC2, Monro JA2.
Abstract
PURPOSE:
The primary aim was to carry out a pilot study to compare the loss of sexual libido between a group of Lyme disease patients and a group of matched controls. The secondary aim was to evaluate whether loss of libido in Lyme disease patients is associated with urinary bladder detrusor dysfunction.
METHODS:
A group of 16 serologically positive Lyme disease patients and 18 controls were queried directly about loss of libido.
RESULTS:
The 2 groups were matched with respect to age, sex, body mass index, and mean arterial blood pressure. None of the 34 subjects was taking medication that might affect sexual libido or had undergone a previous operative procedure involving the genitourinary tract. Of the 16 Lymedisease patients, 8 (50%) had no loss of libido, and of the 18 controls, none had loss of libido (P<0.001). In the Lyme disease patient group, there was no statistically significant relationship between loss of libido and urinary bladder detrusor dysfunction (P=0.61).
CONCLUSIONS:
This pilot study suggested an association between Lyme disease and loss of libido. Moreover, this loss of libido did not seem to be associated with urinary bladder detrusor dysfunction. Given these results, we recommend further studies to confirm the association.
KEYWORDS:
Lyme disease; Neurogenic urinary bladder; Sexual libido; Urinary bladder
- PMID:
- 24987563
- [PubMed]
- PMCID:
- PMC4076487
Babesiosis in Pregnancy
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25004307
Obstet Gynecol. 2014 Jul 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Babesiosis in Pregnancy.
Abstract
BACKGROUND::
Babesiosis is an emerging infectious disease caused by a tick-borne parasite that infects red blood cells. Pregnancy is a relatively immunocompromised state that can underlie severe manifestations of parasitic disease.
CASE::
A healthy primiparous patient in the second trimester developed nonspecific symptoms after a tick bite. Evaluation by obstetrics, primary care, and neurology over 4 weeks yielded diagnoses ofLyme disease, upper respiratory infection, migraine, and medication overuse headache. Babesiosis was diagnosed only after she became acutely ill with hemolysis. She was treated with standard antibiotics and had an uncomplicated pregnancy and healthy newborn.
CONCLUSION::
Diagnosis of babesiosis in pregnancy requires a high index of suspicion to ensure early treatment and optimal pregnancy outcomes.
- PMID:
- 25004307
- [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Scary, ominous teaser for a news story about Lyme disease
Here's a teaser for some news coverage in Minnesota. Kind of campy, but I guess the seriousness of Lyme disease is getting around...
It's only 30 seconds long. Check it out.
-bob
Legislation about TBD background
Here's some very informative and detailed background on the status of Lyme research and funding at the US federal level. I found the video here to be educational in terms of how bills are introduced into Congress. ALso, the 5 minute talk by LDA (Lyme Disease Association) President Pat Smith is chock full of alarming factoids on number of pathogens in ticks, the impact on families, societal cost of chronic Lyme, etc.
20 Nov 2013 |
|
(20 years of advocacy in Congress - check out Pat Smith's Testimony from the 1993 Senator Kennedy Lyme Hearing) |
Saturday, July 5, 2014
ILADS doctor Richard Horowitz on the Today TV show (U.S)
Chronic Lyme disease: What you need to know Video on Today: Dr. Richard I. Horowitz, author of "Why Can't I Get Better?" explains the difference between Lyme disease and chronic Lyme disease, detailing symptoms and important measures to keep ticks at bay: |
Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Manifestations of Tickborne Diseases in the United States
Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Manifestations of Tickborne Diseases in the United States
Author Affiliations
- Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Carol Singer, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Rm. S226, Staff House Bldg., 270-05 76th Ave., New Hyde Park, NY 11040 (csinger@lij.edu).
Abstract
Signs and symptoms related to the gastrointestinal tract and liver may provide important clues for the diagnosis of various tickborne diseases prevalent in different geographic areas of the United States. We review clinical and laboratory features that may be helpful in detecting a tickborne infection. Physicians evaluating patients who live in or travel to areas where tickborne diseases are endemic and who present with an acute febrile illness and gastrointestinal manifestations should maintain a high index of suspicion for one of these disease entities, particularly if the patient has received a tick bite. If detected early, many of these potentially serious illnesses can be easily and effectively treated, thereby avoiding serious morbidity and even death.
Notice all the tick borne diseases that have vomiting as symptom and esp TBRF (tick-borne relapsing fever).
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Which antibiotics work best against treatment-resistant Lyme disease (PTLDS)
I take this study as confirmtion from some research institutions that there are indeed "persister" bacteria that survive standard tx with antibiotics such as doxycycline. Ketek is hard to find, at this point (I used it years ago, perhaps 10 years ago) but rumor among LLMDs is that a new formulation (300 mg) is jut around the corner.
BTW, here's a bit of info about keytek from Wikipedia: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telithromycin
Telithromycin is the first ketolide antibiotic to enter clinical use and is sold under the brand name of Ketek. It is used to treatcommunity acquired pneumonia of mild to moderate severity. After significant controversy regarding safety and research fraud, the US Food and Drug Administration sharply curtailed the approved uses of the drug in 2007.
Telithromycin is a semi-synthetic erythromycin derivative. It is created by substituting a ketogroup for the cladinose sugar and adding a carbamate ring in the lactone ring. An alkyl-aryl moiety is attached to this carbamate ring. Furthermore, the carbon at position 6 has been methylated, as is the case in clarithromycin, to achieve better acid-stability.
-Bob
Jie Feng1, Ting Wang1, Wanliang Shi1, Shuo Zhang1, David Sullivan1, Paul G Auwaerter2 and Ying Zhang1
1. 1Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
2. 2Fisher Center for Environmental Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Correspondence: Y Zhang, E-mail: yzhang@jhsph.edu
Received 17 April 2014; Revised 30 May 2014; Accepted 3 June 2014
ABSTRACT
Although antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease is effective in the majority of cases, especially during the early phase of the disease, a minority of patients suffer from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). It is unclear what mechanisms drive this problem, and although slow or ineffective killing of Borrelia burgdorferi has been suggested as an explanation, there is a lack of evidence that viable organisms are present in PTLDS. Although not a clinical surrogate, insight may be gained by examining stationary-phase in vitro Borrelia burgdorferi persisters that survive treatment with the antibiotics doxycycline and amoxicillin. To identify drug candidates that can eliminate B. burgdorferi persisters more effectively, we screened an Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library consisting of 1524 compounds against stationary-phase B. burgdorferi by using a newly developed high throughput SYBR Green I/propidium iodide (PI) assay. We identified 165 agents approved for use in other disease conditions that had more activity than doxycycline and amoxicillin against B. burgdorferipersisters. The top 27 drug candidates from the 165 hits were confirmed to have higher anti-persister activity than the current frontline antibiotics. Among the top 27 confirmed drug candidates from the 165 hits, daptomycin, clofazimine, carbomycin, sulfa drugs (e.g., sulfamethoxazole), and certain cephalosporins (e.g. cefoperazone) had the highest anti-persister activity. In addition, some drug candidates, such as daptomycin and clofazimine (which had the highest activity against non-growing persisters), had relatively poor activity or a high minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) against growing B. burgdorferi. Our findings may have implications for the development of a more effective treatment for Lyme disease and for the relief of long-term symptoms that afflict some Lyme disease patients.
Keywords:
Borrelia burgdorferi; drug discovery; FDA approved drug library; persisters; SYBR Green I
Read the source:
http://www.nature.com/emi/journal/v3/n7/fig_tab/emi201453t1.html#figure-title
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)