Serologic testing for Lyme disease is still a guessing game

The conclusion of this 2000 paper was notable:

"Our results show that serologic diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis is far from clearly established. To date, the only reliable criteria are clinical ones correlated with laboratory evidence."

This is, of course, a 14-year-old study. However, not much has changed since then as far as the sensitivity and specificity of serologic antibody testing for Lyme. The only significant advance that I know of has been the development of the Borellia culture test available from Advanced Laboratory Services in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

-Bob

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10645981

J Clin Lab Anal. 2000;14(1):20-6.

Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in European populations.

Gutiérrez J¹, Guerrero M, Nuñez F, Soto MJ, Piédrola G, Maroto MC.

Author information

Abstract

We compared the antibodies to B. burgdorferi in three different populations in order to evaluate the diagnostic reliability of Lyme borreliosis serologic analysis. The subjects included 25 patients with Lyme borreliosis (Group 1); 50 patients with diseases of unknown cause, B. burgdorferi ELISA-positive in serum and without B. burgdorferi infection (Group 2); and 1,251 individuals without Lyme borreliosis (Group 3). All samples were tested for B. burgdorferi B31 and B. afzelii antigens using ELISA. The positive results of the ELISA B. burgdorferi B31 assay were confirmed withWestern blot for the same strain. In Group 3, 162 (12.9%) patients were ELISA positive for B. burgdorferi B31, while only 6 (0.6%) patients had IgG ELISA antibodies to B afzelii. Bands in WB were detected in 104 (8.4%) of the Group 3 subjects. The bands found to be most reliable for the identification of strain B. burgdorferi B31 by IgG WB were those representing the 93, 39, 34, and 23-kDa proteins. Our results show that serologic diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis is far from clearly established. To date, the only reliable criteria are clinical ones correlated with laboratory evidence.

Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID:

10645981

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Lyme Disease Sexual Transmission Report on TV

Report on Fox TV News 

May 29, 2014

See the video here:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/25646147/can-lyme-disease-be-spread-through-sex

The prevailing scientific view is that Lyme disease is spread to human beings only through the bites of certain species of ticks.

But sometimes Lyme strikes multiple members of the same family -- the parents and the children. Some of those families believe that the bacterium that causes the debilitating symptoms of Lyme can also be spread through sexual contact. Others believe Lyme disease can be transmitted to children during a mother's pregnancy.

Lyme disease infections of humans are a big problem, and it's growing bigger. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bacteria carried in some species of small ticks is now spreading Lyme disease to an estimated 300,000 new patients a year in the United States.

For some of those patients, the effects of Lyme disease are devastating. Caitlin Carlson lives with her family in Gilberts, Ill.

"My body just gets so tired and ill, and you just feel sick," the teenager told us. "And you can't explain it. Some days you just want to lay up in bed and do nothing because I feel so sick. And I'm 18, and I should not feel like that."

Caitlin Carlson believes her case of Lyme disease was passed on to her at birth from her mother, who has also been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Her father has also been diagnosed with the illness.

Read the rest of the story and watch the video:

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/25646147/can-lyme-disease-be-spread-through-sex

Cinnamon reverses Parkinson's disease ?

Neurological scientists at Rush University Medical Center have found that using cinnamon, a common food spice and flavoring material, can reverse the biomechanical, cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with Parkinson's disease (PD). The results of the study were recently published in the June 20 issue of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

Read the whole story:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140709095257.htm

Clever, clever, Borrelia can live undetected

".....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....."

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Medical/2014/07/14/Studying-body-s-reaction-to-bacterium-that-causes-Lyme-disease.html#Lm8L3Xlezv4OFfg7.99

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]

 

 

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:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3851752/pdf/fcimb-03-00091.pdf

Libido and Lyme disease

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.

Author information

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

Free PMC Article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24987563

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25004307

Obstet Gynecol. 2014 Jul 7. [Epub ahead of print]

Babesiosis in Pregnancy.

Luckett R¹, Rodriguez W, Katz D.

Author information

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]

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...

http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S3496249.shtml?cat=10997

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

Lyme Bill Was Heard in DC: LDA Testifies

Congressman Joe Pitts (PA)The Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) announced that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health held a hearing to include tick-borne diseases legislation (HR 610) at 2 PM, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 in 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Congressman Joseph Pitts (PA) chaired the hearing. The hearing webcast is available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/. LDA President Pat Smith testiied on HR 610, discussing the serious and growing threat of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases (TBD), the dire effects on patients, many of whom are children, and the economic impacts and the need for a patient voice in the process. (written testimony / oral testimony) (20 years of advocacy in Congress - check out Pat Smith's Testimony from the 1993 Senator Kennedy Lyme Hearing)