Tuesday 18 November 2014

DEATH OF WILLY BURGDORFER 17 NOVEMBER 2014 - SCIENCE NEEDS TO HEED HIS WISE WORDS

I am saddened to hear of the death of Willy Burgdorfer.

Willy Burgdorfer was an American scientist born and educated in Basel, Switzerland, considered an international leader in the field of medical entomology. He discovered the bacterial pathogen that causes Lyme disease, a spirochete named Borrelia burgdorferi in his honor.[1] He was born in 1932.[2] He died November 17, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Burgdorfer 



Dr. Willy Burgdorfer Talks About Lyme Disease and Scientific & Medical Corruption

The above video is an extract from Under Our Skin documentary.

Dr Burgdorfer says -'The controversy in Lyme disease research is a shameful affair. And I say that because the whole thing is politically tainted. Money goes to people who have, for the past 30 years, produced the same thing—nothing.Serology has to be started from scratch with people who don’t know beforehand the results of their research. There are lots of physicians around who wouldn’t touch a Lyme disease patient. They tell the nurse, “You tell the guy to get out of here. I don’t want to see him.” That is shameful. So [this] shame includes physicians who don’t even have the courage to tell a patient, “You have Lyme disease and I don’t know anything about it.” link to full interview

Details of the documentary and the Sequel

Further information will be found through

Willy Burgdorfer was Keynote speaker at 12th International Conference on Lyme Disease and Other Spirochetal and Tick-Borne Disorders, April 9, 1999

Even then in 1999 he says 'Using silver impregnations and immunochemical staining, cystic material has been demonstrated in every animal and human tissue infected by B burgdorferi. As yet, it is not known whether these forms of Borrelia represent products of degenerated spirochetes or of surviving organisms capable of transforming to typical spirochetes once the favorable environmental conditions are restored. It is tempting to speculate, however, that the survival mechanism of spirochetes is responsible for the diverse pathology of these organisms as well as for their ability to survive as cystic forms thereby producing prolonged, chronic and periodically recurrent disease.' 

Research has developed even further since that presentation as can be seen in earlier posts on this blog about research into persistence of Borrelia.

Although the media will no doubt widely publish about the important legacy Willy gave to the World in identifying the borrelia spirochete as the cause of Lyme Disease, I post the above because it is unlikely that the media will fully report on the extent that Willy Burgdorfer supported the Lyme community in their fight for better serology and better treatment for those with persistent symptoms or Chronic Late stage Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease Action have summarized Willy Burgdorfer's work
 http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/latest-news/willy-burgdorfer-1932-2014/

3 comments:

  1. Sympathies to family and friends, however I don't necessarily agree with your comments here, knowing that he hinted at knowing more about the organism but that he was "not allowed" to disclose what he knew, and was babysat by the government during his interviews....and research bears out that he did in fact have more information. Read any of my books on Lyme, especially The Fourth Monkey, because the history and his research bears that he kept silent about important organisms that he could and should have disclosed...and that he himself identified inside the bodies of ticks.....organisms that the CDC still to this day won't acknowledge.

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  2. Saddened by this news. A loss of a great man.

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  3. How delighted I am to report that The Telegraph not only reported Willy's obituary with some good information but their on line version also included the above video
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11265730/Willy-Burgdorfer-obituary.html

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