Friday 30 January 2015

WHAT CAUSES ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE OR DEMENTIA?



Lyme Disease and Dementia, Lecture and Power Point presentation by Dr Alan MacDonald from John E Grinstein on Vimeo.

What causes Alzheimer's Disease or Dementia?

Such an important question - The Alzheimer's Society estimates that there will soon be 850,000 people in Britain living with dementia, the majority of whom are wholly or partly due to Alzheimer's disease. The economic costs of this will rise to over £26 billion.

The above Vimeo lecture from Dr Alan MacDonald details his work and modern technological developments that are able to show Borrelia infection in Alzheimer's brains.

With latest technology Flouresence In Situ DNA Hybridisation  (FISH) and DNA Borrelia Burgdorferi specific probes he shows further studies he has done with peripheral blood  https://cloud.gonitro.com/p/iaaxzXsfbUBRef55xbwmcM
and Spinal Fluid https://cloud.gonitro.com/p/c3E6l8iDP5Jl1c0dUcG3Bu

Dr MacDonald further says -

Molecular Beacon DNA probes for two open reading frames in the Borrelia burgdorferi chromosome have been developed and Validated for their specificity in hybridizing uniquely to burgdorferi Borrelia DNA.


RESULTS OF VALIDATION STUDIES:
Borrelia burgdorferi pure culture strain ATCC 35210 = POSITIVE
Borrelia Hermsii ,pure culture = NEGATIVE
Also Negative results with ALL. OF. THE FOLLOWING. : Normal human blood, normal by cal squamous epithelial cells, 
oral bacterial microbes, E.coliCandida albicans

Cerebrospinal fluid submitted from a volunteer for molecular evaluation for possible Borrelia DNA IN THE SPINAL FLUID.
( Hospital testing of the spinal fluid produced Normal glucose, Normal protein, normal white blood cell and red blood cell counts,No bacteria by culture of spinal fluid, no spirochetes seen in cytology examination


MolecularBeacon DNA PROBE RESULTS : Positive for Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes


Conclusions:
KENTUCKY resident, adult male, chronically ill, exact cause of chronic illness not diagnosed after multiple physician visits
Lyme ELISA : NEGATIVE
Lyme WESTERN BLOT : NEGATIVE ( only 41 KD band present)
Patient gives a history of multiple tick bites in Kentucky, no erythema Migrans rash noted at any time


Summation: DNA PROBES (2) demonstrate. Many Borrelia burgdorferi in the cerebrospinal fluid by 
FISH method ( Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization) . Many spirochetes seen in fresh up concentrated spinal fluid
By FISH, indicating a very heavy load of infection.
No host immune or leukocytic , macrophage response to the spinal fluid BorrelIa burgdorferispirochetes.
Chronic illness - un-categorized with conventional medical testing - 
Diagnosis: Chronic Lyme Borreliosis, co- infection status not yet addressed by additional proper testing


and from Dr MacDonald -

The FISH DNA hybridization. Will settle the heretofore contentious debates about the REALITY OF CHRONIC BORRELIA ILLNESSES.

I WILL PROVIDE THE METHODOLOGY AND THE DETAILS OF MANUFACTURE OF THE 
MOLECULAR beacon DNA PROBES IN AN UPCOMING PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATION.

AN Epifluorescent microscope is required to accomplish the microscopic exams.

For a limited time I will continue to receive blood smears and Spinal fluid specimens
To extend these observations.

I will donate the peer reviewed methodology Free of charge to persons who 
Own an Epifluorescent microscope.


The Inconvenient Truth of the reality of Seronegative Lyme Borreliosis or IgM reactive serology in Patients with " Late " chronic Borreliosis. Will be embraced as multiple scientists in international Laboratories. Implement the FISH METHOD. for Borrelia detection in blood, seminal fluid, spinal fluid,amniotic fluid,
Arteritis
Or...chamber or the eye Aqueous ...
and biopsies from solid organs or examination of autopsy tissues, with the FISH METHOD USINGBORRELIA BURGDORFERI

DNA hybridization will settle the contentious category of chronic Borreliosis,
Once and for all time...

Links to additional FISH POSITIVE RESULTS FROM CHRONIC BORRELIOSIS AND FROM AUTOPSY CHRONIC BORRELIOSIS: 


http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5681

Further information and images - 
http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5664&p=41363#p41450
http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5695
http://f1000.com/posters/browse/summary/1097535


For over 100 years it has been known that the spirochete Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of Syphilis causes slowly progressive dementia, cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition  (1)

It is recognised that spirochetal infection Borrelia (Lyme Disease) can also cause Alzheimer's and Dementia (1,2,3,4). 
Sadly over reliance on unreliable antibody tests has held back the science in the field of diagnosing Borrelia infections. (5)

Prof Judith Miklossy (1) and the Lancashire University Dental department found Dental spirochetes in Alzheimer's brains. (3,6)


Tuesday 27 January 2015

LYME DISEASE SPIROCHETES ENTER AND LEAVE RED BLOOD CELLS -PROF MORTON LAANE

Interview with Morton Laane  on blood microscopy for visualising Lyme Disease spirochetes.


Story at-a-glance 
✓ The retired biologists Morten Laane and Ivar Mysterud were subject to heated debates in the Norwegian media last year due to their use of microscopy as a tool to examine blood from people who have become chronically ill following tick bites. 
✓ In this interview Morten Laane deepens central aspects around microscopy. In the previous interview Ivar Mysterud presents his view of the criticism. 
✓ The microscopy methods used have deep historical roots, however, are now considerably improved for detailed observations and digital recordings of bacteria and parasites which reside in red blood cells. 
✓ Everyone can easily look through a microscope; however, it demands great and time-consuming work and experience to become decent at microscopy. An understanding of the mechanisms of the microscope is required, and the person executing the microscopy needs to possess interdisciplinary experience when interpreting what is observed in the specimens. 
✓ Studying the presence of microorganisms in blood is thus demanding. 
✓ In comparison to other test methods, microscopy shows the immediate situation in a specimen. 
✓ Laane rejects the criticism that they have not observed real spirochetes (spiral-formed bacteria) and co-infections in the blood of patients sick after tick bites. The structures are not protein fragments from blood cells during decomposition, by some called pseudo spirochetes. He has techniques to distinguish beyond any doubt the difference between spirochetes and pseudo spirochetes and has filmed spirochetes that actively move in and out of red blood cells. Laane also finds it incorrect to call anything pseudo spirochetes and he challenges the argument from opponents suggesting that general basic concepts of blood microbiology may be wrong. 
✓ Laane is equally strong in his persuasion that microscopy is an invaluable tool for studying blood of people who have become chronically sick after tick bites. The results from a new, ongoing research project might indeed become useful for this group of patients.

The above is taken from - English translation of article in Helsemagasinet VOF no. 6/2014 This is a translation of an interview published in September 2014 in Helsemagasinet vitenskap & fornuft (VOF; see www.vof.no) no. 6/2014 on pages 78–81. It directly follows an interview with Ivar Mysterud on pages 74–77 in the same issue. It is translated by Iver Mysterud and slightly edited in cooperation with Morten Laane to better fit 

Go to the main article for a more detailed read - 
http://vof.no/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Borrelioseintervjuer-engelsk-Laane-oppslag.pdf 

'Some of your critics have objected that you do not see spirochetes in the microscope; however, instead observe protein fragments from blood cells during decomposition or other artifacts, by some called pseudo spirochetes. What is your comment to such arguments? 
– Protein fragments from blood cells during decomposition do not move in and out of red blood cells in orderly patterns, Laane answers – the movements we observe are typical for living structures. – We study living organisms and have filmed spirochetes when they move out of and into red blood cells. The objection concerning pseudo spirochetes is misunderstood and irrelevant, he continues.

Earlier post on Morton Laane's work 
http://lookingatlyme.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/test-for-borrelia-lyme-disease.html

Prof Laane paper http://phys.org/news/2013-06-classic-microscopy-reveals-borrelia-bacteria.html#jCp

Prof Morton Laane paper go to the bottom of this link for access to the full paper http://www.biomedicalreports.org/index.php?journal=bbr&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=98 


Video of Borrelia in the blood and what looks like borrelia from red blood cells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxSHL9xGCgo




 

Monday 26 January 2015

LYME DISEASE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING UK

Denise Longman presentation to a Parliamentary meeting 

on Lyme Disease on 19th January 2015

Links to presentation with slides can be found on 
Informed Lyme Patients – Presenting our Concerns about Lyme Borreliosis
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I’m speaking today because it’s my duty to the 12,000 plus signatories to the UK Lyme Petition, which demands more public awareness, reliable diagnoses and adequate treatment for Lyme disease. And also to explain why patients are dissatisfied with PHE’s management of borreliosis in England.
Grave Concerns
Congenital transmission
Alzheimer’s disease and other Dementias
Sudden deaths from stroke and heart disease
Blood and tissue banks contaminated
Public and doctors not aware of the true incidence
Chronic disease denied - therefore prevalence not monitored
Patients denigrated
Congenital transmission
We have families in this room and on our Facebook group who have found that their children are infected, most probably from birth.
There is documented evidence for placental transmission, which first dates back to 1985, and now amounts to 28 peer reviewed papers and 88 Medline links showing that this occurs. In summary, if antibiotics are used during pregnancy the outcome is favourable; but if not, 67% of pregnancies will have a bad outcome.
Borreliosis is damaging not just the generation who are infected now, but the next generation as well.
Alzheimer’s disease and Lyme dementia
The Alzheimer's Society estimates that there will soon be 850,000 people in Britain living with dementia, the majority of whom are wholly or partly due to Alzheimer's disease. The economic costs of this will rise to over £26 billion.
Borreliosis infections have been documented to produce states of dementia, and French researchers this year recommend screening for Borrelia in all dementia patients, as well as in the Alzheimer’s type of neuro-degenerative cases.
They had found “ over a ten-fold increased occurrence of Alzheimer’s Disease when there is detectable evidence of spirochaetal infection”
For more information on this topic and the DNA evidence from Dr MacDonald’s work, see the Spirochaetal Alzheimer’s Association web site. 
Imagine if antibiotic therapy could halt or partially reverse the disease! The benefit to suffering humanity would go hand in hand with a huge benefit to the Exchequer. Will the Department of Health act on this information and screen Alzheimer’s patients for borrelia?
Chronic Disease and persistent infections denied.
Over the decades the Department of Health have not informed the public that borreliosis is easy to catch, hard to cure, and can become a persistent infection. Yet there are 273 peer-reviewed publications showing persistence of borreliosis in animals and humans after the standard or even extended antibiotic therapy.
Very sick patients, with the same symptoms as they had before treatment, are being told they have a post Lyme syndrome – which is a term that refers to no defined pathology.
ME CFS and Fibromyalgia
Large numbers of ME/CFS or Fibromyalgia patients have been discovering that they have Lyme disease after private tests, the figures are 80 to 90% according to 3 prestigious ME doctors. Yet NHS doctors rarely consider Lyme disease as a differential diagnosis in suspected ME/CFS cases, despite a directive to do so in the NICE guidelines. But who can blame them, when PHE maintains that Lyme is such a rare disease, and if the tests miss so many cases?
What is the true incidence in the UK?
Lyme patients are bewildered by figures from the Dept of Health which state that the disease is at a low rate in the UK, only 1.7 per 100,000 of the population, and they are dismayed to receive letters from the Health Minister which seem to suggest there is “no Lyme problem” in our country.
Graph of incidence rate in northern Europe
In Germany the incidence is about a quarter of a million NEW cases each year. These statistics also show that twice as many women as men are infected.

It isn’t logical that the UK has the lowest incidence in northern Europe, and only 1 8oth of the incidence of our nearest neighbours, not given our role as the Heathrow Airport of the bird world. Thus patients have no confidence whatsoever in the PHE figures.
Birds are spreading infected ticks around the world
The WHO stated in a 1993 workshop in Slovakia that birds are important vectors of borreliosis 
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/1993/WHO_CDS_VPH_93.132.pdf
Our own tick expert the late Professor Klaus Kurtenbach stated that pheasants and game birds all over the UK are harbouring the infection. Also, we have hundreds of millions if not billions of migratory birds entering and leaving Britain.
The WHO map
The UK was well aware of the emerging incidence of Lyme during the 1980s. By 1989, the data that UK researchers gave to the WHO shows that they found cases of Erythema Borreliosis Migrans all over Britain. 
(http://www.ciesin.org/docs/001-613/map25.gif)
A serious problem, recognised as long ago as 1993
For example, in England, in 1993, NATO held an Advanced Workshop on Lyme disease in London with many European and US doctors and scientists attending.
Oxford tick scientist Dot Carey reported that over 60% of animals, birds and ticks collected from many UK sites were infected with borrelia burgdorferi, and the results were confirmed by DNA polymerase chain reaction tests.
http://ard.bmj.com/content/52/5/387.full.pdf
1993 should have been the year when the whole of the British public was educated about the danger of tick-borne diseases. But they were not warned.
Too many antibiotics?
Some patients believe we are being deprived of antibiotics for reasons of antibiotic stewardship being put before our medical needs.
However, the amount of antibiotics that are used in farming and for pets totals at least the mount used for humans, and might be actually ten times more depending on the unrecorded illicit use in agribusiness.
Perhaps this needs addressing first before worrying about giving patients long-term antibiotics.
A Government warning is needed
We have asked repeatedly for PHE and the D of H to act with the greatest speed to 
a) Warn the public, 
b) Educate doctors 
c) Provide accurate diagnoses 
d) Give adequate treatment
One government advert on TV could begin the awareness in Britain that would soon save thousands of lives from being ruined.
It is not the job of charities and patient groups to make leaflets and distribute them to raise awareness in doctors and the public – this is the responsibility of PHE and the Department of Health.
Why wait for the situation to get worse? Why not act now? In Eastern Europe victims of tick bites go immediately to their doctor and receive antibiotics whether they have had a rash or not. Why keep our UK citizens in the dark?
We are not "disaffected patients.
We are struggling to regain our health while our public servants seem to have washed their hands of us.
In a report on Lyme borreliosis submitted to the Health and Safety Executive, in 2012, PHE refer to us as “disaffected patients”. Their policy is to “manage us”. They propose to train our doctors in ‘“disengagement” strategies’ – in other words, how to get rid of us. PHE’s Professor Dryden recently addressed infectious disease doctors at a conference, calling Lyme a “fashionable disease” and portraying patients as living in a quote: “parallel universe”.
Furthermore the same doctor has also lectured that the ELISA tests are “too sensitive” and are likely to give false positives, with no mention of the possibility of them missing 50% of cases by being falsely negative. Most worrying of all he continues to write to GPs that if the ELISA test is negative then the patient does not have Lyme disease. This is dangerous.
DNA will lead the way
Expert patients are aware of the seronegativity issue and we all know about borrelia’s ability to evade the immune system. This is a major reason we cannot have any faith in the antibody tests used by PHE.
Also, how can we rely on tests that have only been verified by the manufacturers in 54 patients, and then, only in a highly selective cohort, and in comparison to other kits relying on exactly the same methods? This is not validation by any scientific norm. The test kits used by the NHS have never been assessed for their ability to detect an infection in hard to diagnose cases, and those cases are the ones who may turn out to be the most ill due to an inadequate immune response.
PHE have acknowledged that they cannot detect borrelia miyamotoi, yet that strain is confirmed to occur in Britain.
We need to use methods such as those perfected by Eva Sapi and Advanced Laboratory Services in Pennsylvania, or the method using Molecular Beacons as described by Dr MacDonald, or the FDA approved test of Dr Sin Lee in Connecticut.
We should not rely on the detection of antibodies alone, but rather on the detection of the organism itself.
DNA PCR/sequencing technology is the only test available at the moment to detect the newly identified B. Miyamotoi pathogenic borrelia species. PHE antibody screening tests for Lyme disease will not identify this pathogen. What if it were found to be the major cause of Lyme-like diseases in the UK?
We have seen how one particular patient, Demetrios Loukas, has run the gauntlet of a system that is not working. Through serendipity, his own persistence and the sheer good luck of finding knowledgeable doctors and scientists, not forgetting the support from his MP the Minister of Justice, he is on the road to recovery. He has spent all of his savings on treatment prescribed in Germany. He is not alone, as many other patients have been forced to go abroad for successful private diagnosis and treatment.
Pity those, who know that they are infected but cannot access private treatment. Pity even more, those who struggle with their incurable “syndromes” not knowing that they are infected and possibly infecting their children! This situation is shameful.
Health Ministers and Public Health scientists, we call on you to give the British public a fighting chance to beat this epidemic. If necessary, use the expertise already available in European and American commercial labs and collaborate with as many of the knowledgeable scientists as you possibly can.
“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.””
Willy Burgdorfer 2007


Links to presentation with slides can be found on 
More details about the meeting on an earlier post 

Tuesday 20 January 2015

DR ALAN MACDONALD LYME DISEASE VIMEO FOR UK MEETING AT HOUSE OF COMMONS


PART 2 PARLIAMENT UK CHRONIC LYME CHRONIC BORRELIA INFECTIONS from Alan MacDonald on Vimeo.

Dr Alan MacDonald Pathologist kindly prepared videos to be shown at the Parliamentary meeting on 19th January 2015 and then to be shared publicly.
Part one Slide two is not quite correct maybe he has mixed up a report from another country, although there may be no physical signs hung on doctors doors in the UK the consequences of PHE management of Lyme Disease means they might just as well do so.

Thank you Dr MacDonald.

LYME DISEASE PARLIAMENTARY MEETING HOUSE OF COMMONS 19TH JAUARY

My report back from the Parliamentary Meeting in the House of Commons UK on Lyme Disease -
Just a few notes, apologies for any misunderstandings that may occur it was difficult to hear at the back and see the detail of some of the slides. Some of the presentations will become available and transcripts of the latter part of the meeting I will add links on this post when they become available.

The Meeting was opened by Simon Hughes MP welcoming us to this important meeting. Demetrios Loukas one of his constituents approached him with the problems he was having with the NHS over diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease. Demetrios invited Simon Hughes to the protest rally held in Manchester in May 2014 where Simon was able to discuss with many other patients and hear their similar experiences. Since Simon and Demetrios have worked together to bring this meeting about - an opportunity for the patients to present their case.

The Countess of Mar Chaired the meeting, giving thanks for arranging it and quoting several phrases such as Absence of evidence is not proof of absence.
She mentioned cultivation of the bacteria and the need to look at them with a microscope.
Patients are told negative tests mean they don't have Lyme Disease and experts refer to Lyme as a 'Fashionable' Disease and that negative serology  means you do not have Lyme.
USA CDC reported exponential growth of cases and then a levelling off but this was due to counting methods not a reduction in real numbers - in 2012 CDC reported increases to 300000 a year.
Germany 2011 800000 cases of Lyme.
Questions statistics for England as they are so much lower than other countries. (Scotland higher than England)

Dr Armin Schwarzbach presentation
Dr Schwarzbach declared no financial interests and that he was here as a private man to assist.
Borrelia Burgdorferi is an organism that is 15 million years old.
The oldest patient is Otzi the Iceman
2012 map showing areas of different species of Borrelia 
Pleomorphic forms including biofilm like colonies should be taken into account see his latest paper
 http://mic.sgmjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/05/mic.0.000027.short 
He then discussed early responses to infection with Borrelia
20% feverish reaction but only lasts a few days
30-40% of patients only, develop a Bulls Eye rash
30-40% only, of chronically infected cases remember a tick bite
Stage1
Bulls eye rash - needs to be treated
Children are of a very high risk of tick attachment especially behind the ear and in the hair.
Possible to get multifocal EM rashes anywhere on the body
Stage 2
Bells Palsy - cerebral spinal fluid infection
Often referred to as a swollen knee but may not be the knee
Acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans - ACC - an infection of the skin

Laboratory results - Dr Schwarzbach's speciality
Problems with ELISA
Showed a table of studies on sensitivity average being 43% - result false seronegativity
Problems with Western Blots
IgM Western Blot can remain positive up to 18 months 
Spinal Tap - in one study only 1 in 27 patients with proven Lyme Disease had positive spinal tap.
Shows a list of symptoms found in Lyme Disease patients and he says all symptoms listed are said to be non specific, as they are found in other diseases, but if found after a tick bite then they are specific.
A doctor needs over an hour to look at a patient to consider all the symptoms.
He talked about a doctor in the Netherlands doing LTT and ELISPOT which gives a response on the cellular level as opposed to Western blot looking for antibodies.
Borrelia Elispot (T cell specific) better specificity and sensitivity than Western Blot.
Can not exclude any disease in the World by a laboratory test.
He quotes numerous diseases linked to Borrelia - Alzheimers, MS Meningitis, CFS, etc
Antibiotics
In early Lyme treat until the Bulls eye rash has gone.
Doxycycline, macrolides
Need to treat children and pregnant women
Stage 2 Lyme
Cephalosporins, Penicillin G and Macrolides  
Persistence 
Guidelines rely on Klempner study 2001 but there are many criticisms- patients selected had been sick average 4.7 years and already failed similar treatments. All guidelines focus on Klempner study of just 50/60 patients - these dictate guidelines for the whole world! Yet other countries have different sub species.
Several studies found differently 
Dr Cameron - study not included in the guidelines but found significant improvements.
Fallon - improvements but symptoms returned when treatment withdrawn.
A comparison chart of what USA CDC guidance says compared to other doctor opinion .
Proposals
- studies ELISA v Immunoblot
- short term v long term treatments
- need new antibiotics
- basic courses for GP's
- information for population and doctors on prevention

Dr Ashworth 
Dr Ashworth is Demetrios GP and became involved trying to help Demetrios.
He says in medicine Doctors need to keep an open mind and a listening ear. With Lyme Disease we can not say it can not be Lyme Disease.
Referring to Demetrios he said we have been on a journey together - when to treat and when not to treat - we need to keep listening and keep an open mind

Chris Moore  
Is a director of a Nordic group involved with laboratory tests.
Borrelia - should have been screening for this infection differently.
He thanks Dr Schwarzbach and Dr Ashworth.
Patients are very knowledgeable about this disease, they are looking and seeking.
Large proportion have Borrelia.
Majority of patients have to find their own treatment.
Do we want our NHS to continue like this?
New Technology
Every laboratory would tell you their own testing was the best.
We need to be critical and don't just accept test report positive or negative.
Works with private doctors predominantly only sees 5/6 patients a day.
He started dealing with Lyme Disease cases in 1990's  but found clinical signs and negative test results.
Finding new technologies - pushing borders.
Borrelia is recognised as most common vector borne disease in Europe by the WHO report 10 years ago. 2011 Eurosurveillance report said the same.
It is active people getting these infections.
Ticks living longer more of them ( climate change)
infecting more people with much greater chance of people getting Borrelia.
Everywhere it is Top down hierarchy - gives brief history of medical delay in accepting advances in science quotes H. Pylori thought to be bacterial infection in 1907 but not until Barry Marshall infected himself and cured infection did medicine acknowledge in 2005.
Must not allow the same to happen with Borrelia we have the knowledge.
Compare delayed diagnosis with quick diagnosis
length illness, quality of life, improved health,loss of work-unemployment, income, etc
Short term costs to society early doctor visits compared with long term costs of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Why no changes in reported cases by NHS?
Problems are compounded by inappropriate laboratory tests
NHS must consider better testing
Doctors should be advised to treat the EM rash
Should be public information campaign so people can protect themselves and get early treatment.

Dr Michael Wetzler
Nice guidelines do not allow a GP to give IV antibiotics
As a GP I am not in a position to differentiate with different tests
Talked about the recent Cuomo Law in New York State which prohibits the state authorities from investigating doctors who treat Lyme patients with a different approach than the Guidelines ( my link to details of this 
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/health/lyme-disease/2014/12/18/cuomo-signs-lyme-disease-bill/20576915/ )
Been involved with complementary medicine, mentions ILADS 
Recommendations for support treatments for recovery from Lyme Disease - Probiotics, multivitamins, CoQ10, Vit B, Magnesium, transfer Factor etc.
He is happy to help patients but is keen that NHS is more open and broader to help patients.

Dr Chris Newton 
Scientific adviser to the Well One clinic
Confessed to being nervous because patients were the experts - we should be but in reality you are.
Western Blot methodology is awful and should not be used in anything other than research - it has improved but should not be the method to use.
Mentions Michael Cook's recent paper on tick transmission times
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4278789/
Detailed diagram of Immune system's response  after a tick bite.
Immune response but many reasons why the immune system might not respond.
We age differently and the immune system ages differently than chronological age.
What chronic stress does to the endocrine system.
Current dietary guidelines - carbohydrate induced inflammation.
T3 test does not show what goes on in body system detailed discussion.
Quotes evidence of infection documented after 16 hours of attachment of tick.
Mentions the Bristol study on ticks using dogs as sentinel hosts - suggests correlation for human risk.
Questions role of other vectors such as mosquitos.
Sexual transmission International group published in 2014 peer reviewed paper
 http://f1000research.com/articles/3-309/v1
Microscopy people doing it themselves
Dr Alan MacDonald work using FISH and PCR
European microbiologists
Peter Kemp who presents later 
Michael Cook 
Results are not accepted by NHS so no antibiotics.
He said I'm not a clinician, I'm a lab technician but  antibiotics should be given if sufficient clinical suspicion and should accept the different labs and private tests.
He said - I would go for best Lyme Blot ( discard ELISA) and use PCR
There are other factors involved such as genetics, mentions MTHFR Factor (Genetic mutation)
Slides from Dr MacDonald showing fluorescence DNA - recognises something in Borrelia as opposed to PCR. 
With nested PCR you are amplifying millions times.
Post GP/Consultant/Specialist
after antibiotics, need to concentrate on gut microbiome
Study of people with diabetes had much higher level of bacteriema in gut. 
Discussed inflammation and effect on immune system and TH1 also innate immune system
Chronic stress damages receptors of immune system causing chronic inflammation. 
Mentions Rife but prefers to discuss Electromagnetic frequencies which he believes stress cells. Quite a lengthy discussion about this.

Dr Beryl Benyon
Well One Clinic
She set up a social enterprise helping in Romania and needed funds so she set up a clinic to support her enterprise.
Lyme patients started going to her and she became interested and brought Chris in for laboratory diagnostics.
Then introduced Rife.
Found patients were coming back for more antibiotics so started to use rife.
Patients travel long distances to the clinic and not other places to go for treatment other than Breakspear.
Don't claim to cure.
250000 ME patients in the UK
GP's are now being monitored on antibiotic use. Which is already having an effect on patients even with things like UTI's.

Peter Kemp 
Treponema spirochetes - over 100 years ago were being viewed using darkfield microscopy and it is still used today to diagnose syphilis.
Peter continued to talk us through some detailed slides and videos of his own microscopy work - using staining to flourese the Borrelia and some where he used Beacon probes specific for Borrelia DNA - some of the latest technology.
He challenges Porton Down over their approach and denial of this disease.
I understand Peter will provide details of his presentation which I will link to when available.

Denise Longman
Denise gave us a brief epidemiological history - I know she will provide links to her slides and presentation and it will speak for itself.

Time was short Lady Mar curtailed Peter and Denise in order to give Dr Tim Brooks an unplanned opportunity to reply.

Dr Tim Brooks RIPL
Head of Lyme Borreliosis testing at Porton Down and the man to go for for NHS expertise on Lyme borreliosis.
He started to talk about lab tests used, amongst interruptions.
He said that he had helped to raise awareness with Estates/Landowners? Loud protest from the audience he quoted the New Forest.
He said he provided an extended Lyme panel if doctors contacted his lab he would arrange to do this (my understanding is that this side steps a negative ELISA and will do Western Blot even if ELISA negative plus several other known pathogens that ticks can transmit in UK)
Dr Brooks said he could only advise doctors of the infections patients had.
He said he had looked at other testing methods and compared with his tests    (Western Blot) 
He extended invitation for Peter Kemp to visit Porton - to do PCR  (not to do microscopy despite known problems with PCR)
Out of time with numerous questions and interruptions the meeting was closed.


In comment I will say that all the scheduled presentations were excellent, informative and well received by the audience.
Denise put across the patients feelings so well as was acknowledge not just with a round of applause but a standing ovation.
The room had a capacity of 170 with only a handful of empty seats so well attended. There were a number of doctors present but I am not sure which MP's were present not many I suspect, nor were there many from PHE or Dept of Health if any from the later.

Lady Mar thanked everyone and said that Dr Brooks had had a difficult time taking on the work from the previous mess that had been left by the management of Lyme Disease by the Health Protection Agency. 

So we have a Peer of the realm acknowledging what a mess the Health Protection Agency had made of handling Lyme Disease and other than the fact that under new guidance PHE are talking to representatives from Lyme Disease Action, there is no visible sign that anything has yet changed for patients - testing, diagnosis, treatment or even awareness of Lyme Disease.

Media coverage


BBC South Today uploaded a new video.
A Hampshire couple who spent 10-years and a £100,000 diagnosing their daughter's serious illness say more must be done to counter Lyme Disease. Kellie Maher now needs wheelchairs and mobility scooters to get around after the NHS failed to spot the illness. The condition is spread by ticks found in the New Forest, Wiltshire and Berkshire. Today, patients from the south were in Westminster to demand better testing, and the Public Health Laboratories at Porton Down near Salisbury confirmed they are now looking at that. Our health correspondent David Fenton reports.
The above video will not be available shortly so saved on You tube 

Denise's Presentation:
http://www.counsellingme.com/DenisePresentation1024x768.pps
Peter's Presentation (no video):
http://www.counsellingme.com/MicroscopyPresentation9E1400x9…
as html with video (and supplementary material to be added later):
http://www.counsellingme.com/microsc…/MeetingMicroscopy.html

A powerpoint presentation player is needed if you don't have it installed on your computer/device (except for the html version). A player can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.

Post of Denise presentation

Dr Armin Schwarzbach slides click  - Here

Dr Schwarzbach recently published - Morphological and biochemical features of Borrelia burgdorferi pleomorphic forms 
http://mic.sgmjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/05/mic.0.000027.short








Sunday 4 January 2015

LYME DISEASE - SERONEGATIVITY & PERSISTENT INFECTION

UPDATE - Dr Robert Bransfield has listed over 700 articles in pdf on peer reviewed persistent infection of Lyme disease. PDF accessible from ILADS website http://www.ilads.org/

Over 100 Articles on seronegativity and persistent infection of Borrelia 

Diagnosis: Laboratory Testing
False Seronegativity Extensively Documented
41 Patients with late Lyme disease confirmed by Positive Culture or Positive PCR
54% had been sick for more than 1 year
63.5% had a negative or borderline ELISA.
We conclude that antibodies to B. burgdorferi often are present in only low levels or are even absent in culture- or PCR-positive patients who have been suffering for years from symptoms compatible with LB.
- Oksi J, Uksila J, Marjamäki M, Nikoskelainen J, Viljanen MK. Antibodies against whole sonicated Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes, 41-kilodalton flagellin, and P39 protein in patients with PCR- or culture-proven late Lyme borreliosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Sep;33(9):2260-4
Only 50% of patients with late Lyme frankly seropositive.
Late-phase ocular Lyme borreliosis is probably underdiagnosed because of weak seropositivity or seronegativity in ELISA assays.
-Karma A, Seppälä I, Mikkilä H, Kaakkola S, Viljanen M, Tarkkanen A.
Diagnosis and clinical characteristics of ocular Lyme borreliosis. Am J Ophthalmol.
1995 Feb;119(2):127-35.
240 hospitalized patients with diagnoses c/w late Lyme
32/240 (13.3 %) PCR positive
18/32 (56.3%) were seronegative.
-Chmielewski T, Fiett J, Gniadkowski M, Tylewska-Wierzbanowska S.
Improvement in the laboratory recognition of Lyme borreliosis with the combination of culture and PCR methods. Mol Diagn. 2003;7(3-4):155-62.
…a patient with active Lyme disease may have a negative test result…
-Brown SL, Hansen SL, Langone JJ. (FDA Medical Bulletin) Role of serology in the diagnosis of Lyme disease. JAMA. 1999 Jul 7;282(1):62-6.
Specific borrelia IgM and IgG value in serum and CSF were normal
The bacteria were cultured both from blood and from CSF, in CSF they were also identified by PCR.
3 fatalities due to Lyme
-Bertrand E, Szpak GM, Piłkowska E, Habib N, LipczyńskaLojkowska W, Rudnicka A, Tylewska-Wierzbanowska S, Kulczycki J.. Central nervous system infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Clinico-pathological correlation of three post-mortem cases. Folia Neuropathol. 1999;37(1):43-51
-Breier F, Khanakah G, Stanek G, Kunz G, Aberer E, Schmidt B, Tappeiner G. Isolation and polymerase chain reaction typing of Borrelia afzelii from a skin lesion in a seronegative patient with
generalized ulcerating bullous lichen sclerosus et atrophicus. Br J Dermatol. 2001 Feb;144(2):387-92.
-Brunner M, Sigal LH. Immune complexes from serum of patients with lyme disease contain Borrelia burgdorferi antigen and antigenspecific antibodies: potential use for improved testing.
J Infect Dis. 2000 Aug;182(2):534-9. Epub 2000 Jul 28.
- Brunner M. New method for detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antigen complexed to antibody in seronegative Lyme disease. J Immunol Methods. 2001 Mar 1;249(1-2):185-90.
- Wang P, Hilton E. Contribution of HLA alleles in the regulation of antibody production in Lyme disease. Front Biosci. 2001 Sep 1;6:B10-6.
- Dinerman H, Steere AC. Lyme disease associated with fibromyalgia. Ann Intern Med. 1992 Aug 15;117(4):281-5.
- Fraser DD, Kong LI, Miller FW. Molecular detection of persistent Borrelia burgdorferi in a man with dermatomyositis. Clin Exp Rheumatol 1992 Jul-Aug;10(4):387-90.
- Dejmkova H, Hulinska D, Tegzova D, Pavelka K, Gatterova J, Vavrik P. Seronegative Lyme arthritis caused by Borrelia garinii. Clin Rheumatol. 2002 Aug;21(4):330-4.
-Oksi J, Mertsola J, Reunanen M, Marjamaki M, Viljanen MK.
Subacute multiple-site osteomyelitis caused by Borrelia burgdorferi.
Clin Infect Dis 1994 Nov; 19(5): 891-6.
-Honegr K, Hulinska D, Dostal V, Gebousky P, Hankova E, Horacek J, Vyslouzil L, Havlasova J. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in patients with Lyme borreliosis. Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol. 2001 Feb;50(1):10-6.
- Wilke M, Eiffert H, Christen HJ, Hanefeld F. Primarily chronic and cerebrovascular course of Lyme neuroborreliosis: case reports and literature review. Arch Dis Child 2000 Jul;83(1):67-71.

Seronegative Patients Worse Off
- Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial
- Partial response by end of treatment associated with higher rate of relapse
-57% of total relapsing patients seronegative at the time.
- 75% of amoxicillin treated relapsing patients seronegative at the time
…development of an antibody response increased the possibility of achieving a complete response.‖
-Luft BJ, Dattwyler RJ, Johnson RC, Luger SW, Bosler EM, Rahn DW, Masters EJ, Grunwaldt E, Gadgil SD. Azithromycin compared with amoxicillin in the treatment of erythema migrans. A double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 1996 May 1;124(9):785-91.
Serologic status & PCR status inversely correlated
- Mouritsen CL, Wittwer CT, Litwin CM, Yang L, Weis JJ, Martins TB, Jaskowski TD, Hill HR. Polymerase chain reaction detection of Lyme disease: correlation with clinical manifestations and serologic responses.Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 1996 May;105(5):647-54.
Seronegative patients in the study had higher rates of positive CSF PCR
57% of seronegative patients had not received prior antibiotics before serologies were performed
106 patient & contamination controls were negative
Keller TL, Halperin JJ, Whitman M. PCR detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in cerebrospinal fluid of Lyme neuroborreliosis patients. Neurology. 1992 Jan;42(1):32-42.
Lyme borreliosis patients who have live spirochetes in body fluids have low or negative levels of borrelial antibodies in their sera
-Tylewska-Wierzbanowska S, Chmielewski T. Limitation of serological testing for Lyme borreliosis: evaluation of ELISA and western blot in comparison with PCR and culture methods. Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2002 Jul 31;114(13-14):601-5
False Seronegativity Extensively Documented
- Schubert HD, Greenebaum E, Neu HC. Cytologically proven seronegative Lyme choroiditis and vitritis. Retina. 1994;14(1):39-42.
- Haupl T, Hahn G, Rittig M, Krause A, Schoerner C, Schonherr U, Kalden JR, Burmester GR. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in ligamentous tissue from a patient with chronic Lyme borreliosis. Arthritis Rheum 1993 Nov; 36(11): 1621-6.
- Hulinska D, Krausova M, Janovska D, Rohacova H, Hancil J, Mailer H.
Electron microscopy and the polymerase chain reaction of spirochetes from the blood of patients with Lyme disease. Cent Eur J Public Health 1993 Dec; 1(2): 81-5.
- Liegner KB, Shapiro JR, Ramsay D, Halperin AJ, Hogrefe W, Kong L.
Recurrent erythema migrans despite extended antibiotic treatment with minocycline in a patient with persisting Borrelia burgdorferi infection. J.Am. Acad. Dermatol. 1993 Feb;28(2 Pt 2):312-4.
- Preac Mursic V, Marget W, Busch U, Pleterski Rigler D, Hagl S. Kill kinetics of Borrelia burgdorferi and bacterial findings in relation to the treatment of Lyme borreliosis. Infection. 1996 Jan-Feb;24(1):9-16.
- Mursic VP, Wanner G, Reinhardt S, Wilske B, Busch U, Marget W. Formation and cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi spheroplast-Lform variants. Infection 1996 Jul-Aug;24(4):335.
- Millner M. Neurologic manifestations of Lyme borreliosis in children Wien Med Wochenschr. 1995;145(7-8):178-82.
- Kmety E. Dynamics of antibodies in Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato infections. Bratisl Lek Listy. 2000;101(1):5-7.
- Pikelj F, Strle F, Mozina M. Seronegative Lyme disease and transitory atrioventricular block. Ann Intern Med 1989 Jul 1;111(1):90.
- Pachner AR. Borrelia burgdorferi in the nervous system: the new "great imitator".Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1988;539:56-64.
…chronic Lyme disease cannot be excluded by the absence of antibodies against B. burgdorferi.‖
- Dattwyler RJ, Volkman DJ, Luft BJ, Halperin JJ, Thomas J, Golightly MG. Seronegative Lyme disease. Dissociation of specific T- and B-lymphocyte responses to Borrelia burgdorferi. N Engl J
Med. 1988 Dec 1;319(22):1441-6.
Greater than 70% of patients with chronic Lyme disease were seronegative by CDC criteria
- Donta ST. Tetracycline therapy for chronic Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S52-6.
- Pleyer U, Priem S, Bergmann L, Burmester G, Hartmann C, Krause A. Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in urine of patients with ocular Lyme borreliosis. Br J Ophthalmol. 2001 May;85(5):552-5.
- Eldøen G, Vik IS, Vik E, Midgard R. [Lyme neuroborreliosis in More and Romsdal] Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2001 Jun 30;121(17):2008-11.
- Kaiser R. False-negative serology in patients with neuroborreliosis and the value of employing of different borrelial strains in serological assays. J Med Microbiol. 2000 Oct;49(10):911-5.
- Mikkilä H, Karma A, Viljanen M, Seppälä I. The laboratory diagnosis of ocular Lyme borreliosis. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 1999 Mar;237(3):225-30.
- Aberer E, Kersten A, Klade H, Poitschek C, Jurecka W.
Heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi in the skin. Am J Dermatopathol. 1996 Dec;18(6):571-9.
- Steere AC. Seronegative Lyme disease. JAMA. 1993 Sep 15;270(11):1369.
- Preac-Mursic V, Pfister HW, Spiegel H, Burk R, Wilske B, Reinhardt S, Bohmer R. First isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from an iris biopsy. J. Clin. Neuroophthalmol. 1993 Sep;13(3):155-61.
- Oksi J, Viljanen MK, Kalimo H, Peltonen R, Marttía R, Salomaa P, Nikoskelainen J, Budka H, Halonen P. Fatal encephalitis caused by concomitant infection with tick-borne encephalitis virus and Borrelia burgdorferi. Clin Infect Dis. 1993 Mar;16(3):392-6.
- Skripnikova IA, Anan'eva LP, Barskova VG, Ushakova MA. [The humoral immunological response of patients with Lyme disease.]Ter Arkh 1995;67(11):53-6.
- Klempner MS, Schmid CH, Hu L, Steere AC, Johnson G, McCloud B, Noring R, Weinstein A. Intralaboratory reliability of serologic and urine testing for Lyme disease. Am J Med. 2001 Feb
15;110(3):217-9.
-Banyas GT. Difficulties with Lyme serology. J Am Optom Assoc. 1992 Feb;63(2):135-9.
- Faller J, Thompson F, Hamilton W. Foot and ankle disorders resulting from Lyme disease. Foot Ankle. 1991 Feb;11(4):236-8.
- Nields JA, Kueton JF. Tullio phenomenon and seronegative Lyme borreliosis. Lancet. 1991 Jul 13;338(8759):128-9.
- Schutzer SE, Coyle PK, Belman AL, Golightly MG, Drulle J.
Sequestration of antibody to Borrelia burgdorferi in immune complexes in seronegative Lyme disease. Lancet. 1990 Feb 10;335(8685):312-5.
- Paul A. [Arthritis, headache, facial paralysis. Despite negative laboratory tests Borrelia can still be the cause]. MMW Fortschr. Med 2001 Feb 8;143(6):17.


8 out of the previous 46 articles documenting late seronegative Lyme were written by some of the authors of the IDSA and NEJM papers as referenced above in red .


False Negative CSF (& Seronegative Also)
Of 35 patients with specific Lyme Antigen (Osp A) in CSF:
15 (43%) were antibody-negative in CSF.
Seven of these 15 (47%) had otherwise normal routine CSF analyses.
Nine of these 15 (60%) patients were seronegative
…neurologic infection by B. burgdorferi should not be excluded solely on the basis of normal routine CSF or negative CSF antibody analyses.
- Coyle PK, Schutzer SE, Deng Z, Krupp LB, Belman AL, Benach JL, Luft BJ.
Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi-specific antigen in antibody-negative cerebrospinal fluid in neurologic Lyme disease. Neurology. 1995 Nov;45(11):2010-5.

CSF False Negative Antibodies
...local antibody production in CSF is an inconsistent finding in American patients with late neurologic manifestations of the disorder.
- Steere AC, Berardi VP, Weeks KE, Logigian EL, Ackermann R. Evaluation of the intrathecal antibody response to Borrelia burgdorferi as a diagnostic test for Lyme neuroborreliosis. J Infect Dis 1990 Jun;161(6):1203-9.
39%-54% of patients with late neurologic Lyme were antibody negative in CSF
- Logigian EL, Kaplan RF, Steere AC. Successful treatment of Lyme encephalopathy with intravenous ceftriaxone. J Infect Dis 1999;180:377–83.
- Logigian EL, Kaplan RF, Steere AC. Chronic neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med 1990;323:1438–44.
- Pfister HW, Preac-Mursic V, Wilske B, Einhaupl KM, Weinberger K. Latent Lyme neuroborreliosis: presence of Borrelia burgdorferi in the cerebrospinal fluid without concurrent inflammatory signs. Neurology. 1989 Aug;39(8):1118-20.
- Preac-Mursic V, Weber K, Pfister HW, Wilske B, Gross B, Baumann A, Prokop J. Survival of Borrelia burgdorferi in antibiotically treated patients with Lyme borreliosis. Infection. 1989 Nov-Dec;17(6):355-9.
- Peter O, Bretz AG, Zenhausern R, Roten H, Roulet E. Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi in the cerebrospinal fluid of 3 children with neurological involvement. Schweiz Med Wochenschr 1993 Jan 13; 123(1-2): 14-9.
- Oksi J, Kalimo H, Marttila RJ, Marjamaki M, Sonninen P, Nikoskelainen J, Viljanen MK. Inflammatory brain changes in Lyme borreliosis. A report on three patients and review of literature. Brain 1996 Dec; 119 ( Pt 6): 2143-54.
- Kaiser R, Rasiah C, Gassmann G, Vogt A, Lücking CH. Intrathecal antibody synthesis in Lyme neuroborreliosis: use of recombinant p41 and a 14-kDa flagellin fragment in ELISA. J Med Microbiol. 1993 Oct;39(4):290-7.
- Honegr K, Hulinska D, Dostal V, Gebousky P, Hankova E, Horacek J, Vyslouzil L, Havlasova J. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in patients with Lyme borreliosis. Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol 2001 Feb;50(1):10-6.

CSF PCR—Useful or Not?
In children with known Lyme meningitis, Lyme CSF-PCR had a sensitivity of 5% and a specificity of 99%
- Avery RA, Frank G, Eppes SC. Diagnostic utility of Borrelia burgdorferi cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction in children with Lyme meningitis. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2005 Aug;24(8):705-8.
Nested CSF PCR sensitivity in known Lyme neuroborreliosis was 35%.
- Picha D, Moravcova L, Zdarsky E, Maresova V, Hulinsky V. PCR in lyme neuroborreliosis: a prospective study. Acta Neurol Scand. 2005 Nov;112(5):287-92.



CDC Case Definition is Not for Diagnosis
CDC Surveillance Case Definition
a) a case with EM or;
b) a case with at least one objective manifestation such as meningitis, cranial neuropathy, arthritis, or AV block, that is laboratory confirmed.
This surveillance case definition was developed for national reporting of Lyme disease; it is not intended to be used in clinical diagnosis.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncphi/disss/nndss/casedef/lyme_disease_2008.htm
Cases reported to CDC are estimated to be 10 times less than the actual number of Lyme cases
Roberts DM, Carlyon JA, Theisen M, Marconi RT. The bdr gene families of the Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes: potential influence on biology, pathogenesis, and evolution. Emerg
Infect Dis. 2000 Mar-Apr;6(2):110-22.

Early Lyme:
Objective Findings Poor-Subjective Findings Rich Trevejo RT, Krause PJ, Sikand VK, Schriefer ME, Ryan R, Lepore T, Porter W, Dennis DT. Evaluation of two-test serodiagnostic method for early Lyme disease in clinical practice. J Infect Dis. 2000 Feb;181(2):802-3.
Objective Findings Subjective Symptoms
EM as Entry Criteria
No A-V Block
No Meningitis
No Cranial Neuritis
No encephalomyelitis
Joint swelling in 10.8%
Fatigue 56.8%
Myalgias 43.2%
Headache 39.2%
Chills 35.1%
Joint pain 35.1%
(without swelling)
Only 22% of late Lyme patients had a prior history of EM.
- Qureshi MZ, New D, Zulqarni NJ, Nachman S. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment of Lyme disease in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2002 Jan;21(1):12-4

Late Lyme:
Objective Findings Poor-Subjective Findings Rich
18 patients with documented persistent infection by immuno-electron microscopy and PCR
50% had only non-specific subjective symptoms, nothing objective.
39% were seronegative initially
67% were seronegative on repeat testing.
50% had completely negative CSF for Lyme antibodies, chemistries, and cell count
- Honegr K, Hulinska D, Dostal V, Gebousky P, Hankova E, Horacek J, Vyslouzil L, Havlasova J. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in patients with Lyme borreliosis. Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol 2001 Feb;50(1):10-6.

Chronic Lyme Disease Non-Specific Symptoms
120 Lyme patients evaluated vague, non-specific dental, facial or head pain, who present with a multisystemic, multi-treatment history, are suspect.
- Heir GM, Fein LA. Lyme disease awareness for the New Jersey dentist. A survey of orofacial and headache complaints associated with Lyme disease. J N J Dent Assoc 1998 Winter;69(1):19, 21, 62-3 passim.
… even non-specific symptoms should alert the physician to the possibility of infection caused by the spirochete.
...neuroborreliosis may be the cause for persisting, irreversible intellectual impairment…Brain lesions are the result of misdiagnosis and delayed antibiotic treatment.
- Poplawska R, Konarzewska B, Gudel-Trochimowicz I, Szulc A. Psychologic disorders in
acute and persistent neuroborreliosis. Pol Merkuriusz Lek 2001 Jan;10(55):36-7.
27 Chronic Lyme patients evaluated
56% of the total had Brain lesions on MRI.
- Morgen K, Martin R, Stone RD, Grafman J, Kadom N, McFarland HF, Marques A.
FLAIR and magnetization transfer imaging of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. Neurology. 2001 Dec 11;57(11):1980-5.

Seronegative, Non-specific, Life-threatening
…chronic form of neuroborreliosis and displayed only non-specific symptoms.
One child: Vasculitis by CNS biopsy. PCR positive in CSF. No specific antibodies were detectable.
Three other children: Culture Positive from CSF in the absence of specific antibodies in CSF or blood.
Patient #1: Severe weight loss and chronic headaches
Patient #2: Seizures and failure to thrive.
Patients #3 & #4: Acute hemiparesis from ischemic CVA‘s-cerebrovascular course of neuroborreliosis.
Following adequate antibiotic treatment, all patients showed substantial improvement of their respective symptoms.
- Wilke M, Eiffert H, Christen HJ, Hanefeld F. Primarily chronic and cerebrovascular course of Lyme neuroborreliosis: case reports and literature review. Arch Dis Child 2000 Jul;83(1):67-71.

Treatment Outcomes:
High Failure Rates in Late Disease
Short term antibiotics fail in 25%-71% of patients with late stage disease.
-Treib J, Fernandez A, Haass A, Grauer MT, Holzer G, Woessner R. Clinical and serologic follow-up in patients with neuroborreliosis. Neurology. 1998 Nov;51(5):1489-91.
- Steere AC, Berardi VP, Weeks KE, Logigian EL, Ackermann R. Evaluation of the intrathecal antibody response to Borrelia burgdorferi as a diagnostic test for Lyme neuroborreliosis. J Infect Dis 1990 Jun;161(6):1203-9.
- Dvorakova J, Celer V. [Pharmacological aspects of Lyme borreliosis]Ceska Slov
Farm. 2004 Jul;53(4):159-64.
- Kaiser R. Clinical courses of acute and chronic neuroborreliosis following treatment with ceftriaxone.Nervenarzt.2004 Jun;75(6):553-7.
- Berglund J, Stjernberg L, Ornstein K, Tykesson-Joelsson K, Walter H. 5-y Follow-up study of patients with neuroborreliosis. Scand J Infect Dis.2002;34(6):421-5.
- Valesová H, Mailer J, Havlík J, Hulínská D, Hercogová J. Long-term results in patients with Lyme arthritis following treatment with ceftriaxone. Infection. 1996 Jan-Feb;24(1):98-102.
- Rohácová H, Hancil J, Hulinská D, Mailer H, Havlík J. Ceftriaxone in the treatment of Lyme neuroborreliosis. Infection. 1996 Jan-Feb;24(1):88-90.

Severe Chronic Symptoms
mild and self-limiting subjective symptoms common, and some occur in more than 10% of the general population
- Feder HM Jr, Johnson BJ, O'Connell S, Shapiro ED, Steere AC, Wormser GP; Ad Hoc
International Lyme Disease Group (Bockenstedt LK, Dattwyler RJ, Nadelman RB,
Halperin JJ, Klempner MS, Krause PJ, Dumler JS, Bakken JS, et al). A critical appraisal
of "chronic Lyme disease".N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 4;357(14):1422-30.
Base-line assessments documented severe impairment in the patients' health-related quality of life
- Klempner MS, Hu LT, Evans J, Schmid CH, Johnson GM, Trevino RP, Norton D,
Levy L, Wall D, McCall J, Kosinski M, Weinstein A. Two controlled trials of antibiotic
treatment in patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med.
2001 Jul 12;345(2):85-92.
marked levels of fatigue, pain, and impaired physical functioning. (which was NOT entry criteria for the study)
pain similar to post-surgery patients; fatigue similar multiple sclerosis patients; functional limitations comparable to CHF patients
- Fallon BA, Keilp JG, Corbera KM, Petkova E, Britton CB, Dwyer E, Slavov I, Cheng J,
Dobkin J, Nelson DR, Sackeim HA. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of repeated IV
antibiotic therapy for Lyme encephalopathy. Neurology. 2007 Oct 10; [Epub ahead of print]

Animal Data Persistent Infection Despite ABX
Infected dogs received amoxicillin; azithromycin; ceftriaxone; or doxycycline for 30 days
PCR positvity despite antibiotic treatment
Corticosteroid treatment reactivated subclinical Lyme2
- Straubinger RK, Straubinger AF, Summers BA, Jacobson RH, Erb HN.
Clinical manifestations, pathogenesis, and effect of antibiotic treatment on Lyme borreliosis in dogs. Wien Klin Wochenschr 1998 Dec 23;110(24):874-81.
-2Straubinger RK, Straubinger AF, Summers BA, Jacobson RH. Status of Borrelia burgdorferi infection after antibiotic treatment and the effects of corticosteroids: An experimental study. J Infect Dis. 2000 Mar;181(3):1069-81.
Mice treated with doxycycline and ceftriaxone for 30 days
Bb Culture Positive—from 40% 3 months after treatment
PCR positive—6 & 9 months after antibiotic therapy.
- Bockenstedt LK, Mao J, Hodzic E, Barthold SW, Fish D.
Detection of attenuated, noninfectious spirochetes in Borrelia burgdorferi-infected mice after antibiotic treatment. J Infect Dis. 2002 Nov 15;186(10):1430-7.
Mice were divided into 2 groups by stage of infection:
Early disease--3 weeks duration & Late disease--4 months duration
All mice were treated with 30 days ceftriaxone, then examined for persistent infection at 1 and 3 months later.
Methods of examination were Culture, PCR, and Pathology as well as: Xenodiagnosis—Uninfected larval ticks fed on mice that have been infected, then treated. Ticks matured to nymphs and assessed for presence of B. burgdorferi by PCR.
Allograft Transplantation—Tissues from mice that have been infected, then treated, were transplanted into mice without infection. These naïve mice were evaluated for infection by culture & PCR
- Hodzic E, Feng S, Holden K, Freet KJ, Barthold SW. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi following Antibiotic Treatment in Mice. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2008 May;52(5):1728-36. Epub 2008 Mar 3.
Pathology PCR Xenodiag. Allograft
Early infection
1 month p-tx. 1/5(20%) 2/5(40%) 1/5(20%) Neg
Early infection
3 month p-tx. Neg 1/3 Not Done Neg 1/3(33%) Neg
Late infection
1 month p-tx. 3/8(38%) 1/8 Not Done 8/8(100%) 3/8(38%) Neg
Late infection
3 month p-tx. 1/5(20%) 2/5(40%) 2/5(40%) 1/5 (20%)
8/9 (89%) of SCID mice exposed to xenodiagnosis positive ticks became infected with B. burgdorferi, by either culture or PCR
- Hodzic E, Feng S, Holden K, Freet KJ, Barthold SW. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi following Antibiotic Treatment in Mice. Antimicrob Agents Chemother.2008 May;52(5):1728-36. Epub 2008 Mar 3.

Chronic Lyme Disease
Verified Persistent Infection Despite Antibiotics
30% Remained PCR Positive Despite Multiple Courses of ―Adequate Antibiotic Therapy
- Nocton J J; Dressler F; Rutledge B J; Rys P N; Persing D H; Steere A C. Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA by polymerase chain reaction in synovial fluid from patients with Lyme arthritis N. Engl. J. Med. 1994 Jan, 330:4, 229-34.
....DNA of heat-killed borrelia was not detectable for very long in skin tissue of an uninfected dog, implying that during natural infection the DNA of killed organisms is removed quickly and completely within a few days."
- Straubinger RK. PCR-Based quantification of Borrelia burgdorferi organisms in canine tissues over a 500-Day postinfection period. J Clin Microbiol. 2000 Jun;38(6):2191-9.
74% Remained PCR Positive Despite Extended Antibiotic Therapy
- Bayer M E; Zhang L; Bayer M H. Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in the urine of treated patients with chronic Lyme disease symptoms. A PCR study of 97 cases. Infection. 1996 Sep, 24:5, 347-53.
165 Lyme patients treated for at least 3 months
32 (19.4%) relapsed despite therapy
38% of relapsers were culture or PCR positive
We conclude that the treatment of Lyme borreliosis with appropriate antibiotics for even more than 3 months may not always eradicate the spirochete.
-Oksi J, Marjamaki M, Nikoskelainen J, et al. Borrelia burgdorferi detected by culture and PCR in clinical relapse of disseminated Lyme borreliosis. Ann Med. 1999 Jun;31(3):225-232.
Retrospective cohort study: 38 patients, 43 controls
10/38 (26.3%) relapsed within 1 year of treatment
13/38 (34.2%) had increased symptoms (musculoskeletal, neuropathic, or neurocognitive
impairment) a mean of 6.2 years after symptom onset
Patient #12 developed severe neurologic disease CSF Lyme antibody negative The patient died. Spirochetes present in brain biopsy.
- Shadick NA, Phillips CB, Logigian EL, Steere AC, Kaplan RF, Berardi VP, Duray PH, Larson MG, Wright EA, Ginsburg KS, Katz JN, Liang MH. The long-term clinical outcomes of Lyme disease. A population-based retrospective cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 1994 Oct 15;121(8):560-7.
64-year-old woman presented with bullous and ulcerating lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA)
Lyme serologies were repeatedly negative B. burgdorferi was isolated by live culture from
from enlarging LSA lesions even after 4 courses of ceftriaxone. After 5th course of ceftriaxone, improvements in skin and negative cultures for B. burgdorferi
- Breier F, Khanakah G, Stanek G, Kunz G, Aberer E, Schmidt B, Tappeiner G. Isolation and poly -merase chain reaction typing of Borrelia afzelii from a skin lesion in a seronegative patient with generalized ulcerating bullous lichen sclerosus et atrophicus.Br J Dermatol.2001Feb;144(2):387-92.
Erythema migrans--Histopathology and PCR positive despite long term antibiotics
-Liegner KB, Shapiro JR, Ramsay D, Halperin AJ, Hogrefe W, Kong L.
Recurrent erythema migrans despite extended antibiotic treatment with minocycline in a patient with persisting Borrelia burgdorferi infection. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 1993 Feb;28(2 Pt 2):312-4.
Erythema migrans--Culture positive oral antibiotic failure
- Strle F, Maraspin V, Lotric-Furlan S, Ruzić-Sabljić E, Cimperman J. Azithromycin and doxycycline for treatment of Borrelia culture-positive erythema migrans. Infection. 1996 Jan-Feb;24(1):64-8.
Skin--Culture positive despite repeated antibiotic treatments
-Hudson BJ, Stewart M, Lennox VA, Fukunaga M, Yabuki M, Macorison H, Kitchener-Smith J. Culture-positive Lyme borreliosis. Med J Aust. 1998 May 18;168(10):500-2. 7 courses of IV antibiotics & 3 years continuous oral Although the patient never had detectable free antibodies to B. burgdorferi in serum or spinal fluid, the CSF was positive on multiple occasions for complexed anti-B.burgdorferi antibodies, B. burgdorferi nucleic acids and free antigen.
-Lawrence C, Lipton RB, Lowy FD, Coyle PK Seronegative chronic relapsing neuroborreliosis. Eur. Neurol. 1995;35(2):113-7.
chronic septic Lyme arthritis of the knee for seven years despite multiple antibiotic trials and multiple arthroscopic and open synovectomies.
Spirochetes were documented in synovium and synovial fluid (SF). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the SF was consistent with Borrelia infection.
- Battafarano DF, Combs JA, Enzenauer RJ, Fitzpatrick JE. Chronic septic arthritis caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Clin Orthop 1993 Dec(297): 238-41.
- Reimers CD, de Koning J, Neubert U, Preac Mursic V, Koster JG, Muller Felber W, Pongratz DE, Duray PH. Borrelia burgdorferi myositis:report of eight patients.J Neurol 1993 May; 240(5):278-83.
- Honegr K, Hulinska D, Dostal V, Gebousky P, Hankova E, Horacek J, Vyslouzil L, Havlasova J. [Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in patients with Lyme borreliosis]. Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol 2001 Feb;50(1):10-6.
- Mursic VP, Wanner G, Reinhardt S, Wilske B, Busch U, Marget W. Formation and cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi spheroplast-L-form variants. Infection 1996 Jul-Aug;24(4):335.
- López-Andreu JA, Ferrís J, Canosa CA, Sala-Lizárraga JV. Treatment of late Lyme disease: a challenge to accept. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 May;32(5):1415-6.
- Oksi J, Kalimo H, Marttila RJ, Marjamaki M, Sonninen P, Nikoskelainen J, Viljanen MK. Inflammatory brain changes in Lyme borreliosis. A report on three patients and review of literature. Brain 1996 Dec; 119 ( Pt 6): 2143-54.

―Post-Lyme Fibromyalgia‖
Verified Persistence of Infection Despite Antibiotics
30% of Lyme patients who fail a short course of antibiotics meet diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia.
- Bujak DI, Weinstein A, Dornbush RL. Clinical and neurocognitive features of the post Lyme syndrome. J Rheumatol. 1996 Aug;23(8):1392-7.
Muscle Biopsies from Patients with ―PostLyme Fibromyalgia‖—Lyme PCR Positive
- Frey M, Jaulhac B, Piemont Y, Marcellin L, Boohs PM, Vautravers P, Jesel M, Kuntz JL, Monteil H, Sibilia J. Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in muscle of patients with chronic myalgia related to Lyme disease. Am J Med 1998 Jun;104(6):591-4.

Chronic Lyme Disease
Verified Persistence of Infection Despite Antibiotics
- Meier P, Blatz R, Gau M, Spencker FB, Wiedemann P. [Pars plana vitrectomy in Borrelia burgdorferi endophthalmitis][German] Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd 1998 Dec;213(6):351-4.
- Cimmino MA, Azzolini A, Tobia F, Pesce CM. Spirochetes in the spleen of a patient with chronic Lyme disease. Am J Clin Pathol 1989 Jan;91(1):95-7.
- Hulinska D, Votypka J, Valesova M. Persistence of Borrelia garinii and Borrelia afzelii in patients with Lyme arthritis. Int J Med Microbiol Virol Parasitol Infect Dis 1999 Jul;289(3):301-18.
- Schoen RT, Aversa JM, Rahn DW, Steere AC. Treatment of refractory chronic Lyme arthritis with arthroscopic synovectomy. Arthritis Rheum 1991 Aug; 34(8): 1056-60.
- Kirsch M, Ruben FL, Steere AC, Duray PH, Norden CW, Winkelstein A. Fatal adult respiratory distress syndrome in a patient with Lyme disease. JAMA 1988 May 13; 259(18): 2737-9.
- Preac-Mursic V, Weber K, Pfister HW, Wilske B, Gross B, Baumann A, Prokop J. Survival of Borrelia burgdorferi in antibiotically treated patients with Lyme borreliosis. Infection. 1989 Nov-Dec;17(6):355-9.
- Aberer E, Kersten A, Klade H, Poitschek C, Jurecka W. Heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi in the skin. Am J Dermatopathol. 1996 Dec;18(6):571-9.
- Preac-Mursic V, Pfister HW, Spiegel H, Burk R, Wilske B, Reinhardt S, Bohmer R. First isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from an iris biopsy. J. Clin. Neuroophthalmol. 1993 Sep;13(3):155-61.
- Haupl T, Hahn G, Rittig M, Krause A, Schoerner C, Schonherr U, Kalden JR, Burmester GR. Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in ligamentous tissue from a patient with chronic Lyme borreliosis. Arthritis Rheum 1993 Nov; 36(11): 1621-6.
- Hulinska D, Krausova M, Janovska D, Rohacova H, Hancil J, Mailer H. Electron microscopy and the polymerase chain reaction of spirochetes from the blood of patients with Lyme disease. Cent Eur J Public Health 1993 Dec; 1(2): 81-5.
- Pfister HW, Preac-Mursic V, Wilske B, Schielke E, Sorgel F, Einhaupl KMJ.
Randomized comparison of ceftriaxone and cefotaxime in Lyme neuroborreliosis.
Infect. Dis. 1991 Feb;163(2):311-8.
- Preac Mursic V, Marget W, Busch U, Pleterski Rigler D, Hagl S. Kill kinetics of Borrelia burgdorferi and bacterial findings in relation to the treatment of Lyme borreliosis. Infection. 1996 Jan-Feb;24(1):9-16.
- Schmidli J, Hunziker T, Moesli P, Schaad UB. Cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi from joint fluid three months after treatment of facial palsy due to Lyme borreliosis [letter]. J Infect Dis 1988 Oct; 158(4): 905-6.
- Strle F, Preac-Mursic V, Cimperman J, Ruzic E, Maraspin V, Jereb M. Azithromycin versus doxycycline for treatment of erythema migrans: clinical and microbiological findings. Infection. 1993 Mar-Apr;21(2):83-8.

7 of the previous 32 articles documenting, despite even aggressive antibiotic therapy, persistence of B. burgdorferi in chronic Lyme patients by live culture, histopathology, PCR and specific immune complexes were written by authors of the IDSA and NEJM papers referenced above

Treatment Failure—Intracellular B. burgdorferi
- Ma Y, Sturrock A, Weis JJ. Intracellular localization of Borrelia burgdorferi within human endothelial cells. Infect Immun 1991 Feb;59(2):671-8.
- Dorward DW, Fischer ER, Brooks DM. Invasion and cytopathic killing of human lymphocytes by spirochetes causing Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S2-8.
- Montgomery RR, Nathanson MH, Malawista SE. The fate of Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent for Lyme disease, in mouse macrophages. Destruction, survival, recovery. J Immunol 1993 Feb 1;150(3):909-15.
- Aberer E; Kersten A; Klade H; Poitschek C; Jurecka W. Heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi in the skin. American Journal of Dermatopathology, 1996;18(6):571-9.
- Girschick HJ, Huppertz HI, Russmann H, Krenn V, Karch H. Intracellular persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in human synovial cells. Rheumatol Int 1996;16(3):125-32.
In these experiments, we demonstrated that fibroblasts and keratinocytes were able to protect B. burgdorferi from the action of this B-lactam antibiotic [ceftriaxone] even at antibiotic concentrations > or = 10 times the MBC of the antibiotic.‖
- Klempner MS, Noring R, Rogers RA. Invasion of human skin fibroblasts by the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. J Infect Dis 1993 May;167(5):1074- 81.


Documented immunosuppression due to B. burgdorferi
- Hartiala P, Hytönen J, Suhonen J, Leppäranta O, Tuominen-Gustafsson H, Viljanen MK. Borrelia burgdorferi inhibits human neutrophil functions. Microbes Infect. 2008 Jan;10(1):60-8. Epub 2007 Oct 18.
- Diterich I, Rauter C, Kirschning CJ, Hartung T. Borrelia burgdorferi-induced tolerance as a model of persistence via immunosuppression. Infect Immun. 2003 Jul;71(7):3979-87.

B. Burgdorferi-Antibiotic Resistance
Erythromycin
resistance is increased by pre-exposure to the antibiotic
- Terekhova D, Sartakova ML, Wormser GP, Schwartz I, Cabello FC. Erythromycin resistance in Borrelia burgdorferi. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2002 Nov;46(11):3637-40
Amoxicillin, Doxycycline, & Cefuroxime
10% of isolates cefuroxime resistant without pre-exposure
Pre-exposure to amoxicillin, cefuroxime & doxycycline increased resistance
- Ruzić-Sabljić E, Podreka T, Maraspin V, Strle F. Susceptibility of Borrelia afzelii strains to antimicrobial agents. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2005 Jun;25(6):474-8.
Pre-exposure to erythromycin, cefoxitin and tetracycline caused resistance to those drugs and drugs of the same family
- Santino I, Scazzocchio F, Ciceroni L, Ciarrocchi S, Sessa R, Del Piano M. In vitro susceptibility of isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. to antimicrobial agents. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2006 Jul-Sep;19(3):545-9.
Macrolide-Lincosamide-Streptogramin A (MLS(A))
- Jackson CR, Boylan JA, Frye JG, Gherardini FC. Evidence of a conjugal erythromycin resistance element in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2007 Sep 28; [Epub ahead of print]
Fluoroquinolones
- Galbraith KM, Ng AC, Eggers BJ, Kuchel CR, Eggers CH, Samuels DS.
ParC mutations in fluoroquinolone-resistant Borrelia burgdorferi. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2005 Oct;49(10):4354-7.
Aminoglycosides & Spectinomycin
- Criswell D, Tobiason VL, Lodmell JS, Samuels DS. Mutations conferring aminoglycoside and spectinomycin resistance in Borrelia burgdorferi.Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Feb;50(2):445-52.
Penicillin G—clinical case
-Diringer MN, Halperin JJ, Dattwyler RJ. Lyme meningoencephalitis:report of a severe, penicillin-resistant case. Arthritis Rheum. 1987 Jun;30(6):705-8.
Additional Persistence Mechanisms
The extracellular matrix appears to provide a protective niche for the spirochete.
- Cabello FC, Godfrey HP, Newman SA. Hidden in plain sight: Borrelia burgdorferi and the extracellular matrix. Trends Microbiol. 2007 Aug;15(8):350-4.
borrelial persistence in some EM patients at the site of the infectious lesion despite antibiotic treatment over a reasonable time period.
Borrelial persistence, however, was not caused by increasing MICs or minimal borreliacidal concentrations...
- Hunfeld KP, Ruzic-Sabljic E, Norris DE, Kraiczy P, Strle F. In Vitro Susceptibility Testing of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato Isolates Cultured from Patients with Erythema Migrans before and
after Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2005 Apr;49(4):1294-301.

Re-Treatment Studies
Only 3 NIH Funded Controlled Studies
- Klempner MS, Hu LT, Evans J, Schmid CH, Johnson GM, Trevino RP, Norton D, Levy L, Wall D, McCall J, Kosinski M, Weinstein A. Two controlled trials of antibiotic treatment in patients
with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Jul 12;345(2):85-92.
- Krupp LB, Hyman LG, Grimson R, Coyle PK, Melville P, Ahnn S, Dattwyler R, Chandler B. Study and treatment of post Lyme disease (STOP-LD): a randomized double masked clinical trial.
Neurology. 2003 Jun 24;60(12):1923-30.
- Fallon BA, Keilp JG, Corbera KM, Petkova E, Britton CB, Dwyer E, Slavov I, Cheng J, Dobkin J, Nelson DR, Sackeim HA. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of repeated IV antibiotic therapy
for Lyme encephalopathy. Neurology. 2007 Oct 10; [Epub ahead of print]
-Krupp: Chronic Lyme Re-Treatment
55 chronic Lyme patients were randomized to received 4 weeks ceftriaxone vs placebo
Targeted Clinical Outcomes:
Improvements in Fatigue & Cognitive Abilities
Fatigue improved.
64% of ceftriaxone group vs 18.5% of placebo group.
Cognition did not improve.
although the patients with Lyme disease showed cognitive slowing compared to healthy controls, these deficits were relatively mild, which may have contributed to the lack of a treatment effect on cognition.
Selection Bias:
42.9% of ceftriaxone treated patients had already failed a mean of 6.3 weeks of prior ceftriaxone
-Krupp: Chronic Lyme Re-Treatment
Ceftriaxone patients more often guessed their treatment assignment.
placebo effect may explain the greater improvement
- Feder HM Jr, Johnson BJ, O'Connell S, Shapiro ED, Steere AC, Wormser GP; Ad Hoc International Lyme Disease Group A critical appraisal of "chronic Lyme disease".N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 4;357(14):1422-30.
Evidence for lack of placebo effect:
80% of seropositives improved vs 13% of seronegatives
Seropositive patients are not better at guessing treatment assignment, but they have been shown to respond better to treatment of active Lyme by Luft et al.
Subgroup analyses suggest that patients who had only received oral antibiotic therapy in the past were more likely to experience improvement
Subgroup analyses further support that there was selection bias inherent to treatment of patients with ceftriaxone who have already failed ceftriaxone.
-Fallon: Chronic Lyme Re-Treatment
37 chronic Lyme patients were randomized to received 10 weeks ceftriaxone vs placebo.
There were 20 healthy controls.
Patients had met CDC surveillance case criteria.
Cognitive testing revealed deficits across all domains with a marked difference in memory between chronic Lyme patients and healthy controls.
Results at 12 week assessment:
Ceftriaxone group had improvements in target clinical outcomes, ie cognitive improvements, fatigue, body pain.
Placebo group did not demonstrate improvements.
Results at 24 week assessment:
Improvements persisted for fatigue and body pain, but cognitive abnormalities recurred since having discontinued antibiotics

Fallon: Chronic Lyme Re-Treatment
Selection bias:
Patients had been ill for a mean of 1.7 years before the diagnosis was made.
Patients had been ill for a mean of 9 years total.
Patients had previously been treated with a mean of 2.5 months of IV antibiotics
Despite selection bias:
Improvements in cognition, fatigue, and body pain.
Fallon study further supports the benefits seen in the Krupp study and indicates that further benefits can be achieved with longer term antibiotic therapy

Klempner: Chronic Lyme Re-Treatment
129 chronic Lyme patients-4 wks ceftriaxone then 2 months
doxycycline vs placebo
Study terminated early due to interim analysis indicating a likelihood of no benefit to re-treatment with this regimen in this sub-population
Study deemed not generalizable due to selection bias.
Patients had previously failed an average of 3 courses of abx
33% of the patients had failed previous IV abx for 30 days.
Patients had been ill for an average of 4.7 years
- Cameron DJ. Generalizability in two clinical trials of Lyme disease. Epidemiol Perspect Innov. 2006 Oct 17;3:12.
Study criticized due to flaws in design.
- Bransfield R, Brand S, Sherr V. Treatment of patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 8;345(19):1424-5.
- Donta ST. Treatment of patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 8;345(19):1424.
- McCaulley ME. Treatment of patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. 2001 Nov 8;345(19):1424

Re-Treatment Studies—Adverse Events
- Krupp study
1 out of the 28 (3.5%) ceftriaxone treated patients had a serious adverse event (anaphylaxis)
- Klempner study
2 out of the 64 (3.1%) ceftriaxone treated patients had a serious adverse event (pulmonary embolus in one and fever, anemia, and GI bleed in the other)
- Fallon study
6 out of the 23 (26.1%) ceftriaxone treated patients had an adverse event (2 with DVT, 3 with allergy, 1 with cholecystitis resulting in cholecystectomy)
4/23 (17.4%) in ceftriaxone group had a serious adverse event*
*In the text, it was not specified if the allergies were mild or serious, but based on personal communication with Dr. Fallon, 2 were mild, 1 was serious (allergy with FUO). Even the nonserious allergies were significant however in that they prompted removal from study
Clearly, a prudent risk benefit analysis must be made

Adverse Events—Suggested Research
Primary and Secondary Prevention
Could some of the adverse events associated with IV ceftriaxone in the Fallon, Krupp, and Klempner studies be minimized by performing the following?
A baseline coagulopathy work up;
A baseline abdominal sonogram, and a screening abdominal sonogram every 3 weeks of therapy;
A sonogram of the upper extremity to rule out IV line induced DVT at 7 days of therapy and every 3 weeks thereafter;
Weekly CBC with diff, ESR, CRP, and CMP

Risk vs. Benefit—Putting Things in Perspective
Antibiotics Are Far Safer than Many Medications
Lymphoma due to infliximab (Remicade)
- Mackey AC, Green L, Liang LC, Dinndorf P, Avigan M. Hepatosplenic T cell lymphoma associated with infliximab use in young patients treated for inflammatory bowel disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2007 Feb;44(2):265-7.
- Tuberculosis due to infliximab (Remicade)
- Raychaudhuri S, Shmerling R, Ermann J, Helfgott S. Development of active tuberculosis following initiation of infliximab despite appropriate prophylaxis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2007 May;46(5):887-8.
- Death due to infliximab (Remicade)
- de' Clari F, Salani I, Safwan E, Giannacco A. Sudden death in a patient without heart
failure after a single infusion of 200 mg infliximab: does TNF-alpha have protective effects
on the failing heart, or does infliximab have direct harmful cardiovascular effects?
Circulation. 2002 May 28;105(21):E183.
99.7% relapse rate upon discontinuation of infliximab (Remicade) after 3 years of continuous use by IV infusion
- Baraliakos X, Listing J, Brandt J, Zink A, Alten R, Burmester G, GromnicaIhle E, Kellner H, Schneider M, Sörensen H, Zeidler H, Rudwaleit M, Sieper J, Braun J. Clinical response to discontinuation of anti-TNF therapy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis after 3 years of continuous treatment with infliximab. Arthritis Res Ther. 2005;7(3):R439-44.

Consequences of Withholding Antibiotic Treatment
Randomized retrospective case controlled study
100 patients: 24 treatment failures, 76 treatment successes
Treatment delay results in treatment failure
Steroid treatment results in treatment failure
Retrospective design ethically required—cannot purposefully withhold treatment
- Cameron DJ. Consequences of treatment delay in Lyme disease. J Eval Clin Pract. 2007 Jun;13(3):470-2.
Antibiotic treatment resulted in transient improvement, but the patient relapsed after the antibiotics were discontinued.
Consequences of antibiotic discontinuation: Death.
…prolonged antibiotic therapy may be necessary.
- Waniek C, Prohovnik I, Kaufman MA, Dwork AJ. Rapidly progressive frontal-type dementia associated with Lyme disease. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1995 Summer;7(3):345-7.

Chronic Lyme Disease—Brain Tissue
How Do We Define ―Adequate Treatment?
Case #1-Lyme fatality
Brain lesions; Multiple CNS symptoms; Seronegative in serum and CSF; CSF cultured B. burgdorferi;
Treated with ceftriaxone and then doxycycline for 8 months with relapse while still on oral antibiotics;
Despite treatment, plasma & bone marrow PCR positive;
Intravenous ceftriaxone re-started;
Patient died of Lyme despite 10 months of antibiotics;
Autopsy of Brain tissue: B. burgdorferi PCR positive.
- Oksi J, Kalimo H, Marttila RJ, Marjamaki M, Sonninen P, Nikoskelainen J, Viljanen MK. Inflammatory brain changes in Lyme borreliosis. A report on three patients and review of literature.
Brain 1996 Dec; 119 ( Pt 6): 2143-54.

Success Only After Extremely Aggressive Antibiotics
Case #2-Lyme, success only after aggressive treatment
Brain lesions; Multiple CNS symptoms; Serologies-IgM pos, IgG neg (first pre-treatment sample only, thereafter both neg);
CSF Ab Neg, CSF PCR Neg; Brain biopsy PCR Pos;
Ceftriaxone x 3 wks, then amox/prob x 3 wks; New brain lesion, CSF PCR neg;
Ceftriaxone x 4 wks with azithro & rifampin x 3 wks;
3 new brain lesions; cefixime/prob x 100 days;
Lesions getting smaller & no new ones; stopped antibiotics;
6 mos later, new brain lesion; CSF PCR neg.; doxy 150mg tid x 4 months;
Off abx x 4 months; New brain lesions; Plasma PCR positive;
Ceftriaxone x 100 days; All lesions resolved. Plasma PCR neg x 3. End of tx.
- Oksi J, Kalimo H, Marttila RJ, Marjamaki M, Sonninen P, Nikoskelainen J, Viljanen
MK. Inflammatory brain changes in Lyme borreliosis. A report on three patients and review
of literature. Brain 1996 Dec; 119 ( Pt 6): 2143-54.


Treatment Studies—Late Lyme
Large Study-Short vs. Long Term Antibiotics
100 patients with late Lyme were treated as follows:
―Short periods of treatment were not generally effective.‖
- Wahlberg P, Granlund H, Nyman D, Panelius J, Seppälä I.
Treatment of late Lyme borreliosis. J Infect. 1994 Nov;29(3):255-61.

Mixed Population of Disseminated Lyme
152 patients received 3 weeks of ceftriaxone followed by either 100 days of amoxicillin or placebo
Did not find adjunctive amoxicillin to be beneficial
The number of enrolled patients did not reach the target to have sufficient power to make a definite conclusion about the lack of efficacy of the adjunctive treatment.‖
Outcome measures were clinical impression—Not as well standardized as SF-36, or cognitive testing,
Not a chronic Lyme population—Characteristics of a mixed population are different
No serious adverse effects of antibiotic treatment(s) occurred in any of the 145 patients.
- Oksi J, Nikoskelainen J, Hiekkanen H, Lauhio A, Peltomaa M, Pitkäranta A, Nyman D,
Granlund H, Carlsson SA, Seppälä I, Valtonen V, Viljanen M. Duration of antibiotic
treatment in disseminated Lyme borreliosis: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled,
multicenter clinical study. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2007 Aug;26(8):571-81.

Treatment Studies—Lyme Arthritis
7 prospectively studied patients:
Responses to antibiotics; Relapses off treatment;
Ultimate responses to longer term antibiotic therapy
PCR positives were seen in some patients treated > 4 weeks
All 38 laboratory controls were negative by PCR.‖
Polymerase chain reaction was done four times with identical results…‖
- Bradley JF, Johnson RC, Goodman JL. The persistence of spirochetal nucleic acids in active Lyme arthritis. Ann Intern Med. 1994 Mar 15;120(6):487-9
Repeated courses of antibiotics can be beneficial for Lyme.
A second month can be better than 1 month
A third month can be better than 2 months
- Steere AC, Angelis SM. Therapy for Lyme arthritis: Strategies for the treatment of antibiotic-refractory arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:3079–3086.

Treatment Studies: Suggested Future Research
Study Drugs Other Than Beta-Lactams
Two open label trials have shown progressive benefits over time in a chronic Lyme sub-population treated with long term antibiotics that are not beta-lactams.
Long term tetracycline
- Donta ST. Tetracycline therapy for chronic Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis 1997 Jul;25 Suppl 1:S52-6.
Long term macrolide with hydroxychloroquine
- Donta ST. Macrolide therapy of chronic Lyme Disease. Med Sci Monit. 2003 Nov;9(11):PI136-42.
Hydroxychloroquine kills B. burgdorferi cystic forms in vitro
- Brorson O, Brorson SH. An in vitro study of the susceptibility of mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to hydroxychloroquine. Int Microbiol. 2002 Mar;5(1):25-31.

B. Burgdorferi Spheroplasts/Cysts: In Vitro
In regard to B. burgdorferi cyst forms -they may represent a strategy that facilitates the survival of B. burgdorferi
- Alban PS; Johnson PW; Nelson DR. Serum-starvation-induced changes in protein synthesis and morphology of Borrelia burgdorferi. Microbiology Jan 2000;146 (Pt 1):119-27.
Other authors believe cyst forms to be critical to the relapsing nature of the disease
- Zajkowska JM; Hermanowska-Szpakowicz T; Pancewicz SA; Kondrusik M.
Selected aspects of immunopathogenesis in Lyme disease. Pol Merkuriusz Lek, 2000 9(50):579-83.
- Hermanowska-Szpakowicz T, Zajkowska JM, Pancewicz SA, Kondrusik M, Grygorczuk SS, Swierzbinska R. Pathogenetic-clinical problems of Lyme borreliosis Neurol Neurochir Pol. 2003;37 Suppl 2:29-38.

B. Burgdorferi Spheroplasts/Cysts: In Vitro
- Aberer E; Kersten A; Klade H; Poitschek C; Jurecka W. Heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi in the skin. American Journal of Dermatopathology, 1996;18(6):571-9.
- Angelov L; Dimova P; Berbencova W. Clinical and laboratory evidence of the importance of the tick D. marginatus as a vector of B. burgdorferi in some areas of sporadic Lyme disease in Bulgaria. European Journal of Epidemiology. 1996;12(5):499- 502.
- Schaller M; Neubert Ultrastructure of Borrelia burgdorferi after exposure to benzylpenicillin. Infection, 1994 22(6):401-406.
- Bruck DK; Talbot ML; Cluss RG; Boothby JT. Ultrastructural characterization of the stages of spheroplast preparation of Borrelia burgdorferi. J Microbiol. Methods, 1995 (23):219-228.
- Mursic VP; Wanner G; Reinhardt S; Wilske B; Busch U; Marget W. Formation and cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi spheroplast L-form variants. Infection 1996; 24(3):218-26.
- Cluss RG; Goel AS; Rehm HL; Schoenecker JG; Boothby JT. Coordinate synthesis and turnover of heat shock proteins in Borrelia burgdorferi: degradation of DnaK during recovery from heat shock. Infection & Immunity, May1996;64(5):1736-43.
- Kersten A; Poitschek C; Rauch S; Aberer E. Effects of penicillin, ceftriaxone, and doxycycline on the morphology of Borrelia burgdorferi.Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy 1995;39(5):1127-33
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W. Formation and cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi spheroplast Lform variants. Infection 1996; 24(3):218-26.
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- Mursic VP; Wanner G; Reinhardt S; Wilske B; Busch U; Marget W. Formation and cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi spheroplast Lform variants. Infection 1996; 24(3):218-26.
- Hulinska D; Bartak P; Hercogova J; Hancil J; Basta J;Schramlova J. Electron microscopy of Langerhans cells and Borrelia burgdorferi in Lyme disease patients. Zbl Bakt 1994;280:348-349.

Information taken from Dr Steven Phillips slides that he presented to IDSA review - but it is important to share this knowledge that our Health Authorities are ignoring.
Dr Phillips presentation is available again:-
 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-c32zBjCGh9S1RHeURWN1h1Y2s/view

More details  in Dana Parish excellent article in Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-parish/where-cdc-guidelines-fail-leading-lyme-doctor-succeeds-part-1_b_9318660.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-parish/where-idsa-guidelines-fail-leading-lyme-doctor-succeeds-part-ii_b_9352982.html


and links to his 81 page submission :-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-c32zBjCGh9aUxrcXJQcEMxQzA/view


The following 365 medical conditions are linked to Lyme disease (Borreliosis) either by cause or association. The list only includes medical conditions appearing in articles published in a medical journal. Go to the link and click on the condition to view information on the article

http://www.nutramedix.ec/ns/science-library/168-300-medical-conditions-related-to-lyme-borreliosis