All Posts Tagged With: "spirochetes"

Actor Ben Stiller is anxiously waiting to hear if he has contracted Lyme disease after badly injuring his knee during a recent trip to Mozambique.

The Meet the Parents star traveled to the African country last month as part of his charity work but he was left limping after falling into a muddy ditch while walking through a village.

His left knee became inflamed and he visited a number of doctors to diagnose the problem, but almost a month later, medics have yet to determine the cause of his ailment, despite running numerous tests.

Full article: http://www.wxyz.com/entertainment/story/Stiller-suffering-from-possible-Lyme-disease/9sOw1Ahi9EqFCD48vp4mYA.cspx

Abstract: The life transmission cycle of B. burgdorferi requires migration of spirochetes from tick’s gut to its salivary glands during vertebrate’s blood sucking, penetrating to the vertebrate’s tissues and their colonization. A special feature of these bacteria, despite
its relatively small genome, is the ability to adapt in different host environments. Continued

Genetic control of the innate immune response to Borrelia hermsii influences the course of relapsing fever in inbred strains of mice.

Benoit VM, Petrich A, Alugupalli KR, Marty-Roix R, Moter A, Leong JM, Boyartchuk VL.

Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Program in Gene Function and Expression, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605; Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Continued

INTRODUCTION: Lyme disease (LD) is a tick-borne disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato spirochetes, transmitted by Ixodes ricinus complex ticks, which leads to multiple systemic clinical manifestations. In Brazil, a different syndrome is described that mimics LD symptoms, but that also manifests high frequencies of recurrent episodes and immune-allergic manifestations. It is transmitted by the Amblyomma cajennense tick and the etiological agent is an uncultivable spirochete with atypical morphology. Due to its particularities, this emerging zoonosis has been called Brazilian LD-like syndrome or Baggio-Yoshinari Syndrome (BYS).
OBJECTIVE: To describe the neurological spectrum of BYS.
PATIENTS: Thirty patients with neurological symptoms of BYS were analysed.
RESULTS: Mean age of patients was 34.2 ± 13.3 years old (6 to 63 years); 20 were females and 10 males. A high number of recurrent episodes (73.6%) and severe psychiatric or psycho-social disturbances (20%) were distinguishing features. Erythema migrans similar to those seen in the Northern hemisphere was identified in 43.3% of patients at disease onset. The recurrence of skin lesions diminished as the disease progressed. Articular symptoms (arthritis) happened in nearly half of patients at BYS onset and during relapsing episodes.
CONCLUSIONS: The BYS is considered a new tick borne disease in Brazil that differs from classical LD observed in the Northern hemisphere. BYS replicates most of the neurological symptoms observed in LD, except for the additional presence of relapsing episodes and the tendency to cause chronic neurological and articular manifestations. 

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbr/v49n5/en_v49n5a03.pdf

We report the case of a 62-yr-old man who presented with Lyme pericarditis leading to cardiac tamponade shortly followed by an arthritis. IgM and IgG antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi were demonstrated in serum by indirect immunofluorescence. Borrelia burgdorferi was demonstrated and identified in pericardial fluid by indirect immunofluorescence using serum from a patient with proven Lyme disease and by a monoclonal antibody immuno-gold silver stain. Spirochetes were also found in synovial biopsies using a silver stain. The tamponade was treated with pericardiocentesis; the arthritis was treated with intravenous ceftriaxone (2 g once daily) for 14 days. The patient recovered completely within days of commencing treatment. This case report demonstrates that borrelial infection may lead to pericarditis and cardiac tamponade. Continued

Linda’s comment:  This report was posted in 1989 but it still is true today.  Many of us Lymies have/had Lyme Carditis.  It can be frightening to say the least.  I was never one to do antibiotics, but I did plenty of anti microbial’s, herbals, supplements and later the FIGHT lifelong daily detox and don’t have those problems today.  Reducing heavy metals and reducing my total body burden of pathogens and toxins has been God sent to me.  You don’t have to use the brands that I chose, but I know the products I used worked, and are still working for me.   I have battled (5) Cancers, (2) Lyme infections, COPD, Arthritis, CHF, Varestrongylus Klapowi worm, and several other health woes, however once I woke up and made the right lifestyle changes, the battles I fought became much easier.  Giving up GMO foods, removing all the toxins,chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, and toxic cleaning supplies from my home made this healing and detox journey much easier. Being a southern cook, it wasn’t as hard as I anticipated to make cooking changes.  My recipes have become just as delicious.  Did I complain when making these changes, you betcha I did.  However, when I begin my research on all the no no’s in my life and finding out the Cancers were environmental Cancers, threw me right into the mission of making changes.  Once I stopped complaining to my self it was much easier.  It became a challenge to prove to myself I could make these changes.  In the beginning I never told my family that they were eating gluten free or Buffalo meat.  When they began to tell me that they knew something was different, but it tasted good to them, I finally admitted about the gluten free and Buffalo. Regards, Linda

Cardiac involvement occurring early in Borrelia burgdorferi infection is a clinical manifestation of human Lyme disease. Therefore, two patients with acute complete atrioventricular heart blocks and unexplained recurrent dizziness were studied. Both patients had significantly elevated serum titers of IgM and IgG antibodies to B. burgdorferi. Right ventricular subendocardial biopsies showed dense infiltrates consisting of lymphocytes and plasma cells. Silver staining revealed spirochetes characteristic of B. burgdorferi near and in the infiltrates, between the muscle fibers, and in the endocardium. One patient responded to penicillin; the other did not, necessitating installation of a pacemaker. Thus, permanent heart damage may result from cardiac involvement in Lyme disease. Continued

Infect Immun. 2009 Oct 12; [Epub ahead of print]

Passage through Ixodes scapularis ticks enhances the virulence of a weakly
pathogenic isolate of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Adusumilli S, Booth CJ, Anguita J, Fikrig E.

Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University
School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America; Section of
Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven,
Connecticut, United States of America; Department of Veterinary and Animal
Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, United
States of America. Continued