Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
1. Vision
a. Collage
b. I envision transparency and truth, where individuals move from
protecting themselves and their careers at an ego level, to
transcend the fear of consequences as they become eco-centric. I
see funding for research; adequate testing methodologies (PCR,
etc.); revised, individualized & affordable treatment plans. I see
responsibility and action being a function of our collective and
mutual consciousness.
2. Core Team
a. Coaching Circle 113
b. Lyme Group
c. Kimberly, Samantha, Lincoln Depelteau-Tracey
d. Governor Maggie Hassan (friend) of New Hampshire, Al Gore, Hillary
Clinton, George W. Bush, Dr. Richard Horowitz, dr. Paul Moran
3. 0.8 Iterate, iterate, iterate
a. Prepare educational platform and ‘talking points’ to educate and enroll
partnerships
4. Platforms and Space
a. Coaching Circle 113
b. SubLyme Art
5. Listen to the Universe
a. Daily Practices
i.
Course in Miracles
ii.
Journaling
iii.
Dialogue Walks
6. Integrating Head, Heart, and Hand
a. Being an observer of self
b. Presencing in the moment
Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to
humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever,
headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left
untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Lyme disease
is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of
exposure to infected ticks; laboratory testing is helpful if used correctly and performed
with validated methods. According to the CDC: most cases of Lyme disease can be
treated successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. The ticks that transmit Lyme disease
can occasionally transmit other tick-borne diseases as well.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted, infectious disease caused by the spirochete Treponema
pallidum. Length of treatment depends on how severe the syphilis is, and factors such as
the patient's overall health. Follow-up blood tests must be done at 3, 6, 12, and 24
months to ensure that the infection is gone. Secondary syphilis can be cured if it is
diagnosed early and treated effectively. Although it usually goes away within weeks, in
some cases it may last for up to 1 year. Without treatment, up to one-third of patients will
have late complications of syphilis.
Late syphilis and late Lyme may be permanently disabling, and it may lead to death.
In reading the CDC website about Lyme, a person, including MD’s can conclude that
‘this is it’ this is the word. However, there are other things to take into consideration.
Basic Information about Lyme Disease
By The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society
. 1
Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of a tick, and the disease is prevalent
across the United States and throughout the world.
. 2
Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis. 3
Fewer than 50% of patients with Lyme
disease recall a tick bite. In some studies this number is as low as 15% in
culture-proven infection with the Lyme spirochete.
. 6
The Elisa screening test is unreliable. The test misses 35% of culture proven
Lyme disease (only 65% sensitivity) and is unacceptable as the first step of a
two-step screening protocol. By definition, a screening test should have at least
95% sensitivity.
. 7
Of patients with acute culture-proven Lyme disease, 20–30% remain seronegative
on serial western blot sampling. Antibody titers also appear to decline over
Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
time; thus while the western blot may remain positive for months, it may not
always be sensitive enough to detect chronic infection with the Lyme spirochete.
For “epidemiological purposes” the CDC eliminated from the western blot
analysis the reading of bands 31 and 34. These bands are so specific to Borrelia
Burgdorferi that they were chosen for vaccine development. Since a vaccine for
Lyme disease is currently unavailable, however, a positive 31 or 34 band is highly
indicative of Borrelia Burgdorferi exposure. Yet these bands are not reported in
commercial Lyme tests.
8
When used as part of a diagnostic evaluation for Lyme disease, the western blot
should be performed by a laboratory that reads and reports all of the bands
related to Borrelia Burgdorferi. Laboratories that use FDA approved kits (for
instance, the mardx marblot®) are restricted from reporting all of the bands, as
they must abide by the rules of the manufacturer. These rules are set up in
accordance with the CDC's surveillance criteria and increase the risk of falsenegative results. The commercial kits may be useful for surveillance purposes, but
they offer too little information to be useful in patient management.
9
There are 5 subspecies of Borrelia Burgdorferi, over 100 strains in the US, and
300 strains worldwide.
10
Testing for Babesia, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia and Bartonella (other tick-transmitted
organisms) should be performed.
1
A preponderance of evidence indicates that active ongoing spirochetal infection with
or without other tick-borne coinfections is the cause of the persistent
symptoms in chronic Lyme disease.
12
There has never been a study demonstrating that 30 days of antibiotic treatment
cures chronic Lyme disease. However there is a plethora of documentation in the
us and European medical literature demonstrating by histology and culture
techniques that short courses of antibiotic treatment fail to eradicate the Lyme
spirochete. Short treatment courses have resulted in upwards of a 40% relapse
rate, especially if treatment is delayed.
13
Most cases of chronic Lyme disease require an extended course of antibiotic
therapy to achieve symptomatic relief.
14
Many patients with chronic Lyme disease require prolonged treatment until the
patient is symptom-free.
15
Like Syphilis in the 19th century, Lyme disease has been called the great imitator
and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of rheumatologic and
neurologic conditions, as well as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia,
Somatization Disorder and any difficult-to-diagnose multi-system illness.
After many years of patients not getting well, fresh research shows that biofilm
communities may be protecting Lyme disease and other co-infections from full spectrum
antibiotic therapy effectiveness. University of New Haven suggests that Biofilm is
protecting the Lyme disease spirochete from antibiotics and any therapy not containing a
method to address biofilm may prove to be inferior. Lyme disease in its chronic form
loves to hide and live within red blood cells and nervous tissue, including the brain.
Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
Antibiotics and other medications are not commonly designed to penetrate within the red
blood cells or capable of breaking the blood brain barrier, and leave these organisms
untouched to grow and spread.
In the aftermath of WWII, over 1500 scientists, engineers, technicians from Nazi
Germany and other countries were brought to the U.S. for employment. This project was
known as Operation Paperclip; this project was to exploit German scientific knowledge
and deny it to the Soviet Union. Erich Traubel was a German veterinarian and virologist
who specialized in foot & mouth disease, Rinderpest (cattle plague) and Newcastle
disease (bird disease that is transmissible to humans). He was a researcher in the Third
Reich’s biological warfare program (cover name: Cancer Research Program) and did
similar work in the U.S. One of the places he frequented was the Plum Island Bioweapon research facility off the coast of Long Island.
In The Belarus Secret Loftus exposed records of the Nazi germ warfare
scientists who experimented with poison ticks dropped from planes to spread rare
diseases. In 1952, the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for a 'vigorous, well-planned, largescale [biological warfare] test to the secretary of defense later that year stated, 'Steps
should be take to make certain of adequate facilities are available, including those at Fort
Detrick, Dugway Proving Ground, Fort Terry (Plum Island) and an island field testing
area.' "Traub might have monitored the tests. A source that worked on Plum Island in the
1950's recalls that animal handlers and a scientist released ticks outdoors on the island.
'They called him the Nazi scientist, when they came in, in 1951-they were inoculating
these ticks,' and a picture he once saw 'shows the animal handler pointing to the area on
Plum where they released the ticks.' It was suspected that Plum Island played a role in
the evolution of Lyme disease, given the nature of its business and its proximity to Old
Lyme, Connecticut.
"Researchers trying to prove that Lyme disease existed before 1975 claim to have
isolated Bb [the bacterium that causes the infection] in ticks collected on nearby Shelter
Island and Long Island in the late 1940's. That timing coincides with both Erich Traub's
arrival in the United States on Project PAPERCLIP and the Army's selection of Plum
Island as its offshore biological warfare laboratory.
There is a lot of denial, and some of these allegations are deemed a ‘conspiracy theory’.
What I am up against is the denial, similar to CC denial.
Stakeholders: CDC, USDA, Scientific American dismissed the possibility of a "Nazi
scientist" link to Plum Island. In FTR#240-part of the long FTR series about "German
Corporate Control over American Media"--it was noted that the Von Holtzbrinck firm
controls that magazine. Like its larger competitor Bertelsmann, the Von Holtzbrinck firm
is rooted firmly in the Third Reich. My understanding is that some CDC board members
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Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
own a patent of the Borrelia burgdorferi. Thousands upon thousands of people suffering
and dying; LLMDs
Vision for future: I envision transparency and truth, where individuals move from
protecting themselves and their careers at an ego level, to transcend the fear of
consequences as they become eco-centric. I see adequate testing methodologies (PCR)
and optimal treatment plans. Financial assistance is available to the infected. I see a place
where there are no sides, no opposing thoughts, there is only oneness. All our hearts are
beating in unison, everything is connected, all people, animal, vegetation, elements.
What do I need to let go of: I notice that I am oftentimes on the under dog’s side of a
controversy. Environmental, Chiropractic, Climate Change, now Lyme. I need to let go
that I am always an under-dog. I need to let go of fear (criticism, death threats, loss of
credibility).
I need to let go of my inner dialogue: I don’t know where to start, I don’t know who to
ask for help, how am I going to find the time, etc. I need to let go of my own fear of my
body betraying me because of this disease.
I need to learn: I still need to research the evidence on both sides. I need to learn that I
cannot do this by myself and I need to learn to build team around this.
Help: hold the vision with me.
Lyme disease, transmitted by a bite from a tick infected by the Borrelia burgdorferi
bacteria, had long been considered easy to treat, usually requiring a single doctor’s visit
and a few weeks of antibiotics for most people. But new research from the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that a prolonged illness associated with the
disease is more widespread and serious in some patients than previously understood.
With an estimated 240,000 to 440,000 new cases of the tick-borne illness diagnosed
every year, the researchers found that Lyme disease costs the U.S. healthcare system
between $712 million and $1.3 billion a year — or nearly $3,000 per patient on average
— in return doctor visits and testing, likely to investigate the cause of some patients’
lingering symptoms of fatigue, musculoskeletal pain and memory problems. These visits
come after patients have finished their original course of antibiotics.
Some doctors call those persistent symptoms post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome
(PTLDS); others call it chronic Lyme disease. Still others attribute the complaints of
fatigue, headaches and memory problems to the hum of daily life, the aches and pains
that come with aging. At the core of the controversy is whether PTLDS can be a severe
Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
and chronic condition that requires more than reassurance and symptomatic therapy.
While a blood test can confirm Lyme disease, there is no definitive test for PTLDS and
there are no approved or proven treatments. It’s a controversial topic in medicine, the
Hopkins researchers say.
A report on the findings was published online Feb. 4 in the journal PLOS ONE. “Our
study looks at the actual costs of treating patients in the year following their Lyme
diagnosis,” says study author Emily Adrion, MSc, a PhD candidate in the Department of
Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health. “Regardless of what you call it, our data show that many people who have been
diagnosed with Lyme disease are in fact going back to the doctor complaining of
persistent symptoms, getting multiple tests and being retreated. They cost the healthcare
system about $1 billion a year and it is clear that we need effective, cost-effective and
compassionate management of these patients to improve their outcomes even if we don’t
know what to call the disease.”
Adrion and her colleagues looked at medical claims data from approximately 47 million
people enrolled in a wide range of commercial health insurance plans in the United States
between 2006 and 2010. The researchers ended up analyzing 52,795 cases of Lyme
disease patients under the age of 65 who had been treated with antibiotics within 30 days
of a Lyme disease test order and/or Lyme disease diagnosis. The data were compared to
nearly 264,000 other similar people with no evidence of Lyme disease exposure.
The researchers found that, on average, people with Lyme disease cost the system $2,968
more than matched controls. They had 87 percent more visits to the doctor and 71 percent
more visits to the emergency room within the year following diagnosis. Those with Lyme
disease were nearly five times more likely to have any PTLDS-related diagnosis —
fatigue, nerve pain, joint pain, cognitive troubles — within that year and were 5.5 times
more likely to have a diagnosis of debility and excessive fatigue.
Among those with Lyme disease, having one or more PTLDS-related diagnosis was
associated with $3,798 more in healthcare costs as compared to those with no posttreatment symptoms.
Lyme disease is named after the town in Connecticut where it was first recognized in
1975. It now hits its peak in June and July and is found from Maine to Virginia along the
East Coast of the United States. The tick causes a skin reaction that resembles a bulls-eye
or spider bite. If left untreated, Lyme disease may lead to neurologic and rheumatic
symptoms weeks or months later. Treatment with the antibiotic doxycycline is associated
with a more rapid resolution of early signs of infection and prevention of the majority of
later symptoms, the researchers say.
Still, some patients report symptoms lasting for weeks, months or years beyond
completion of the original antibiotic regimen. There is no approved therapy for these
Prototype 1.0
Lyme disease: Inconsistencies with CDC Diagnosis & Treatment Protocols
With What is Actually Occurring
patients and the magnitude of the problem in the U.S. population has never been
systematically studied. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates
10 percent to 20 percent of those treated for Lyme disease with the recommended two-tofour week course of antibiotics continue to have symptoms. But, in the new study, the
researchers found that more than 63 percent of those treated for Lyme disease had at least
one PTLDS-related diagnosis — a rate 36-percentage points higher than those who did
not have Lyme disease.
The study’s lead author John Aucott, MD, an assistant professor of rheumatology at the
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says it does no good to keep debating the
existence of long-term problems related to Lyme disease while people are suffering a
debilitating illness. And he says that increasing awareness of potential complications is
crucial to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary medical testing.
“These patients are lost,” he says. “No one really knows what to do with them. It’s a
challenge, but the first thing we need to do is recognize this is a problem. There’s not a
magic pill. These patients already got the magic pill and it didn’t work.”
“Healthcare costs, utilization and patterns of care following Lyme disease” was written
by Emily Adrion, MSc; John Aucott, MD; Klaus Lemke, PhD; and Jonathan P. Weiner,
DrPH.
This research was funded by a grant from the Lyme Disease Research Foundation.
Source: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2015/02/lyme-disease-costs-up-to13%20billion-annually-to-treat-study-finds.aspx