3 ms·
A lot of misinformation in that article. There is no doubt about it anymore that Lyme persisters are real or that standard two weeks of antibiotics can't eradic
by vimy 5y ago
A lot of misinformation in that article. There is no doubt about it anymore that Lyme persisters are real or that standard two weeks of antibiotics can't eradicate it all. The debate has shifted towards denying that the remaining spirochetes are the cause of illness. Which is of course a ludicrous position as it flies in the face of germ theory.
> How Lyme persists
Unlike typical bacteria, Borrelia has the ability to evade the immune system by propelling itself to different areas of the body, changing its outer surface proteins and shapeshifting—mechanisms that also help the bacteria resist standard antibiotics.
Prior research has pointed to persistent infection as the cause of chronic Lyme disease including research by Fallon at Columbia University, Embers at Tulane University, Lewis at Northeastern University, Baumgarth at University of California, Davis, Zhang at Johns Hopkins University, Aucott at Johns Hopkins University, Novak at Harvard Medical School and many others.
Multiple studies in both animals and humans over several decades have demonstrated both inflammation and persistence of Borrelia in the nervous system following doxycycline treatment.
Using three highly sensitive methods of detection validated with nonhuman primate samples at Tulane National Primate Research Center, the research team concluded that at the donor’s time of death, her central nervous system still harbored intact spirochetes in spite of aggressive antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease at different times throughout her illness.
The researchers employed the use of immunofluorescence staining to image the spirochetes, polymerase chain reaction or PCR to detect the presence of B. burgdorferi DNA, and RNAscope to determine whether the spirochetes were viable.
https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-spirochetes-autopsied-brain/ https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-spirochetes-autopsied-brain...
>New study finds Lyme bacteria survive a 28-day course of antibiotics ...
The data show that living B. burgdorferi spirochetes were found in ticks that fed upon the primates and in multiple organs after treatment with 28 days of oral doxycycline. The results also indicated that the immune response to the bacteria varied widely in both treated and untreated subjects.
“It is apparent from these data that B. burgdorferi bacteria, which have had time to adapt to their host, have the ability to escape immune recognition, tolerate the antibiotic doxycycline and invade vital organs such as the brain and heart,” said lead author Monica Embers, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine.
https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-study-embers/ https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-study-embers/
> In summary, we provide several lines of evidence that suggest that B. burgdorferi can persist in the human body, not only in the spirochetal but also in the antibiotic-resistant biofilm form, even after long-term antibiotic treatment. The presence of infiltrating lymphocytes in the vicinity of B. burgdorferi biofilms suggests that the organism in biofilm form might trigger chronic inflammation.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31614557/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31614557/
> Conclusions: Using multiple corroborative detection methods, we showed that patients with persistent Lyme disease symptoms may have ongoing spirochetal infection despite antibiotic treatment, similar to findings in non-human primates. The optimal treatment for persistent Borrelia infection remains to be determined. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324539470_Persistent_Borrelia_Infection_in_Patients_with_Ongoing_Symptoms_of_Lyme_Disease https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324539470_Persisten...