Babesia and Lyme New study.

[justy]

Borrelia burgdorferi Promotes the
Establishment of Babesia microti in the
Northeastern United States

Abstract
Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi, the respective causative agents of human

babesiosis and Lyme disease, are maintained in their enzootic cycles by the
blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and use the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus
leucopus) as primary reservoir host. The geographic range of both pathogens has

expanded in the United States, but the spread of babesiosis has lagged behind that
of Lyme disease.

From Dr Horowitz on Facebook:

This article on Lyme disease and Babesiosis was just published in PLoS ONE. Dr Peter Krause and a team of researchers demonstrated in the laboratory that the frequency of Babesia microti infected ticks is higher when fed on white footed mice that are co-infected with both Lyme and Babesia, than on mice just infected with B. microti alone.This article follows recent scientific observations published by Dr Rick Ostfeld earlier this year in PLoS ONE, that the rate of co-infectio...n with Babesiosis and Lyme is higher than expected in small mammals (http://www.plosone.org/…/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pon…). These two articles confirm what I have been seeing in clinical practice for almost two decades: Babesiosis is rising, and is a common co-infection seen in my chronically ill patients. Once Babesia is adequately treated, many patients who have failed classical Lyme treatments will clinically improve.

http://www.plosone.org/article/fetc....1371/journal.pone.0115494&representation=PDF

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0099348

 

[duncan]

Diagnostics for Babesia outside of acute cases pretty much suck.

Come to think of it, even with acute cases, it's easier said than done. You have to pull a positive antibody test, then confirm with a blood smear where someone actually tries to see the parasite. Multiple attempts at smears are frequently needed - if you get stuck with a lab that doesn't make those attempts, you may be told you don't have an active case.

This may make any efforts at slowing the spread of the disease all the more difficult.

Not that any such efforts exist currently, that I am aware of - other than maybe, don't get bit by ticks.

 

[RML]

Thanks for posting Justy I will give that a closer read later on when I'm feeling a bit better or more awake/alert etc to understand it and take it in properly. My Babesia test came back positive recently and I know very little about it or understand how it will impact on the rest of my treatment.

 

[anciendaze]

Just to reiterate an observation I've made before: in chronic disease states the assumption of a single infectious agent is very likely to be violated. This assumption is convenient for diagnosis, but has a very weak empirical basis.

 

[Dufresne]

Thanks for posting Justy I will give that a closer read later on when I'm feeling a bit better or more awake/alert etc to understand it and take it in properly. My Babesia test came back positive recently and I know very little about it or understand how it will impact on the rest of my treatment.

Of course it varies from person to person with Lyme and co-infections as to which pathogen is causing the most misery and should be treated first. In my case it's definitely babesia duncani. When I'm somewhat successful at treating it my misery is halved. I'm very happy to have finally figured this out, now it's just a matter of beating it into submission.

I mention this because I sat on positive babesia results for too long and suffered needlessly. Which isn't to suggest it's easy to beat. Treat aggressively from the get go and make sure your strategy is sound. You'll have to use combination therapy to be successful, and if you don't you can really screw yourself by causing the bug to develop resistance. This is especially the case treating with artemisinin. I made this mistake before knowing I even had the infection and as a result the whole class of drugs is dead to me now. Hit the Lyme sites and do a lot of google searches before you start.

 

[sianrecovery]

Just got Ingenx positive for Duncani and microti. Also tested positive for borrelia. Oh joy.

 

[Hanna]

Sorry for your results @sianrecovery.
Last month I had 3 complete courses of Riamet for Babs. Heavy nightsweats + coughs are behind me now. Hope it won't return. How do you intend to hit the bugs?

 

[justy]

Cant like your post @sianrecovery - I thought you had seen Klinghardt some years ago? did he not test then? perhaps I am mistaken about that - my short term memory is shot, but other things linger...I haven't been tested for babesia I don't think, but am going to ask KDM as I have the sweats and air hunger (although peri menopausal now as well). so far just Bart and Cpn for me.

Jonathon Edwards said on another thread that ant malarials can cause health problems in some people, and as they are the treatment for Babs I wonder how that works

 

[sianrecovery]

Am going to work with a nurse practitioner in AZ who specialises in Lyme and Co, and herself is in recovery from them. Speak to her on the 30th, so will find out the regime then. It was Dr Fry I saw Justy - he just tested me for 'his' bug, protomyxzoa - and gave me a years worth of doxy. Idiot....

Yes - most of the anti-protazoans seem pretty tough on the body. Guess what hurts the bugs hurts us. But not treating doesn't feel like a realistic option either. Late-stage untreated Lyme, which I am now seeing in contemporaries who went down the do-nothing route, looks pretty crappy too.

Glad things are feeling better for you, Hanna.

 

[justy]

Am going to work with a nurse practitioner in AZ who specialises in Lyme and Co, and herself is in recovery from them. Speak to her on the 30th, so will find out the regime then. It was Dr Fry I saw Justy - he just tested me for 'his' bug, protomyxzoa - and gave me a years worth of doxy. Idiot....

Yes - most of the anti-protazoans seem pretty tough on the body. Guess what hurts the bugs hurts us. But not treating doesn't feel like a realistic option either. Late-stage untreated Lyme, which I am now seeing in contemporaries who went down the do-nothing route, looks pretty crappy too.

Glad things are feeling better for you, Hanna.

Ah yes Fry... I remember now. yes do nothing is not an option - I have known for 8 months now that I have infections and not able to treat so far and keep feeling worse all the time. The memory issues are the worst - I just have a big hole where the previous days should be...maybe that's why I manage to feel so happy...am like a goldfish in a bowl, hardly registering the days that went before!

Just wondering where is AZ for treatment? good luck with it.

 

[sianrecovery]

AZ is Arizona. I need to work out a supply route for meds. She suggests a starting regime of mepron and azithromycin, plus an antibiotic/fungal spray for the bugs that cultured off the nasal swab.

Mepron is punishingly expensive.

 

[duncan]

Dumb question, but what's a TBD specialist doing treating in AZ? I would think there is not much of a demand for that doctor's services there.

I only bring this up as a possible consideration of this doctor's credentials. I know you have enough things to worry about, so I apologize if I am adding to your concerns. I am just trying to relay what my thoughts would be if someone recommended I go to a TBD person or an ID or LLMD in Arizona.

ETA: Oh, maybe because this person is knowldgeable about Duncani. If I remember, that's a more common on the west coast, so being in AZ would explain that. See? It was a dumb question.

 

[justy]

KDM just tested me for Babs using FSH - don't understand what that means, but now I wait and see the result. I already have two/three infections, I don't want another one!

 

[sianrecovery]

There's plenty of Lyme in Arizona Duncan - I'm also member of the Arizona Lyme group - so any TBD is in demand. The person treating me has also undergone the Lyme journey themselves. I think I got my infection in AZ - from a house I used to rent in Sedona on the edge of forest service land, that the deer would wander through every day, feed, sleep etc. And I'd wander round barefoot thinking how cute they were...times change. The prevalence of tick borne disease in the US is enormously under-estimated. Though I do seem to remember the CDC now recognise AZ as a Lyme state.
Justy - FISH is bloody clever, good old Ingenx. Instead of using a routine ink-type stain (I am quoting Schaller) they use a special probe that sticks to babe and makes it glow with ultraviolet light. If you test positive, and I hope you don't, his website has lots of useful stuff on it.

 

[Valentijn]

KDM just tested me for Babs using FSH - don't understand what that means, but now I wait and see the result. I already have two/three infections, I don't want another one!

I came up negative on that one.

 

[jess100]

AZ is Arizona. I need to work out a supply route for meds. She suggests a starting regime of mepron and azithromycin, plus an antibiotic/fungal spray for the bugs that cultured off the nasal swab.

Mepron is punishingly expensive.

Hi I'm wondering how you did on the mepron and azithro. I'm about to start and have seen some people say not to wait on treatment (which I have done-was diagnosed in June and still havent started the meds)

I've been putting it off for various reasons