Alan MacDonald's Bb/Miyamotoi Chimera

[duncan]

Alan MacDonald has written to the results of his research into an Alzheimers/Borrelia link. It suggests the presence of a DNA chimeric influence.

It's not a published study yet, but anyone interested might want to visit his gofund website for Alzheimers and Borrelia research.

Sorry, I managed to post my first thread today, copying and pasting. But still in the dark how to copy and paste a link.

It's a fascinating read, hopefully worth tracking down his website.

 

[Sushi]

But still in the dark how to copy and paste a link.

If you want to link to a post, click on the number of the post and copy the URL in the box that pops us. Then highlight the word where you want the link to appear, click on the link symbol in the menu above (to the right of fonts) and insert the URL. If you want to make a link to a web page, just copy the URL and follow the same steps.

 

[duncan]

Sushi: Thank you. I am trying. I had nothing but disdain for step-by-step instructions before I got sick. Now I not only long for them, I marvel how anyone has the presence and clarity to follow them.

Click on MY post number? Post number 1? Aach, this is distracting to everyone. I apologize. Go to that website to see about that chimera. The implications if he is right are many, and none are good.

In the meantime, I will try to follow Sushi's help.

 

[Sushi]

Go to that website to see about that chimera.

This is probably the link you want.

 

[duncan]

You ROCK!!!!!! And YES! That's it!

Thank you, Sushi.

 

[duncan]

In theory, this Lyme/B miyamotoi chimera would elude all three FDA approved Lyme diagnostics.

Alan MacDonald seems to think it will undo the newest vaccine effort. Perhaps it lacks OspC or OspA?

The link to Alzheimer's is one that he and Miklossey have tried to demonstrate in the past. But this chimera, if true, means a rethinking of diagnostics and treatments. It literally recasts how Bb is categorized - would this chimera be a labeled a tick-borne relapsing fever disease?

 

[Antares in NYC]

Duncan, would you mind explaining a bit the meaning of "chimera" in this medical context, and its importance in this discovery? I would very much appreciate it; I'm in the dark as far as to what this means in terms of advances in the fight against Lyme.

I really admire Dr. MacDonald. The guy is a hero, doing ground-breaking research on his own, with no resources, literally in his own basement. For those who are not familiar, Alan MacDonald is the first researcher that proved how Borrelia creates biofilms to evade the immune system and antibiotic treatment. He's also one of the first doctors to find plaques of Borrelia in the brains of patients that died of Alzheimers, proving a correlation.

All the best and most ground-breaking research on both Lyme and ME/CFS is being done by pioneering and truly devoted researchers without funding or official support (Lipkin, MacDonald, Montoya, Sapi, etc). They are true heroes in my book. It's an absolute shame that the medical establishment gives such little priority (and pitiful funds) to horrendous emerging diseases, specially now that Lyme has become officially an epidemic. Shame, shame, shame.

 

[duncan]

@Antares in NYC , I will give it a go.

A chimera is an organism that contains DNA from two otherwise discreet organisms. You can have chimeric plants, and chimeric animals. On a cellular level, a chimera is the result of genetically different or unique cells; it is like an independent hybrid of two organisms.

I think what MacDonald is claiming is that he has found via staining, in plaques within donated Alzheimer's brains, biofilms that are comprised in part, not just of Lyme or B Miyamotoi, but a genetic crossbreed of the two. A spirochetal chimera. He also found distinct and viable Bb and miyamotoi in these plaques, findings which are equally significant for different reasons...But the chimera carries implications that resonate back in time to undermine many claims made by mainstream Lyme.

Antibody tests for Lyme and for B Miyamotoi (theoretically since there aren't yet commercially available tests for miyamotoi), are based on identifying outer surface proteins of the spirochetes. But the chimeric affect confounds that process by reshuffling the protein deck in such a way as to render current Borrelia metrics useless. As MacDonald notes, "Chimera DNA produces chimera proteins."

He also addresses his theory about Borrelia contributing to Alzheimer's. Judith Miklossy out of Switzerland (I think) has also addressed the role of different spirochetes, including Borrelia, in degenerative dementias. One aspect I found fascinating was his theory that amyloid deposits are DEFENSE mechanisms against the chimera filled brain biofilms. He is postulating that the infamous amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimers are biofilms - biofilms covered in amyloid.

These findings will need to be verified, of course, and I don't think anyone should assume that that will happen soon, if at all. We have a history, both within Lyme and ME/CFS communities, of exciting developments that fall stillborn for one reason or another.

We can already anticipate some of the responses: Geographically, Bb dispersion does not map to Alzheimers or MS etc. Or an independent team will dissect a group of Alzheimers' brain and find no evidence of biofilms of any kind of Borrelia.

They may be proven right. We will have to wait and see.

It would be nice, though, if I could read of independent verification efforts, and not have to wonder how and when "independent" lost its way.