Thanks to @Simon and his very good report from Dr. Ian Lipkins talk in London in September we got these news:
"Chronic Lyme disease – chasing the wrong microbe?
Fever, fatigue, headaches and a characteristic rash are all characteristic of Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacteriumBorrelia burgdorferi and spread through the bites of blood-sucking ticks. It’s treated by antibiotics, but some people remain ill, often leading to the controversial diagnosis of ‘chronic Lyme disease’.
Various theories to explain the illness include prolonged immune activation or even that people are choosing an illness role for secondary gain.
Lipkin is interested in pursuing another theory: what if they’ve got the wrong man and B. burgdorferi isn’t the culprit in some cases? Following the hunch that chronic Lyme disease is caused by a different pathogen, they’ve been looking to see what other microbes are carried by the ticks that spread Lyme disease.
Lipkin said they’ve already discovered a number of different viruses in the ticks. They have more work to do to see if any of these could be causing chronic Lyme disease but added, 'we expect it will surprise many people when it is finally done.'
Some doctors as Kenny De Meirleir, Horowitz, Nicolaus and Swartzbach at Infectolabs among others are already chasing viruses in chronic Lyme patients, but maybe Lipkin will be able to confirm something with indisputable tests.
"Chronic Lyme disease – chasing the wrong microbe?
Fever, fatigue, headaches and a characteristic rash are all characteristic of Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacteriumBorrelia burgdorferi and spread through the bites of blood-sucking ticks. It’s treated by antibiotics, but some people remain ill, often leading to the controversial diagnosis of ‘chronic Lyme disease’.
Various theories to explain the illness include prolonged immune activation or even that people are choosing an illness role for secondary gain.
Lipkin is interested in pursuing another theory: what if they’ve got the wrong man and B. burgdorferi isn’t the culprit in some cases? Following the hunch that chronic Lyme disease is caused by a different pathogen, they’ve been looking to see what other microbes are carried by the ticks that spread Lyme disease.
Lipkin said they’ve already discovered a number of different viruses in the ticks. They have more work to do to see if any of these could be causing chronic Lyme disease but added, 'we expect it will surprise many people when it is finally done.'
Some doctors as Kenny De Meirleir, Horowitz, Nicolaus and Swartzbach at Infectolabs among others are already chasing viruses in chronic Lyme patients, but maybe Lipkin will be able to confirm something with indisputable tests.