I am sorry to say that I missed it.  But thanks to Kettmann.com,  we are all able to watch it, and download it to share with friends and family.

Please watch it now or later  (the video is 40 minutes long.)  Just follow these simple steps – courtesy of Channel 5, Boston Massachusetts, ABC-TV WCVB.

For Windows click here to watch streaming download.

For Apple click here to watch streaming download.

Click on SAVE FILE, and then OPEN after the file has been completely downloaded.

The file is large and will take some time to download.  When it is finished, double-click on the GOM icon and the movie will open in a new window.

There is a button on the top right with 4 little boxes which will open the movie in full screen.

Enjoy!

People who are sick with Lyme disease and treating the disease for years with antibiotics and/or alternative treatments – sometimes with a single protocol and sometimes using several protocols at once – are beginning to wonder, “…maybe I don’t have Lyme, maybe it is something else.”

The  problem continues to rest with inadequate testing for a clear diagnosis. Researchers in Italy and subsequently in the UK have recently (October and November 2011) published findings that demonstrate Bartonella heslslae transferring DNA to human endothelial cells. Endothelial cells are the thin layer of cells that line the interior of blood vessels.  It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to consider the impact of this information with respect to the neurological aspect of our disease(s).

According to Dr. James Schaller (who actively researches and collaborates with doctors from around the world), Bartonella is far more common than Lyme and is spread not only by ticks but by just about every other biting insect you can think of.  He writes in his soon-to-be-published textbook on human infections spread by flea and ticks:

Bartonella is no footnote and is more common than Lyme.  Many years ago when I first got involved in the super specialtyof tick and flea infection medicine, no one took Bartonella seriously.  It was presented as an easy to kill infection, and of no real concern.  It was rarely discussed at infection medicine meetings, in guidelines or infection textbooks.  (I noticed the same thing after publishing four books on Babesia–the parasite books I purchased only had two pages on this serious infection).

When I published the most recent book on Bartonella, it showed that Bartonella did not have two or three skin patterns, but vast numbers.  This was a fully new and massively expanded diagnostic tool based on reading the world literature and examining heavily infected patients.  I was also surprised that no one was looking for the chemicals altered by the presence of Bartonella and the dynamic of these chemicals when both Babesia and Bartonella are present.  You can read this in the latter sections of my textbook, Babesia 2009 Update.

This year a new human Bartonella species was added to the over thirty five Bartonella species publically published in Genetic Data banks.  It was discovered and highlighted by the talented veterinarian researcher Edward Breitschwerdt.  He has said things more clearly than the ideas I was pondering in 2005, while doing most of my Bartonella book reading. 

Dr. Breitscwerdt has said simply, but with devastating and highly useful clarity that Bartonella testing is terrible, the treatments are poor, it is typically found on the outside of red blood cells, and the current research on Bartonella is pathetic (referencing one study at NIH.)

 If this was not enough, he said in 2011 “Bartonella is carried by more vectors than any infection on the earth.”  So it is hardly a backdoor “co-infection.”  Indeed, this month Bartonella was literally shown to alter human DNA.  The implications of this possibility are staggering, and may support what I reported six years ago—Bartonella is not killed simply or easily.  My appeal is simple: treating it like a footnote infection is outdated and harmful.

The symptoms of Bartonella are very similar to Lyme but may include other more specific symptoms such as swollen lymph glands, sore throat, painful soles of feet especially in the morning and hyperacusis (sharp pain from sound).  See more on Bartonella.

A Common Emerging Stealth Infection by Dr. James Schaller

Below are examples of signs, symptoms and indirect ways to help increase the diagnosis of Babesia.  An examination of public genetic databases shows well over thirty-five species exist, many of which have variants.

Please note that an unknown percentage of people infected have no symptoms, at least for many years.

This checklist is not meant to be used as a definitive tool to diagnose Babesia.  I would suggest no definitive 100% or even 98% sensitive tool exists.

My goal is merely to decrease illness resulting from false negative patients, i.e., people who are positive but do not show up positive on a basic direct test.

Indeed, it is not uncommon for a patient with Babesia to present with a negative test result over ten times, regardless of the lab, and then to show up positive on DNA testing when exposed to two or three protozoa treatments for three days, or to have positive antibody testing six weeks after a similar provocation trial.

I do not oppose or endorse such approaches, but feel it necessary to mention that this has happened with “malaria” prevention treatment.  Additionally, there have been instances in which the use of herbs, such as artesunate, for cancer prevention, has resulted in an unintended outcome: the conversion of a Babesia titer from negative to positive.

The path to expertise with Babesia is not simply to read a summary article or guidebook (of which I have authored four on the topic of Babesia).  Nor is expertise acquired by viewing the sickest 1% of patients as the “norm” in Babesia diagnosis.

If someone seeks expert knowledge of the infection, it begins by reading the entire world Pub Med literature over a few years, then utilizing that knowledge by focusing on treating this infection for over five years.

In summary, how can any certain Babesia position exist, when new species that infect humans are routinely emerging, and for which there is not even a direct test—regardless of sensitivity?

SYMPTOM LIST

1) I react to any derivative of Artemisia (Sweet Wormwood). *Note: the reaction does not need to last more than a day and any immediate stomach aches or loose stool do not apply.

2) I react to a malaria drug. (It requires profound wisdom for a clinician to distinguish between a side effect and a reaction caused by an effective Babesia treatment.  For example, insomnia caused by the synthetic drug Larium is meaningless, since Larium has this as a side effect in uninfected patients.  But fatigue and a severe headache resulting from a teaspoon of Mepron on day one are very suspicious symptoms for a known protozoan like Babesia or Malaria or other similar infections that are newly identified genetically).

3) Headaches with no clear cause

4) Headaches that are hard to control

5) Weight gain in clear excess of diet and exercise

6) Weight loss with reasonable eating and average exercise

7) Fatigue in excess of that experienced by most people in the same age range

Fatigue that produces need for sleep in excess of 8 ½ hours daily

9) Fatigue with ongoing insomnia [consider the possibility of both Bartonella and Babesia in this case]

10) Absolute Eosinophils in the low or high range [this is not definitive in any manner, but is a useful tool]

11) A percentage of Eosinophils in low range or high normal range

12) Very high Eosinophils [rare with Babesia, but other findings suggest other possible causes]

13) Mood changes with any herb or drug that kills protozoa like Babesia, with the exception of Larium

14) Shortness of breath [no clear asthma, pneumonia, COPD or other common cause]

15) Swelling in limbs and other parts of body

16) Night sweats

17) Excessive perspiration during normal daily activity

18) Hot flashes in a normal temperature room

19) A poor appetite

20) Intermittent fever

21) Chills

22) A high fever

23) A high fever in excess of three days

24) Slowed thinking

25) Listlessness

26) A normal or low VEGF lab result in the presence of Bartonella

27) A TNF-a in excess of 1.0 in the presence of Bartonella

28) A CD57 or CD57/8 level that drops right after the start of a Babesia treatment, or which falls steadily with ongoing treatment

29) Pets, farm animals or local relatives with ANY tick borne virus, bacteria or protozoa

30) Excess breast tissue in a man or boy

31) Any decreased in appetite

32) Severe chest wall pains

33) Random stabbing pains

34) Any enhanced sense: sensitivity to light, touch, smells or sound

35) Family, friends or others report you look tired or foggy

36) You have received blood from another person

37) Muscle aches or joint aches/pain, especially worse after use of a protozoa killing medicine such as proquanil, Alinia, ativoquone, clindamycin, or one of many new emerging progressive natural medicine or synthetic malaria drug treatments

38) Nausea or vomiting

39) Hemolytic anemia with lab positive blood products in your urine [this is not a routine finding]

40) Dark urine [this is rarer than some articles intimate]

41) An enlarged liver (which sits under your right rib cage)

42) An enlarged spleen (under your left rib cage). This is falsely believed to be a common human sign; actually it is very rare.

43) A yellow hue on eyes, hands and skin (jaundice) with no other clear cause.

44) Sexual contact is a debated form of communication of some tick and flea borne infections. I have no position. Isolation in a body fluid does not mean that is a route to spread the infection. If you and your healer feel this is a possible route of infection, has the patient had intimate contact with the sharing of body fluids with an infected person?

45) The patient’s mother is suspected of having or has been diagnosed with Babesia, Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Anaplasma, Lyme or Bartonella based on newer direct and indirect testing or clinical signs and symptoms.

46) A sibling, father, spouse or child with any tick borne infection who shared a residence or vacation with proximity to brush (wooded area).

47) Exposure to outdoor environments with brush, wild grasses, wild streams, golf courses or woods in excess of ten minutes in any location lived or visited since the age of eighteen months of age.

48) Outdoor exposure in locations such as brush, wild grasses, wild streams or woods which took place without the use of DEET or without very high off-gassing essential oils on exposed skin areas.

49) Enlarged lymph nodes (but also in Lyme, Bartonella, other infections, high inflammation, tumors and other diseases)

50) After Babesia treatment with clear protozoa killing agents used also to kill malaria, IL-6 moves from very low to an increased level.

51) After Babesia treatment with clear protozoa killing agents used also to kill malaria, IL-1B moves from very low to an increased level.

52) Brain troubles such as trouble keeping up with past routine life demands, lateness due to trouble with motivation and organization, and trouble with concentration [Any of these would be a positive]

53) Memory troubles [this is not specific to one infection or one disease process.  For example, exposure to indoor mold’s biological chemicals can decrease memory within an hour depending on the species mix]

54) Profound psychiatric illnesses [this is not limited to a single infection]

55) Daytime sleep urgency despite nighttime sleep

56) Waves of generalized itching [this infection and inflammation sign is not limited just to Babesia].

57) Spike of a fever over 100.5 after a possible tick bite.

58) Insomnia after taking a malaria killing herb or drug

59) Anxiety and/or depression after taking a malaria killing herb or drug

60) Rage or temporary personality regression right after use of a malaria killing herb or medication

61) Excess fat in lower belly area that is in excess of lifestyle and activity.

62) Lumps or other types of tissue collection with no clear cause [Other tick and flea-borne infections can also cause these growths]

63) One or more medical problems with unclear cause(s), with changing or contradictory diagnoses, or which are eventually called “idiopathic.”

64) Psychiatric label(s) given for all of your troubles or a child or relative’s troubles when clear medical problems exist as shown by abnormal laboratory results (only if wide testing is done which includes inflammation and anti-inflammation chemicals, hormones, nutrient levels, and other immune system chemicals).

65) You have two tick or flea infections with two positive tick or flea borne viruses, bacteria or protozoa.  The presence of other infections such as tick borne viruses or bacteria raises suspicion of a Babesia infection.

66) Your clinician understands the use of indirect testing and feels your lab pattern is suggestive of the presence of Babesia.  This involves more than an ECP spike.

67) Since direct testing for Babesia by any lab misses many human species and is of variable reliability, and the common presence of Bartonella suppresses some antibody tests, a positive or “indeterminate” is likely a positive. Have you had an “indeterminate” or “borderline” Babesia result?

68)  You have neighbors living near you with a tick or flea infection diagnosis.

69)  Your pet(s) or family animals of any type, e.g., horses, have had outdoor exposures to areas such as brush, wild grasses, wild streams or woods. If the pets were animals such as dogs, which can be given anti-tick and flea treatments, were these animals always on schedule with these treatments?

70) Have you had clear exposure to ticks in your current or past homes as an adult?

71) Have you had clear exposure to ticks during vacations or other travels?

A WORD ON MANUAL BLOOD EXAMINATIONS

No blood smear will be positive for Babesia unless you have a profoundly massive number of infected red blood cells, which is rare.  Therefore, no blood smear should be considered negative unless it has been examined for thirty minutes. While a 2-3 minute exam of large white blood cells may be fully sufficient to identify cancers and other diseases, a search for over eighty Babesia red blood cell presentations under 1000x, as found in my Hematology Forms of Babesia Book, requires at least thirty minutes, which requires private contracting with a microbiologist or pathologist or a favor from a lab director.  Please appreciate that stains help define whether a substance is what it appears to be.

Babesia is an emerging infection.  Any certainty claims or criticism about Babesia positions without reading at least parts of 1,500 articles is a premature certainty.  Again, new Babesia species are emerging every one to four months.  Indeed, even a new protozoan has been found that looks like Babesia under a high powered microscope. But when it is genetically sequenced it is not Babesia or immature malaria, which can look similar. It is a new infection.

Therefore, since this is a new emerging illness, this scale is meant to merely increase awareness of Babesia, an infection that can kill patients of any age.  Writings in the past fifteen years have either seen Babesia as a mere “co-infection” or a footnote of a spirochete infection [Lyme]. Anything that can hide for a couple of decades, and then possibly kill you with a clot or by other means, is not a casual infection.

Babesia cure claims should be made with the use of indirect testing birthed from extracts of superior journals read over five years.  Currently, these many indirect well-established lab test patterns are not used or understood by immensely busy and smart clinicians working full-time.  While this is fully understandable, I hope it may change in the coming decade.

Dr. Schaller is the author of 29 books and 27 top journal articles.

His publications address issues in at least twelve fields of medicine.

He has published the most recent four textbooks on Babesia.

He has published on Babesia as a cancer primer under the supervision of the former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and his entries on multiple tick and flea borne infections, including Babesia [along with Bartonella and Lyme disease], were published in a respected infection textbook endorsed by the NIH Director of Infectious Disease.

Dr. Schaller has produced six texts on tick and flea-borne infections based on his markedly unique full-time reading and study practice, which is not limited to either finite traditional or integrative progressive medicine.  With a physician’s medical license, he has been able to sort through many truth claims by ordering lab testing.  He does not casually follow the dozens of yearly truth claims, without indirect testing laboratory proof.  He has read full-time on these emerging problems for many years.  He is rated a TOP and BEST physician. One of these award ratings is based on physician peer ratings.

In 2001, according to Mary Leitao, her then two-year-old son developed sores under his lip and began to complain of “bugs.”

Leitao, who graduated with a BS in Biology, and worked for five years at Boston hospitals as a lab technician before becoming a stay-at-home mother, says she examined the sores with her son’s toy microscope and discovered red, blue, black, and white fibers.

She states that she took her son to see at least eight different doctors who were unable to find any disease, allergy, or anything unusual about her son’s described symptoms. Fred Heldrich, a Johns Hopkin’s pediatrician with a reputation “for solving mystery cases,” examined Leitao’s son.

Heldrich found nothing abnormal about the boy’s skin, wrote to the referring physician that “Leitao would benefit from a psychiatric evaluation and support,” and registered his worry about Leitao’s “use” of her son. Psychology Today reports that Leitao last consulted an unnamed Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialist who after reviewing her son’s records refused to see him, suggesting Leitao herself might suffer from “Munchausen’s by proxy”, a psychiatric syndrome in which a parent pretends a child is sick or makes him sick to get attention from the medical system.” This opinion of a potential psychological disorder, according to Leitao, was shared by several medical professionals she sought out:

(Leitao) said she long ago grew accustomed to being doubted by doctors whenever she sought help for her son, who is now 7 and still suffering from recurring lesions. “They suggested that maybe I was neurotic,” Leitao said, “They said they were not interested in seeing him because I had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy.”

Leitao says that her son developed more sores, and more fibers continued to poke out of them. She and her husband, Edward Leitao, an internist with South Allegheny Internal Medicine in Pennsylvania, felt their son suffered from “something unknown.”

She chose the name Morgellons disease (with a hard g) from a description of an illness in the monograph A Letter to a Friend by Sir Thomas Browne, in 1690, wherein Browne describes several medical conditions in his experience, including “that endemial distemper of children in Languedoc, called the morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh hairs on their backs.” There is no suggestion that the symptoms described by Browne are linked to the alleged modern cases.

Leitao started the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) in 2002 (informally) and as an official non-profit in 2004. The MRF states the following information on its website.  Morgellons disease is a poorly understood condition which a growing number of physicians believe to be a chronic infectious disease. The disease can be both disabling and disfiguring.

The symptoms include itching, biting and crawling sensations, “filaments” or fibers which emerge from the skin, skin lesions which range from minor to disfiguring, joint pain, debilitating fatigue, changes in cognition, memory loss, mood disturbance and serious neurological manifestations.  At this time, the cause of Morgellons disease is unknown and there is no known cure.

The following signs or symptoms are the basis of Morgellons Disease as defined by patients that fit within a consistent boundary that is also outside the boundary of other “known” diseases. The initial three characteristics parallel a much more entrenched illness, Delusions of Parasitosis (DP) named decades before today’s laboratory technology and infection/immunity knowledge, driven by HIV, developed. The more recent findings listed below provide a far broader and more consistent evidence base, strongly supporting the likelihood that DP is a prematurely assigned label to an organic, rather than purely psychiatric disease.

1. “Filaments” are reported in and on skin lesions and at times extruding from intact-appearing skin. White, blue, red, and black are common among described fiber colors. Size is near microscopic, and good clinical visualization requires 10-30 X. Patients frequently describe ultraviolet light generated fluorescence. They also report black or white granules, similar in size and shape to sand grains, on or in their skin or on clothing. Most clinicians willing to invest in a simple hand held commercial microscope have thus far been able to consistently document the filaments.

2. Movement sensations, both beneath and on the skin surface. Sensations are often described by the patient as intermittently moving, stinging or biting. Involved areas can include any skin region (such as over limbs or trunk), but may be limited to the scalp, nasal passages, ear canals, or face…and curiously, legs below the knees.

3. Skin lesions, both (a) spontaneously appearing and (b) self-generated, often with pain or intense itching. The former (a) may initially appear as “hive-like”, or as “pimple-like” with or without a white center. The latter (b) appear as linear or “picking” excoriations. Even when not self-generated (as in unreachable regions of babies’ skin), lesions often progress to open wounds that heal incompletely (e.g., heal very slowly with discolored epidermis or seal over with a thick gelatinous outer layer.). Evidence of lesions persists visually for years.

4. Musculoskeletal Effects and Pain is usually present, manifest in several ways. Pain distribution is broad, and can include joint(s), muscles, tendons and connective tissue. Both vascular and “pressure” headaches and vertebral pain are particularly common, the latter usually with premature (e.g., age 20) signs of degeneration of both discs and vertebrae.

5. Aerobic limitation is universal and significant enough to interfere with the activities of daily living. Most patients meet the Fukuda Criteria for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as well (Fukuda, Ann. Int. Med., 1994). Cardiology data and consistently elevated heart rates suggest a persistent myocarditis creating lowered cardiac output that has been partially compensated for by Starling’s Law.

6. Cognitive dysfunction, includes frontal lobe processing signs interfering with logical thinking as well as short-term memory and attention deficit. All are measurable by Standard Psychometric Test batteries.

7. Emotional effects are present in most patients. Character typically includes loss or limitation of boundary control (as in bipolar illness) and intermittent obsessional state. Degree varies greatly from virtually absent to seriously life altering.

Leitao stated that she initially hoped to receive information from scientists or physicians who might understand the problem, but instead, thousands of others contacted her describing their sores and fibers, as well as neurological symptoms, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and other symptoms.

The MRF claims to have received self-identified reports of Morgellons from all 50 US states and 15 other countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands, and states that they have been contacted by over 12,000 families.

In May 2006, a CBS news segment on Morgellons aired in Southern California. The same day the Los Angeles County Department of Health services issued a statement saying, “No credible medical or public health association has verified the existence or diagnosis of ‘Morgellons Disease’,” and “at this time there is no reason for individuals to panic over unsubstantiated reports of this disease.”

In June and July 2006 there were segments on CNN, ABC‘s Good Morning America, and NBC‘s The Today Show. In August 2006, a segment of the ABC show Medical Mysteries was devoted to the subject. The disease was featured on ABC’s Nightline on January 16, 2008, and as the cover story of the January 20, 2008 issue of the Washington Post Magazine.

The first article to propose Morgellons as a new disease in a scientific journal was a review article co-authored by members of the MRF and published in 2006 by the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology.

An article in the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “There have been no clinical studies” (of Morgellons disease). A New Scientist article in 2007 also covered the phenomenon noting that people are reporting similar symptoms in Europe and Australia.

In an article published in The Los Angeles Times on April 22, 2010, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell claimed to be a sufferer of the condition, stating:

“I have this weird, incurable disease that seems like it’s from outer space, but my health’s the best it’s been in a while, Two nights ago, I went out for the first time since Dec. 23: I don’t look so bad under incandescent light, but I look scary under daylight. Garbo and Dietrich hid away just because people became so upset watching them age, but this is worse. Fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm: they cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable or mineral. Morgellons is a slow, unpredictable killer — a terrorist disease: it will blow up one of your organs, leaving you in bed for a year. But I have a tremendous will to live: I’ve been through another pandemic — I’m a polio survivor, so I know how conservative the medical body can be. In America, the Morgellons is always diagnosed as “delusion of parasites,” and they send you to a psychiatrist. I’m actually trying to get out of the music business to battle for Morgellons sufferers to receive the credibility that’s owed to them.”

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Billy Koch and his entire immediate family have been noted in the media to be sufferers.

Following a mailing campaign coordinated by the Morgellons Research Foundation in which “self-described sufferers clicked on the foundation Web site and sent thousands of form letters to members of Congress, a CDC (Center for Disease Control) task force first met in June 2006.

In July 2006, Dan Rutz, MPH, a communications specialist for the CDC, said, “We’re not ready to concede there’s a new disease, but the volume of concern has stepped up because a lot of people are writing or calling their congressmen about it.”

By August 2006, the task force consisted of 12 people, including two pathologists, a toxicologist, an ethicist, a mental health expert and specialists in infectious, parasitic, environmental and chronic diseases. In May 2007, KGW-TV Newschannel 8‘s Laural Porter asked Rutz if he had any information about the nature of the fibers. At that time Rutz said, “None. We don’t know. We haven’t studied them in a lab yet. There is nothing to imply there is [an infectious process], but our mind is open to everything, including that remote possibility.”

In June 2007, the CDC opened a website on “Unexplained Dermopathy (aka ‘Morgellons’)”. By November 2007, the CDC had announced an investigation process, stating that, “The primary goals of the investigation are to better describe the clinical and epidemiologic features of this condition and to generate hypotheses about possible risk factors.” Kaiser Permanente in Northern California was chosen to assist with the investigation, which will begin when the scientific protocols and review board structure have been prepared and approved.

Investigators will report on the geographic distribution of the illness and estimate rates of illness in affected communities. The investigation will involve skin biopsies from affected patients and characterization of foreign material such as fibers or threads obtained from patients to determine their potential source.

In January 2008 it was reported that CDC was enlisting the aid of the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the American Academy of Dermatology “to conduct ‘immediate’ and ‘rigorous’ research.”

On 4 November 2009, the CDC issued a preliminary report based on an external peer review of the project. As of 24 March 2011 CDC said “We recently completed the data analysis. A final report has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.”

A study conducted of 108 patients at the Mayo Clinic was published in Archives of Dermatology on May 16, 2011. The study failed to find evidence of skin infestation despite doing skin biopsies and examining specimens provided by the patients. The study, which was conducted between 2001 and 2007, concluded that the feeling of skin infestation was a delusion, “delusional parasitosis”.

However, there are thousands upon thousands of people who share the same symptoms and so far the mainstream medical community is unwilling to admit to the symptoms that are very physical and inexplicable.  Once again, it would appear that it is easier to say to the patient “You are crazy.” or attribute the specific symptoms as delusional and/or anxiety driven self mutilation.

This is

Chlamydia Pneumoniae, also known as CPN, is a fast emerging Lyme co-infection with very similar symptoms.

In fact for some who remain very sick and have yet to receive a positive Lyme diagnosis, CPN is something that should definitely be tested for.

The following description was taken from a blog on www.cpnhelp.org the only CPN forum I could find. It is important to note the extreme similarities in symptoms, reaction to antibiotics and even the close association with Babesiosa. Many who are familiar with both diseases have said, “It’s not a far stretch to insert CPN everywhere lyme/borrelia is inserted” Chlamydia Pneumoniae (Cpn) is a tiny bacterium which is most often noted for causing a form of pneumonia. Up until the 1970′s it was not even isolated and was mistaken for a virus (its discovery is an interesting story and can be found here: http://www.washington.edu/research/pathbreakers/1989a.html). “It was not until 1989 that J. Thomas Grayston and his associates named it as a separate species of the Chlamydiae. Cpn is very difficult to culture and so, without modern lab techniques, also to study. It is an intracellular bacterium, which means that it invades the body cells, and it is an obligate parasite, which means that it cannot supply it’s own energy source and so takes over the energy machinery of the body cells it invades, depleting them and leaving the host cell less functional. “Cpn has been implicated in a wide variety of diseases and is seen by some researchers as a causal factor in particular disease such as Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue, Asthma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Refractory Sinusitis, Cardiac disease, Interstitial Cystitis, Prostatitis, Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s disease, Inflammatory Bowel disease, and others.” CPN is also commonly accompanied by Secondary Porphyria and Micoplasma. If you suspect you may have CPN or CPN complications, ask your doctor to test for PCR testing, especially that which is referred to as nested-PCR testing, is considered to have the highest sensitivity and to be most objective source of serology testing for Cpn.

Bartonella, a common co-infection of Lyme disease, is a destructive blood infection, commonly referred to as “Cat Scratch Fever”.  Currently testing exists for two species, however, there are now over 30 known unique species with over 200 variants.

Dr. Joseph Burrascano distinguishes the Bartonella associated with Lyme disease as “Bartonella-Like Organism” (BLO) rather than the more common species due to the wide variety of symptoms and difficulty in treatment.

In his experience, BLO usually intensifies the symptoms of Lyme, especially those symptoms relating to the central nervous system, and needs a very custom treatment protocol.

The symptoms for Lyme BLO may include any combination of the following:

· red papules

· swollen lymph nodes

· fever

· chills

· headaches

· dizziness

· eye disorders

· sore feet in the AM

· hearing sensitivity

· severe pain in the tibia

· muscle aches

· sore throat

· profound fatigue

· agitation

· insomnia

· anxiety

· encephalitis

· gastritis

· lower abdominal pain

· rashes

· lumps on skin

· abnormal bruising

· psychiatric abnormalities (mild to severe)

Typically, a co-infection is suspected when treatment for Lyme disease fails.

Many times the correct diagnosis of a co-infection followed by aggressive treatment will create a break-through allowing a full recovery.

However, with BLO, the difficulty in positive diagnosis through lab testing is even more unreliable than testing for Lyme and requires specific blood work by experienced technicians.  Therefore, it is critically important to find a Lyme-literate doctor who can distinguish the clinical symptoms and tailor antibiotic treatment accordingly.

But don’t be fooled. The diagnosis of Lyme and/or co-infections is just the beginning of a challenging treatment schedule that must be tailored individually, many times relying on trial and error to find the proper combination of medications.

Also, Lyme co-infections can be more severe and more life-threatening than Lyme.

Recent research (Emerging Infectious Diseases  June 2007) points to the likely conclusion that Bartonella infects human organs by building microscopic fat deposits that can lead to death (in the case of heart infection) and permanent disability.  Bartonella may also cause the weakening of blood vessel walls which can lead to strokes.

Unfortunately, even experienced technicians can be frustrated by the BLO seen under a microscope.  Hemobartonella and Mycoplasma are often diagnosed due to lack of more sophisticated diagnostic tools and the wide range of species and variants.

Further complications arise due to the morphing nature of Lyme that becomes unique to each individual it infects based on that person’s DNA, immune system and over-all health.

Again, the key to recovery is finding a dedicated LLD who is willing to try different protocols to find the key to each individual’s disease.

Hi everyone. My name is David Rodgers, and it is my pleasure to be posting in Jenna’s Lyme Disease blog, as she has done a great job keeping everyone updated on a regular basis about many different types of Lyme protocols, including diet, supplements, drugs, IV treatment, and more. She has truly been a great help to many in the community and I want to thank her for that.

Jenna has allowed me to let you know about an upcoming event I have planned, which I think will be of great benefit to many of you. For background information, I have had Lyme Disease for at least 10 years (although diagnosed about 4.5 years ago). Over these 10 years, I kept my head in the books, so to speak, and researched everything I could about all-natural ways to treat Lyme and similar conditions.

During these 10 years of research, I have also completed a Masters of Science in Nutrition at the University of Bridgeport, and I now practice as a nutritionist in the Detroit suburbs, as well as via phone or online video conferencing for anyone throughout the world.

As Jenna mentioned in one of her posts not too long ago, it seems like the Lyme patients who are disciplined regarding diet and lifestyle do the best with their treatments. The problem I’ve found is that people have differing views on what foods are healthy or not, and they are also unclear about which supplements are truly the best for optimizing health and avoiding deficiencies.

For these reasons, I am putting on a webinar called “Chronic Lyme Disease: 7 Natural, Proven Steps to Reduce Symptoms.” This will take place on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 8:30EST (5:30PST). All that you need to view it is an Internet connection and speakers. This webinar is thoroughly backed by the latest research and by my clinical experience.

Sometimes webinars are mainly a way to sell people some product. This is not the case here. I will be briefly letting folks know that I am open for new clients, but otherwise, I have nothing to sell – it is simply meant to help as many people as possible know about the latest research for diet, supplements, and lifestyle, and their connection to Lyme Disease. I don’t even sell supplements, but I’ll let you know which ones are worth your money.

You may want a little more background about my health protocols, so I also have a free e-report that I have made available called “Diet Soda Makes You Fatter Than Regular and 10 More Shocking Health Truths.” This is available at my website – http://www.nutrientbalance.com – and more information is available there as well.

To sign up for the free webinar, click this link.

Thanks, and if anyone has a question, you may email me at david@nutrientbalance.com – you may also send me questions via this email to be answered at the webinar. Also, please share this via Facebook, etc. or email the info to people you know with Lyme or similar conditions (chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia). Looking forward to seeing everyone there…

This post was submitted by Dr, Schaller at http://www.personalconsult.com and relates the growing attention to Bartonella thanks to brilliant veterinary researchers like Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM.

Bartonella species, their animal hosts, potential vectors, and sequelae of infection are being identified at a snowballing rate. From a handful of recognized species to more than forty identified, and many more suspected, a new diagnostic test may help DVMs and MDs come together to better understand these infections in their patients and the way they interact with chronic Lyme disease and other co-infections.

FOUR QUOTES OF INTEREST:

*Antibody testing for Bartonella species is proving to be very insensitive.

*The genus Bartonella is also unusual because it appears that no other infectious agent is transmitted by more vectors.

*Patient response to treatment is frequently incomplete.

*Clearly some of us now are much more concerned about the genus Bartonella than anyone is at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Veterinarians and physicians should talk to each other more frequently than we have in the past. Of all known organisms, 61% are zoonotic, 1, 2 and of the emerging pathogens, the vast majority is zoonotic organisms… In recent years, the genus Bartonella has been the major focus of our vector-borne research efforts.

BARTONELLA SPECIES COMPLEXITIES

The organism that causes cat scratch disease in people was identified as a Bartonella species in 1992.

As researchers have continued to study these bacteria, we’ve learned that the intraerythrocytic component of the infection with a Bartonella species has been somewhat overemphasized… Bartonella species are endotheliotropic bacteria that use a specialized invasion process to enter endothelial cells and can move about the body by infecting macrophages, with localization in a variety of tissues…3 Researchers have learned that Bartonella species are the first bacteria identified to have an ability to invade CD34+ progenitor cells in bone marrow.5 This may be why we find Bartonella organisms in cats in only a low percentage (3%) of their erythrocytes.

The genus Bartonella is also unusual because it appears that no other infectious agent is transmitted by more vectors. We now know that sand flies, human body lice, cat fleas, rodent fleas, and probably many other flea species are capable of transmitting certain Bartonella species. And cattle, deer, elk, and sheep all have their own Bartonella species that appear to be transmitted by biting flies or keds (wingless flies)…6 AN UNDER-RECOGNIZED ZOONOSIS In my opinion, physicians and veterinarians need to come together regarding bartonellosis, because it appears to be an important and under-recognized zoonosis… diagnostic test sensitivity for documenting infection with this genus of bacteria is extremely poor, and based upon recent experience in our laboratory, patient response to treatment is frequently incomplete.

…what’s important for physicians and veterinarians to recognize is that some of these Bartonella species are found in cats, dogs, rats, ground squirrels, and rabbits. In 1992, two Bartonella species were known to exist, and in 2009, over 26 named or candidate’s species exist. [RECENTLY A GENE RESEARCHER AND MD SAID OVER 40 SPECIES OF BARTONELLA, AND ALSO BABESIA, EXIST IN PUBLIC GENETIC DATA BASES IF ONE ACTUALLY KNOWS HOW TO LOOK].

ANIMAL RESERVOIR HOSTS

Bartonella species are present in a multitude of animal species. One of the most recently identified Bartonella species, Bartonella australis, was found in kangaroos.13 Unexpectedly, 82% of beef cattle in North Carolina have Bartonella bovis in their blood.14 My laboratory can isolate a Bartonella species from one or two out of three feral cats in North Carolina, 15 and other laboratories around the world have documented similar levels of bacteremia in flea-infested cats.

Another important point for physicians and veterinarians to consider is that many of their patients and clients have pocket pets, some of which tend to scratch and bite. Unfortunately, numerous Bartonella species have been identified in the blood of various rodent species. For example, the overall prevalence was 26% in the population of wild and captive animals brought to Japan to be sold as pocket pets.16 The human medical literature in the United States reveals case reports of previously healthy people with no evidence of louse exposure and a history of cat exposure who presented to their physicians for evaluation of lymphadenopathy or seizures and were found to be infected with Bartonella quintana.

[QUINTANA IS BRUTAL AND IS ONE REASON NAPOLEAN’S ARMY WAS DESTROYED RETURNING FROM RUSSIA BASED ON DNA IN DENTAL PULP IN MASS SOLDIER GRAVES. ONE BELIEF MANY PHYSICIANS HOLD IS THAT THE USA AND ALL OF N. AMERICA HAS NO QUINTANA]. 

More recently, our laboratory isolated B. quintana from cats and from a woman who was bitten by one of those cats.

In reviewing the human literature, as it relates to B. quintana, it told me, as a veterinary internist, what I should be looking for in my canine patients if I suspect that this organism is causing disease. And vice versa: I would suggest that physicians review data and observations that veterinarians are generating in regard to this genus of bacteria, because clearly some of us now are much more concerned about the genus Bartonella than anyone is at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

SIMILARITIES OF DISEASE EXPRESSION IN PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Bartonella species can induce a number of what I think are fairly well established pathologies in either dogs or people.18 …So we’re seeing that what’s occurring in people is also occurring in dogs—for example, about 80% of people and about 80% of dogs have endocarditis selectively involving the aortic valve. And based on the veterinary literature, physicians may want to put bartonellosis on their differential lists for children with unexplained nose bleeding. 19, 22, and 23 [ AFTER READING MUCH OF THE WORLD LITERATURE I WOULD SAY BARTONELLA DOES NOT CAUSE THREE MEDICIAL TROUBLES, BUT TOP PAPERS REPORT 20 PROBLEMS WITH EVERY ORGAN, AND PERHAPS 40 WITH THE BRAIN.

We need better detection of bartonella species infections.

After the first isolation of B. vinsonii ssp. berkhoffii, we had difficulty isolating Bartonella species in other dogs by using culture or by detecting Bartonella DNA in patient samples by PCR testing, even though we could detect antibodies by using an immunofluorescent antibody assay. In our laboratory, we had discussed that these bacteria seem to be happier in insects than they do in dogs, so we decided to develop an optimized insect cell culture media to enhance the growth of Bartonella species.24,25

My laboratory has found that 50% of dogs and people infected with B. henselae or B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii do not have detectable antibodies to any of the six different Bartonella species antigens used in our testing [PERHAPS BECAUSE AS OUR BOOK EXPLAINS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM MAKING ANTIBODIES IS REDUCED BY BARTONELLA] .18,26,27

So antibody testing for Bartonella species is proving to be very insensitive. [MEANING 99.9% OF PHYSICIAN TESTING IS WORTHLESS].

We now know that some people and some dogs can be coinfected with more than one Bartonella species, [I HAVE SEEN NO ONE DISCUSS THIS SERIOUSLY BEFORE] as is the case in cats that may be simultaneously infected with three Mycoplasma species. Our special testing allowed us detect B. quintana from a woman who bitten by a cat.

Our new lab approach shows the first DNA evidence of human infection with candidatus Bartonella melophagi, 28 and CDC investigators used this approach to make the first isolates of Bartonella tamiae from febrile human patients.3340 [THIS VETERANIAN RESEARCHER GETS INVOLVED VERY SERIOUSLY WITH TWO PEOPLE AND IN PERHAPS 18 MONTHS FINDS NEW SPECIES IN HUMANS FOR WHICH NO TEST IS AVAILABLE].

BARTONELLA SPECIES INFECTION AND ONE MEDICINE

There are several more examples in the literature that describe people with unexplained and chronic illnesses, who are identified as having positive Bartonella species test results. What I have described today doesn’t prove causation of illness, but I think we have justification to worry about disease causation. Bartonella species infection is truly a problem in comparative medicine and a place where One Medicine applies.

Veterinarians and physicians need to work closely to find solutions for the benefit of our respective patients. Although we still have much to learn about these bacteria, we now have a better way of detecting them in patient samples; therefore, we need to find out what they’re doing in our patients and how often they’re doing it.

MY FATHER’S ILLNESS AND BARTONELLA SPECIES

About two years ago, my 86-year-old father, who lived in a rural farm community and had developed gradual, progressive joint pain, was tested for Lyme disease, and the results were negative. He subsequently developed memory loss that was thought to be possible Alzheimer’s disease. He then fell twice a few weeks apart, and a third time he fell, his hip fractured. He had many postoperative complications, and during his stay in a rehabilitation hospital he developed seizures.

At this point I became intimately involved in his medical evaluations, and because I direct the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory at NCSU, I was given his aseptically obtained blood and CSF samples for testing. The results of PCR tests for Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsia species were negative. We ultimately identified what appears to be a new Bartonella species, most closely related to “Candidatus Bartonella volans,” in his blood, as well as B. henselae and B. vinsonii ssp. berkhoffii.

Most of this post was taken from information published by Edward B. Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM.  For more information and sources:

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=660519&pageID=1&sk=&date=

http://www.bayeranimalhealthsymposium.com/cutting_edge_breitschwerdt.shtml

The Bartonella Checklist by JAMES SCHALLER, MD, MAR

Increasing Suspicion of This Emerging Stealth Infection

1. Insomnia [If profound fatigue this might not apply].
2. Current anxiety that was not present at age ten.
3. Current anxiety or depression not present at twenty years old.
4. Knee-jerk emotional responses worse than past decades and worsening.
5. Unusual discomfort on the soles of your feet
6. A temperature under 98.3 in a sick person. A temperature under 99.0 if Lyme disease or Babesia is present
7. Puffy tissue on insole or any part of ankles
8. Depression
9. Depression that is not fully controlled. [Improvement of mood is not successful in depression treatment].

10.  Gingivitis or bleeding during flossing

11.  Anxiety is poorly controlled with average dosing

12.  Depression is poorly controlled by reasonable medication trials

13.  Sleep medicines work poorly at routine dosing

14.  Rage worse with time

15.  Irritability worse with time

16.  IL-6 is very low

17.  IL-1B is very low

18.  TNF-a is in lower 10% of normal range

19.  Any skin markings or growths greater than most people

20.  Blood vessels or color on skin greater than most people

21.  Impatience > in personality when compared to ten years ago. [in a child, any can be any irritability]

22.  Cursing or hostile speech that is worse over time.

23.  One or more medical problems with unclear cause(s) and “idiopathic.”

24.  Red papules of any size.

25.  Skin tags including ones removed by dermatologist or shaved off.

26.  Unusual blood vessels of any kind including inside organs such as bladder or intestinal walls

27.  Any skin finding in excess of 95% of most humans

28.  Skin findings showing increased blood vessels of any size

29.  Skin findings showing increased tissue formation that is increased over the flatness of surface skin.

30.  Skin showing blood vessels that are too large or too many for the location of the blood vessels, e.g., surface thigh and calf skin with very thick surface blood vessels. Or legs, upper arms or shoulders have explosions of many fine blood vessels.

31.  Increased addictions that are more resistant to recovery than average.

32.  Increased impulsivity in contrast to past years or past decades.

33.  Burning skin sensations [this may have many causes].

34.  Itching without a clear cause and which is hard to control and remove

35.  Skin erosion without a clear cause such as a fire or chemical burn.

36.  Minor cuts or scratches which heal slowly.

37.  After a surgery, you heal very slowly.

38.  You have two tick or flea infections with two positive tick or flea borne viruses, bacteria or protozoa. [Bartonella has >30 published species in public genetic databases and has more vectors than possibly any infection in the world. Therefore, the presence of other infections such as tick borne viruses, bacteria or protozoa, should raise suspicion.

39.  Exposure to cats and dogs in excess of very incidental rare contact.

40.  The patient’s mother is suspicious for Bartonella based on newer direct and indirect testing.

41.  A sibling, father, spouse of child with any tick or flea-borne infection who shared a residence or vacation with proximity to brush.

42.  Exposure to outdoor environments with brush, wild grasses, wild streams, golf courses or woods.

43.  Outdoor expose in locations such as brush, wild grasses, wild streams or woods which happened without the use of DEET or without very high off- gassing essential oils on exposed skin areas.

44.  The outdoor exposures such as brush, wild grasses, wild streams or woods which occurred without permethrin on shoes, socks and all clothing.

45.  Clear exposure to lice, fleas or ticks. [Bartonella is carried by a huge number of carriers, but for now, the % that carry Bartonella is not known. Further, the capacity to detect all new species in the vectors or in humans infected, does not exist or is not routinely available in direct testing of all human infectious Bartonella organisms in both large or specialty labs].

46.  Stretch marks in eccentric locations, e.g., arms, upper side under armpit, around armpit or on the back.

47.  Stretch marks filled with red, pink, purple or dark blue color.

Certainty claims or criticism about Bartonella positions without reading at least parts of 1,000 articles is confusing. How this is this possible with new Bartonella findings and understandings each month? There are also new species genetically sequences to show uniqueness almost every month in public databases. In this spirit, this scale is meant to merely increase suspicion of Bartonella, which is a super stealth infection that takes perhaps fifty days to grow out on some bacteria growth plates, and floats in the blood as it lowers fevers. It also clearly suppresses some key immune system fighting chemicals. Cure claims are made without the use of indirect testing markedly documented in superior journals, but which are not used by immensely busy clinicians working full-time.

Dr. Schaller is the author of 29 books and 27 top journal articles.  His publications address issues in at least twelve fields of medicine. He has the most recent textbooks on Bartonella.  He has published on Bartonella under the supervision of the former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and his entries on multiple tick and flea borne infections, including Bartonella [along with Babesia and Lyme disease] were published in a respected infection textbook endorsed by the NIH Director of Infectious Disease. He has approximately six texts on tick and flea-borne infections based on his markedly unique full-time reading and study practice, which is not limited to either finite traditional or integrative progressive medicine. Since he has a medical license he has been able to sort through many truth claims by ordering lab testing. He does not follow truth claims without indirect testing laboratory proof. He has read full-time on these emerging problems for many years.

C COPYRIGHTED 2011   JAMES SCHALLER, MD version 11.

This form cannot be altered if it is printed or posted in any manner without written permission. Posting in a critical negative evaluation is forbidden. Printing to assist in diagnostic reflections is encouraged, as long as no line is redacted or altered including these final paragraphs. Dr. Schaller does not claim this is a flawless or final form, and defers all diagnostic decisions to your licensed health professional.

On June 20, 2011, The New York Times published an article, “Once Rare, Infection by Tick Bites Spreads” by Laurie Tarkan; bravely presenting  evidence that shows the alarming spread of Babesiosis  (Babesia – a malaria-like parasite that attacks the red blood cells, and has been considered by many of us to be a common co-infection of Lyme disease.)

Finally the extraordinary mystery surrounding the wide range of differing symptoms and intensity of various symptoms have been set under the umbrella of Babesia microti (although there could be many different and as of yet unlabeled variations of the parasite) while only months ago, and today in some hospitals, Babesiosis was only considered if the symptoms were life threatening.  My own primary care doctor told me five years ago – in spite of my symptoms – that I wasn’t sick enough to have Babesiosis.

Not surprisingly, the fatalities were always in the spotlight, and it has not been until recently with the release of some new studies that more is being understood about Babesiosis, and more in depth questions being brought to the fore.

The CDC recently announced that there has been a twenty-fold increase in Babesiosis  between 2001 and 2008 – in only seven years!  Another study on Block Island showed that Babesiosis is only 25% less common than Lyme disease in the 70% of islanders tested.  Even more alarming is that one quarter of the adults, and one half of the children that tested positive for Babesiosis showed no symptoms at all!

These frightening results affect our society on so many levels, many of which are immediately obvious.  Thankfully government officials are not closing their eyes like they have with Lyme disease but have immediately considered the ramifications concerning the nation’s blood supply.  As you may or may not know, blood banks do not screen blood for Lyme and/or the many co-infections including Babesiosis.

Additionally, it appears that contracting Babesiosis from blood transfusions is more likely to end in fatality according to a study by the American Red Cross – 30% of those infected through infusions died.

The good news is that more effort is being made to find a reliable screening tool to discover these pathogens as soon as possible. The Rhode Island Blood Center has become the first in the country to use an experimental new test to screen blood for the parasite which will hopefully develop into a blood test for those of us trying to find a diagnosis for our mysterious disease symptoms.  The pressure is definitely on.

For more information: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/health/21ticks.html?_r=3

and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19624607

If you are not responding to Lyme treatment, chances are, you are infected with another tick-borne disease.  The more research that is applied to this aspect of Lyme treatment, the more types of Bartonella that are being discovered, and the amazing symbiotic nature these diseases share.

As Dr. James Schaller recently wrote to me (visit his website for many articles and peer-reviewed studies at personalconsult.com) that the top Bartonella veterinary researcher (among about the top three,)  just published things that he had posted 5 years ago, and wisely discusses the increasing need for Bartonella–literate physicians to talk with veterinary thinkers/researchers.

FOUR QUOTES OF INTEREST:

…antibody testing for Bartonella species is proving to be very insensitive.

The genus Bartonella is also unusual because it appears that no other infectious agent is transmitted by more vectors.

…patient response to treatment is frequently incomplete.

…clearly some of us now are much more concerned about the genus Bartonella than anyone is at the National Institutues of Health (NIH) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The veterinarian’s article follows:

“Bartonellosis: An emerging and potentially hidden epidemic?”

By Edward B. Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM

Bartonella species, their animal hosts, potential vectors, and sequelae of infection are being identified at a snowballing rate. A new diagnostic test may help DVMs and MDs come together to better understand these infections in their patients.

Veterinarians and physicians should talk to each other more frequently than we have in the past. Of all known organisms, 61% are zoonotic,1,2 and of the emerging pathogens, the vast majority are zoonotic organisms… In recent years, the genus Bartonella has been the major focus of our vector-borne research efforts.

BARTONELLA SPECIES COMPLEXITIES

The organism that causes cat scratch disease in people was identified as a Bartonella species in 1992. As researchers have continued to study these bacteria, we’ve learned that the intraerythrocytic component of the infection with a Bartonella species has been somewhat overemphasized… Bartonella species are endotheliotropic bacteria that use a specialized invasion process to enter endothelial cells and can move about the body by infecting macrophages, with localization in a variety of tissues…3

Researchers have learned that Bartonella species are the first bacteria identified to have an ability to invade CD34+ progenitor cells in bone marrow.5 This may be why we find Bartonella organisms in cats in only a low percentage (3%) of their erythrocytes.

The genus Bartonella is also unusual because it appears that no other infectious agent is transmitted by more vectors. We now know that sand flies, human body lice, cat fleas, rodent fleas, and probably many other flea species are capable of transmitting certain Bartonella species. And cattle, deer, elk, and sheep all have their own Bartonella species that appear to be transmitted by biting flies or keds (wingless flies)…6

AN UNDER-RECOGNIZED ZOONOSIS

In my opinion, physicians and veterinarians need to come together regarding bartonellosis, because it appears to be an important and under-recognized zoonosis… diagnostic test sensitivity for documenting infection with this genus of bacteria is extremely poor, and based upon recent experience in our laboratory, patient response to treatment is frequently incomplete.

…what’s important for physicians and veterinarians to recognize is that some of these Bartonella species are found in cats, dogs, rats, ground squirrels, and rabbits. In 1992, two Bartonella species were known to exist, and in 2009, over 26 named or candidatus species exist.

ANIMAL RESERVOIR HOSTS

Bartonella species are present in a multitude of animal species. One of the most recently identified Bartonella species, Bartonella australis, was found in kangaroos.13 Unexpectedly, 82% of beef cattle in North Carolina have Bartonella bovis in their blood.14 My laboratory can isolate a Bartonella species from one or two out of three feral cats in North Carolina,15 and other laboratories around the world have documented similar levels of bacteremia in flea-infested cats.

Another important point for physicians and veterinarians to consider is that many of their patients and clients have pocket pets, some of which tend to scratch and bite. Unfortunately, numerous Bartonella species have been identified in the blood of various rodent species. For example, the overall prevalence was 26% in the population of wild and captive animals brought to Japan to be sold as pocket pets.16 The human medical literature in the United States reveals case reports of previously healthy people with no evidence of louse exposure and a history of cat exposure who presented to their physicians for evaluation of lymphadenopathy or seizures and were found to be infected with Bartonella quintana.17 More recently, our laboratory isolated B. quintana from cats and from a woman who was bitten by one of those cats.17

…In reviewing the human literature, as it relates to B. quintana, it told me, as a veterinary internist, what I should be looking for in my canine patients if I suspect that this organism is causing disease. And vice versa: I would suggest that physicians review data and observations that veterinarians are generating in regard to this genus of bacteria, because clearly some of us now are much more concerned about the genus Bartonella than anyone is at the National Institutues of Health (NIH) or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

SIMILARITIES OF DISEASE EXPRESSION IN PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

Bartonella species can induce a number of what I think are fairly well established pathologies in either dogs or people.18

…So we’re seeing that what’s occurring in people is also occurring in dogs—for example, about 80% of people and about 80% of dogs have endocarditis selectively involving the aortic valve. And based on the veterinary literature, physicians may want to put bartonellosis on their differential lists for children with unexplained epistaxis.19,22,23

BETTER DETECTION OF BARTONELLA SPECIES INFECTIONS

After the first isolation of B. vinsonii ssp. berkhoffii, we had difficulty isolating Bartonella species in other dogs by using culture or by detecting Bartonella DNA in patient samples by PCR testing, even though we could detect antibodies by using an immunofluorescent antibody assay. In our laboratory, we had discussed that these bacteria seem to be happier in insects than they do in dogs, so we decided to develop an optimized insect cell culture media to enhance the growth of Bartonella species.24,25 The insect cell culture media—Bartonella alpha Proteobacteria Growth Medium, or BAPGM (Galaxy Diagnostics, www.galaxydx.com)—combined with PCR testing now allows us to grow and detect these bacteria in animals and immunocompetent people better than any other diagnostic test currently available.26-28

My laboratory has found that 50% of dogs and people infected with B. henselae or B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii do not have detectable antibodies to any of the six different Bartonella species antigens used in our testing.18,26,27 So antibody testing for Bartonella species is proving to be very insensitive.

INITIAL BAPGM RESULTS AND POTENTIAL SEQUELAE OF BARTONELLA SPECIES INFECTION

Using BAPGM, our laboratory has recently started testing people ….[ with Duke] 14 of 42 people had positive Bartonella species cultures and several had Bartonella species coinfections.26 Using a survey instrument that we developed, this group of people with occupational animal contact and vector exposure described having headaches, insomnia, memory loss, muscle pain, and joint pain.26 Similar to our findings, physicians in Israel have generated a nice body of evidence regarding the long-term follow up of patients with cat scratch disease 29-31 and have shown that a subset of those patients later develop chronic arthritis, chronic myalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain as components of their illness.

We now know that some people and some dogs can be coinfected with more than one Bartonella species, as is the case in cats that may be simultaneously infected with three hemotropic Mycoplasma species.32 It was the use of BAPGM that allowed us to culture B. quintana from a woman who had been bitten by a feral cat (although we had expected to culture B. henselae or Bartonella clarridgeiae instead). Months later, we used the BAPGM enrichment approach to culture B. quintana from the feral cat that had bitten her and another feral cat that lived on her property.17 We have also used the BAPGM platform to obtain the first DNA evidence of human infection with candidatus Bartonella melophagi,28 and CDC investigators used this approach to make the first isolates of Bartonella tamiae from febrile human patients.33

MY FATHER’S ILLNESS AND BARTONELLA SPECIES

About two years ago, my 86-year-old father, who lived in a rural farm community and had developed gradual, progressive joint pain… He subsequently developed memory loss that was thought to be possible Alzheimer’s disease. He then fell twice a few weeks apart, and a third time he fell, his hip fractured. He had many postoperative complications, and during his stay in a rehabilitation hospital he developed seizures.

At this point I became intimately involved… We ultimately identified what appears to be a new Bartonella species, most closely related to “Candidatus Bartonella volans,” in his blood, as well as B. henselae and B. vinsonii ssp. berkhoffii.40

BARTONELLA SPECIES INFECTION AND ONE MEDICINE

There are several more examples in the literature that describe people with unexplained and chronic illnesses, who are identified as having positive Bartonella species test results. What I have described today doesn’t prove causation of illness, but I think we have justification to worry about disease causation. Bartonella species infection is truly a problem in comparative medicine and a place where One Medicine applies. Veterinarians and physicians need to work closely to find solutions for the benefit of our respective patients. Although we still have much to learn about these bacteria, we now have a better way of detecting them in patient samples; therefore, we need to find out what they’re doing in our patients and how often they’re doing it.

Source: http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com

Dr. Schaller believes that Dr. Breitschwerdt’s recent findings in many areas are revelutionary but will sadly be ignored for 3-10 years.

What is causing every intelligent mind, shaking in their figurative boots, is that this veterinarian/researcher keeps finding deadly new human forms – it seems as though every other second.  Other researchers and practitioners will have to begin to pay attention not only because of his brilliant article, but his innovative way to isolate these deadly new forms, and the sheer number of deadly forms that are being identified.