Dr Daniel Cameron is a name you can expect to hear more of.  He is the new “Rock Star” for chronic Lyme disease sufferers, and the cutting edge researchers around the world.

Dr. Daniel Cameron is a highly respected expert in the Lyme disease field, also, an actively practicing medical doctor in Mt. Kisco New York, as well as the author of over thirty scientific papers on Lyme disease.  Additionally, Dr. Cameron is the past President of ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases) from October 2007 to October 2009, and on the front line; raising money for more research, securing financing, medical and political support as well as test subjects who are eager to join the data collection today, but also, finding patients who were treated in the past in a certain way and following their progress or treatment failure, and then putting the information together in such a way that even Dr. Steere will have a tough time refuting his meticulous research.

On June 18, 2010, Dr. Cameron released a scientific paper that is sending shock waves through the medical community for the rigorous standard of testing and reporting, with explosive conclusions which at the very least will demand further testing, especially when you begin to evaluate medical records showing the terrible suffering of children that could have been avoided with more proactive and serious treatment at the initial exposure to Lyme infection.

The report shows far greater suffering caused by delayed treatment, than would otherwise be the case, especially with neurological symptoms and arthritic symptoms and pain.   The results demand further investigation, in spite of the fact that the numbers of subjects cited in Dr. Cameron’s study are nothing to be sneezed at.

Considering the embarrassing lack of research thus far with respect to such an overwhelming and terrifying epidemic, along side the enormous political and medical debate that is bankrupting thousands and turning whole families out of their homes -  it is about time that more serious research be prioritized to stop the fractious and damaging posturing in favor of saving lives.

There are spiteful, mean-spirited people who will respond that Lyme disease does not cause death, but that death is caused by the hotly debated long-term antibiotic treatment and occasional flukes.  A spokesman from the IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America) describes chronic Lyme disease as “the aches and pains of daily living.”   Certainly not a life threatening disease.  But those of us who have chronic Lyme disease already know how fragile our hold on life becomes.

Chronic Lyme disease takes lives even when there is a breathing shell left in place of the vibrantly active “pre-Lyme” person.  If life is defined by the heart beating perhaps there are many more with Lyme who suffer silently.  But I contend that those of us with bad cases of chronic Lyme are the “un-dead” – the “Lyme ghosts” living in agonizing pain – far, far beyond the aches and pains of daily living – unable to contribute to our families, friends, communities …in the meaningful way we once did.

And for children, who have yet to taste the pleasures of vibrant life – they don’t understand what they have lost.  So it is up to the adults to protect these victims and bring them back to health (God Bless Dr. Jones).

I think it is safe to say that Dr. Cameron is leading the way towards a new understanding od chronic Lyme disease, which is quite a coup when the entire IDSA is on record as not believing in the existence of chronic Lyme disease!

To read more about Dr. Cameron go to http://www.lymeproject.com/index.html.

I hate to admit my growing distrust of any news related to Lyme disease that is released by any government approved agency.  But in this case I am praying that this important information from the California Health Department Division of Communicable Disease Control is true.

An epidemiologist who used to work at the State’s Health Department, Robert Murray, reported that the percentage of infected deer ticks in high Lyme disease areas such as Connecticut is 30 to 60 percent. But the percentage of black-legged ticks — the closely related cousins that carry Lyme disease in California — is only 1 to 2 percent, and only as high as 6 percent in areas such as Mendocino county, where the most Lyme disease cases are found.

According to California’s recent data, in California, only about one in every 200,000 persons is infected with Lyme disease as compared to Connecticut – the epicenter of Lyme disease the rate is 100 times higher. Unofficially we can only guess, but the recorded numbers at the National Center for Disease Control are admittedly only 10% of the actual numbers.  But still one would suspect that the differences would be uniformly off.

In 1998, Sabin Russell, a reporter for the San Fransisco Chronicle wrote a provocative article with what appears to be hard evidence as to why the rate of Lyme disease occurrence grows less rapidly in California, and not by just a little bit.

As far back as the 1990′s researchers suspected that a yet- to-be-identified protein in the lizard’s blood destroys the microbes that would otherwise flourish in the tick’s belly (and is later transmitted to human victims.)

“We’ve speculated on this for years, and now we have fairly good evidence that this is the case,” said Robert Lane, a University of California at Berkeley insect biologist who has been studying ticks and Lyme disease for more than a decade.

Lane and his colleague Gary Quistad conducted a series of laboratory experiments using young Lyme disease-infected ticks and fence lizards.

In the nymphal stage during which they feed on the blood of lizards, the ticks are only about the size of a poppy seed. But it is common to find 30 to 40 at one time sharing the blood of a single fence lizard.

Lane  discovered that a substance found in the blood of the common western fence lizard kills Lyme disease bacteria in the gut of juvenile ticks that feed on it. It may help explain why there is far less Lyme disease in California than in the eastern United States, where the lizard does not live.

The western fence lizard — a commonly found species dubbed the blue belly lizard in California – can carry an average of 30 juvenile black legged ticks, which are about the size of a poppy seed. Three stages of tick development Larval Ticks pass through three stages of development. During each stage they eat one  “blood meal.”  ‘ Larval ticks become infected with Lyme disease when they feed on rodents.

Lane had determined eight years ago that the lizards appeared to be immune to Lyme disease despite infestation with tick nymphs. His latest research, published recently in the Journal of Parasitology, suggest why this happens.

Berkeley’s Tilden Park served as the field laboratory for Lane, where he previously also uncovered a curious quirk about Lyme disease and the black-legged ticks that carry it there: the infection rates for young ticks, while low, was three to four times higher than the rate in adult ticks.

Early experiments ruled out the possibility that antibodies produced by the lizard’s immune system were able to neutralize the Lyme disease bacteria.

The puzzle continued to interest Lane who found later that when young nymphal ticks feed on the fence lizards, the mysterious protein not only protects the lizard from infection — it actually leaches into the tick’s gut and kills the bacteria there. Additional lab tests showed that when infected nymphs fed on the lizards, and then metamorphosed into adult ticks, they were no longer infected.

Test tube experiments found that Lyme disease bacteria bathed in lizard’s blood died within one hour, while control samples grown in mouse blood lasted three days.

In another experiment, the researchers heated lizard blood to the boiling point, and found that it no longer killed the bacteria in a test tube. The sum of these tests points to what Lane calls a “spirochete-killing factor” that is probably a large protein.

“It’s an extremely important paper,” said Vicky Kramer, chief of the vector-borne disease section of the California Department of Health Services.

Researchers are now trying to determine the precise nature of the Lyme disease-killing protein, and perhaps find out if it can be used to create a treatment for the disease.

Today, a decade later, Robert Lane has earned his PhD, and is a professor at U.C. Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and supervises several projects aimed at expanding our knowledge of the relationship of various isolates of LD spirochetes (and other emerging tick-borne disease agents in the bacterial genera  (Anaplasma, Bartonella, Borrelia, and Ehrlichia) to their vectors and  hosts.

Spirochetes isolated from ticks and wildlife are being characterized antigenically and genetically, and the infectivity of selected isolates for vertebrates and ticks evaluated.

The ability of human and nonhuman-biting ticks to acquire, maintain and transmit the LD spirochete, and the role of lizards, birds and mammals in perpetuating it have been and still are being assessed both experimentally and in the field. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to the vector efficiency of different ticks and to the reservoir competence of mammals also are being studied.

Another current focus of Dr. Lane’s research program is to determine the factors that elevate the risk of human exposure to ticks in endemic areas of northern California, particularly in dense woodlands and mixed hardwood forests.

According to the University, these studies are being conducted in wild land and recreational areas, and in some domestic settings in both rural and semi-rural communities endemic for LD.

It is anticipated that these investigations will clarify various ecological and epidemiological factors that place humans at heightened risk of exposure to the LDS and other emerging tick-borne infections at different spatial scales, and enable us to develop predictive models to assess LD risk at both the county and state levels by means of remote sensing and ground-truthing ecological studies.

Dr. Lane explains the ultimate goal of this research to use the basic knowledge gleaned from the previous and ongoing projects to develop and implement strategies for reducing human exposure to tick-borne disease agents.

The frustrating part of all this research is the incredible length of time it takes to go from one theory to a finished product that can help us now.

The exciting part of Dr. Lane’s research is that his focus is centered on using several host-targeted methods  for disseminating environmentally safe pesticides to rodent reservoir hosts (such as the lizard) of the LD spirochete that have already have been assessed.

Lets hope we don’t have to wait another decade for this brilliant scientist to deliver the goods from his promising research.

Business Wire announced 2 days ago that Viral Genetics had received a grant of $75,000.00 to follow up on the research they began last year on chronic Lyme disease almost accidentally when they were trying to discover immune based treatments an therapies for HIV and AIDS.  See http://www.lymediseaseresource.com/wordpress/great-news-re-possible-lyme-vaccine-from-viral-genetics/ .  The generous grant has come from Turn The Corner Foundation.

“The ultimate goal of our research is to identify and optimize a new therapy for Lyme Disease that inhibits chronic inflammation and focuses the immune response,” said Dr Karen Newell, the head of the research team.

Dr. Newell will work with Dr. Steven Harris to correlate the ongoing symptoms of patients with Chronic Lyme Disease with the genetically determined patterns of patients “immune response” which are found in their MHC genes. The study also involves performing basic experiments with Borrelia Burgorferi and the impact the organism has on acute and chronic inflammatory responses.

The irony cannot be missed when last week, LDA uncovered a behind the scenes maneuver initiated by the Infectious Diseases Society of America, IDSA- a letter, sent to doctors in specific states, asking them to oppose the Lyme bill, which they describe as one “that would establish a federal advisory panel on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases heavily weighted with patient advocate group representation and with a special seat reserved for a chronic Lyme disease physician.”

In the letter to doctors, the IDSA president said, “the bill’s overt support for chronic Lyme disease and other views promoted by Lyme disease activists is troubling. We are concerned about the federal government backing `chronic´ Lyme disease when Lyme disease has never been shown to be a chronic infection, and when those patients diagnosed with this dubious condition are frequently treated with long-term antibiotic therapy, exposing them to significant risks for questionable benefits. Our mission is to promote public health and good patient care, and we are concerned that this bill would do neither.”

To defeat the bill and the research monies, IDSA asked doctors to sign onto a letter to Congress that states, in part, “we are alarmed at the references to `chronic´ Lyme disease.” It stated some study patients with a “previous diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease did not have Lyme disease at all, but actually had something else, such as rheumatoid arthritis or other autoimmune disorders, fibromyalgia, or depression-conditions that need treatment with something other than antibiotics.” IDSA “urge[s]” our Congressman to, “oppose it and to not co-sponsor the bill.”

IDSA is trying to silence treating physician and patient voices in DC. It does not want research which can help you be accurately diagnosed and treated, but continues to promote the “not Lyme” diagnosis, which means no antibiotic treatment for you and your families. We NEED you to CALL your federal representatives this week to combat this assault. We MUST ensure our representatives are not swayed by the IDSA´s propaganda!

We all need to call our Senator and Congressmens offices to encourage them to stand up to big business and look at the evidence instead of listening to self-serving medical doctors in bed with the big pharmaceutical companies.

Meanwhile we can all give a cheer to the outstanding work at Viral Genetics and the relentless fundraising efforts of Turn The Corner Foundation. IDSA will not be able to keep chronic Lyme disease in the closet much longer as ethical researchers uncover the obvious truth.

Other post on subject:

Viral Genertics (VRAL) gets Lyme Grant | Lyme Disease Insights Blog – Dr. Newell will work with Dr. Steven Harris to correlate the ongoing symptoms of patients with Chronic Lyme Disease with the genetically determined patterns of patients “immune response” which are found in their MHC genes. …

It  feels as though no progress is being made in the conventional medical community with respect to better understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Lyme disease, doesn’t it?

Well, cheer up, there are several prestigious research facilities that have added Lyme to their roster of diseases to study – many with no ties to the existing political debate.  You can read about the specifics at www.neuro-lyme.com/Research_on_Neuro-Lyme.html.

As this information shows, not only are there new research dollars being supplied, the issue has become (and has been) an international concern that will quickly supersede the turf wars being fought in New England.

The discovery last year that the wildly infectious strain of Borrelia burgdorferi that is spreading so quickly across the United States is in fact the SAME strain being fought in Europe, and that this strain is actually a NEW strain of spirochete that has never been known to our world until recently (50 years more oor less), has brought the best scientific and medical minds together in new collaborative studies.

Additionally fabulous new technology combined with advanced methods of studying the bacteria is allowing whole new fields of research to jump in and help such as nuclear medicine, genomics,  immunoligists and neuropathology (just to name a few.)

Our first and best hope seems to rest with genomics.

Borrelia burgdorferi is thought by many to be the most complex and intelligent bacteria ever discovered.  As experts in genomics begin to break down the DNA of this organism, not only will the nature of the disease become clearer (currently so much about Lyme disease remains a mystery even to the experts), successful strategies for diagnosis, treatment and vaccines will begin to emerge.

My final point, (as we all know so well), is that as the disease continues to spread unchecked more and more people are affected from movie stars to politicians which will ultimately force the CDC and Congress to take measures.

So, have hope!  Even if Oprah decides not to produce a show on Lyme, and even if the legislation to advance research monies from Congress continues to be wrapped in a stranglehold, science will prevail.

What do you think?

- Viral Genetics, Inc. (OTC:VRAL), a biotechnology company that discovers and develops immune-based therapies, today unveiled to the general public initial findings of its ongoing Lyme Disease study.

Viral Genetics initially unveiled its new model and early findings on Saturday, October 18th, at the 2008 International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Scientific Session.

Lyme Disease, the most frequent tick-borne disease in the U.S. and Europe, is caused by bacteria called Borrelia. The disease can have dramatically different outcomes in different people. Symptoms range from debilitating disease to no symptoms at all.

Testing is a challenge because symptoms vary and often mimic flu-like symptoms. The bite may not immediately result in antibody production so early negative diagnosis is an issue. The organism is also difficult to culture and slow growing to further complicate detection.

“If infection is detected very early, a round of antibiotics sometimes is enough for some people. In other cases, even with antibiotics, the disease becomes chronic and includes symptoms like arthritis, heart disease, and harm to the nervous system,” said Dr. M. Karen Newell, Ph.D., lead investigator of the study and a professor at the University of Colorado.

Given the vast differences from one patient to another, there is a longstanding debate in the medical community over treatment of Lyme Disease. Some researchers contend Lyme is driven by chronic infection and recommend patients be treated with antibiotics for the long term. Others support the hypothesis that Lyme Disease is a result of autoimmune T cell activation, which occurs subsequent to the initial infection or after the infection has cleared.

“We hope to reconcile this debate, as our model accounts for both the initial disease and the consequent processes that appear similar to autoimmune disease.” said Newell.

With a commitment to discovering and developing immune-based therapies for HIV and AIDS using its thymus nuclear protein compound (TNP), Viral Genetics’ new model was initially proposed solely for HIV/AIDS. However, by unraveling the mechanism of TNP, Dr. Newell identified its potential promise in other diseases including Lyme.

“Our primary focus is on research and development of new therapies for HIV/AIDS. While we’ve shown consistently that Dr. Newell’s model could potentially serve as a mechanism of action in our HIV/AIDS research and our human trials, up until now, there has not been an animal test model available in HIV/AIDS.

Once Dr. Newell identified TNP’s potential in Lyme Disease, where an animal testing model was readily available, we have now clearly shown, for the first time, TNP’s potential for the study of other immune-based diseases,” said Haig Keledjian, co-founder and CEO, Viral Genetics, Inc.

The study team attributes the vast differences in people’s response to Lyme Disease to the unique genetic make-up of each individual. The research model developed suggests that a person’s immune response to Borrelia may determine the outcome of the disease.

“To identify the genetic contribution, early studies employed mouse models because there are highly inbred strains that differ only by very well characterized genetic features,” said Newell.

Given each stage of Lyme Disease is characterized by profound inflammation (the “blunt force” of the immune response), the team contends the absence of inflammation is worse. For example, mice with no inflammatory response do not appear as sick, but cannot control infection as quickly as those with intact inflammatory responses.

“In contrast, the response in some mice, which have the appropriate Borrelia TLR 2 and TLR 4, the inflammatory response is sufficient to fight off infection,” added Newell.

The “gate-keepers” of the inflammatory response are the Toll Ligand Receptors (TLR). Bacteria produce Toll ligands that, by binding to the TLR, initiate the inflammatory response. Once that response is triggered, the symptoms for early stages of Lyme Disease are initiated.

In formulating its model, the study team posed the question, what if bacteria get past the gate-keeper and hide out in various tissues, invisible to the immune system? They then asked, what if bacteria find a new disguise, come out of hiding, and the process starts all over again?

Viral Genetics is aimed at finding a key to the gate that unlocks the hiding places without the ‘blunt force’ of the TLR. In other words, the team is now focusing less on the gate-keeper and more on a specific response. In their study model, the key is called a “targeted peptide.”

“Just like a key for each door may be different, the study team contends the ‘targeted peptide’ for each person may depend on their immune traits, and therefore, will dictate how the disease manifests itself,” said Newell.

Early Lyme Disease research has resulted in three significant findings.

First, the study team has identified and synthesized “key” peptides that are predicted to have high binding affinity to an individual’s immune cells based on the genetic traits of their immune system.

Secondly, the team has tested the newly identified peptides in mouse models in which the immunological genes are very well characterized.

Lastly, the team has shown that the “targeted, computationally predicted peptides” significantly reduce the number and “activation state” of the cells responding to Borrelia proteins.

“In summary, we have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of non-specifically ‘activated’ cells–likely as a result of reducing the inflammation in response to inflammatory Borrelia protein.

Our early findings are promising and potentially could unlock the mysteries of Lyme Disease as well as other immune-based diseases including HIV/AIDS. We look forward to moving into the clinical phase of research,” added Newell.

Viral Genetics, Inc. is a biotechnology company that discovers and develops immune-based therapies for HIV and AIDS using its thymus nuclear protein compound (TNP). The company recently entered into an Exclusive License Agreement with the University of Colorado and V-Clip Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of the Company) to license technology developed by M. Karen Newell, PhD that appears to explain TNP and provide a means to optimize therapies based on TNP for future clinical trials. TNP may have other potential applications for other infectious, autoimmune, and immunological deficiency diseases that the company intends to study in the future.

Viral Genetics believes that its investigational HIV/AIDS drug based on TNP, called VGV-1, represents a unique approach to treating HIV due to the apparently novel mechanism, low toxicity profile, simple dosing regimen, and short-course of treatment. As a type of immune-based therapy, it focuses on boosting the immune system to allow the body to fight HIV more efficiently. VGV-1 has been studied in five human clinical trials for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

NOTE: VGV-1 is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world. While Viral Genetics believes that the forward-looking statements and underlying assumptions contained therein are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of Viral Genetics to establish the efficacy of VGV-1 in the treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies and strategies leading to commercialization of VGV-1 in the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the development plan, the completion of studies and tests on time or at all, and the successful outcome of such studies or tests.

Information taken from News Release on Business Wire 10-21-08

A new type of immune-based therapy has recently been discovered by Viral Genetics, Inc.  This biotechnology company is located in San Marino, California with a mission to discovers and develops immune-based therapies for HIV and AIDS using its thymus nuclear protein compound (TNP), which may help Lyme disease.

With a commitment to discovering and developing immune-based therapies for HIV and AIDS using its thymus nuclear protein compound (TNP), Viral Genetics’ new model was initially proposed solely for HIV/AIDS. However by unraveling the mechanism of TNP, Dr. Newell, a Professor at Dartmouth University and Advisor to Viral Genetics, has identified its potential promise for several diseases including Lyme disease. Thankfully, further studies on Lyme disease are being conducted thanks to a grant earmarked specifically for Lyme disease.

“We’ve always theorized that TNP could serve as a pathway to more answers and, potentially aid in the development of more effective treatments for a variety of immune based diseases, but this is our first study outside of the HIV/AIDS arena, so we are encouraged by TNP’s application to Lyme. We look forward to what further research could yield,” added Newell.

The study team made progress using basic academic research to understand molecular mechanisms that account for whether or not a person contracts Lyme Disease subsequent to the tick bite. The team is now transitioning quickly to clinical research.

“The initial data is promising and our mission is to continue making further progress in our effort to unravel the extreme complexities behind Lyme Disease.” said Monica Ord, SVP of corporate development and communications,

Some researchers contend Lyme is driven by chronic infection and recommend patients be treated with antibiotics for the long term. Others support the hypothesis that the disease is the result of autoimmune T cell activation that occurs subsequent to the initial infection or after the infection has cleared.

However, as most of us know, Lyme disease easily evade the immune system of its human host by altering its genetic code, altering its structure from one type of cell to another and hiding within white blood cells (to name just a few evasion methods.)

“Our model reconciles both the initial disease and accounts for the consequent processes that appear pathologically similar to autoimmune disease,” said Dr. Newell.

Until these scientific truths are brought forward and quickly researched collaboratively, the patients who wait daily for answers to their suffering are the victims. Our deep hope is to make a difference in their lives,” said Monica Ord, SVP of corporate development and communications, Viral Genetics, Inc.

According to “MarketWatch” News, Viral Genetics has been invited to participate in the ILADS 2008 Scientific Studies.

ILADS, an international nonprofit and multidisciplinary medical society, is dedicated to the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Lyme and its associated diseases. The 2008 ILADS Scientific Session will take place in San Francisco on Lyme disease in the U.S.

Lyme Disease Resource will be reporting on the event.

Exciting research is being conducted under Dr. Mario Philipp at Tulane National Primate Research Center using rhesus monkeys which are very similar to humans biologically. The objective is to better understand how the spirochetes infect the brain, how they damage the brain and how they can be destroyed.

According to interviews with Pamela Weintraub (see Unknown Cure – Inside the Lyme Epidemic), Dr. Philipp has made great progress on proving his theory that Lyme infection inflames the brain (as it does joints), begins killing brain cells and persists in spite of treatment.

One of the most daunting hurdles in studying neuroborreliosis, is that even when disease is fully expected and diagnosed through current methodology, the actual spirochetes are very hard to find. The monkeys are allowing researchers to make controlled experiments and verify results definitively.

One surprise result has come from the observation of the immune system in relationship to the disease. There has been great debate on whether the chronic nature of Lyme disease comes from the actual infection or an over-reaction of the immune system where the body actually attacks itself.

Dr. Philipp reported, “There is no need to imagine an autoimmune engine for this disease. The spirochete is the direct cause. When people remain sick, the cause is either the spirochete or the remnants of its lipoproteins never fully cleared.”

Another amazing discovery made by Dr. Philipp is the nature of the infection within the body. He has found definitive proof of genetic differences between the spirochetes in each area of infection (heart, brain, skin…) as well as different genetic code for spirochetes in immune-suppressed primates versus those with a healthy immune system.

This is great news for those of us suffering as it brings medical science one step closer to finding a cure.