Lyme Co-infections
Partially Under Construction
Common Tick Borne
Babesia & friends
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
(check names here)
Colorado Tick Fever
Powassan Virus and Western Nile
STARI or Masters disease (Not a co-infection but a different species of borrelia bacteria. See also research page- related B.species This is also Lyme Disease.)
Multijournal search engine Some of these journals you can sign up for free membership for older articles, some articles are immediately available through the engine.
Google The Elmer
Fud version
Other co-infections complained of on Lyme support boards
H. Pylori
Giardia
Staph
C. dificile
Various parasites
Yeast & other fungi
NEW
Cat Scratch Disease and Other Bartonella Infections
William A. Schwartzman, MD Current Treatment Options in
Infectious Diseases 2000, 2:155–162
Current Science Inc. ISSN 1523–3820
Fairly liberal ID manual.
http://jac.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/46/5/811
FULL TEXT Bactericidal effect of antibiotics on Bartonella and Brucella
spp.: clinical implications
Jean-Marc Rolain, Max Maurin and Didier Raoult* Brief report
a Unité des Rickettsies CNRS UPRES-A 6020, Faculté de Médecine,
Université de la Méditerranée, 27 Boulevard Jean
Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France. Published by; Journal of Antimicrobial
Chemotherapy (2000) 46, 811-814 [British Journal]
This deals only with bactericidal effects of certain antibiotics- not with bacteristatic which should also have an effect.
"The species Bartonella and Brucella are phylogenetically closely related bacteria, both of which can produce chronic infections in humans that are difficult to cure with antibiotics. MICs of antibiotics for both species correlate poorly with the in vivo efficacy of the antibiotics. In this study we have determined MBCs of several antibiotics for this group of pathogens. "
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULL TEXT In vitro susceptibilities of Bartonella henselae, B. quintana, B. elizabethae, Rickettsia rickettsii, R. conorii, R. akari, and R. prowazekii to macrolide antibiotics as determined by immunofluorescent-antibody analysis of infected Vero cell monolayers. Ives TJ, Manzewitsch P, Regnery RL, Butts JD, Kebede M. School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599-7595, USA. tjives@med.unc.edu ABSTRACT
"The in vitro susceptibilities of Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae, B. quintana, B. elizabethae, Rickettsia akari, R. conorii, R. prowazekii, and R. rickettsii to different concentrations of azithromycin, clarithromycin, dirithromycin, erythromycin, and roxithromycin"
-----------------------------------------------
Recommendations for Treatment
of Human Infections Caused
by Bartonella Species Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, June
2004,J. M. Rolain,1 P. Brouqui,1,2 J. E. Koehler,3 C. Maguina,4 M. J.
Dolan,5 and D. Raoult1,2* VERY GOOD information, although not many people
with the cat scratch version of Bartonella would agree with the premise
here of not treating it. But- definitely worth checking out.
-------------------------------------------------
Another very good one is a 2004 online video from a Philadelphia medical
conference;
"Martin Fried, MD (Coinfections Associated with Abdominal Pain)"
You can find it on this site;
http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org./Videos_Philadelphia_Medical_Conference.html
scroll down and it's there.
Dr. Martin Fried found that many lyme patients with bartonella identified
in the gastrointestinal tract have a peculiar & distinctive rash.
There are other manifestations of bartonella- not all will have this rash
or these particular symptoms. The video is horrible quality but the information
is very good.
---------------------------------------------------
Journal of Medical Microbiology
FULL TEXT The below is talking about several Bartonella species in general.
"Primary niche
In the rat model of B. tribochorum infection, the presence of periodic erythrocyte infection waves has been demonstrated [9], that echo the 5-day periodicity of the ‘Quintan fever'. The fact that Bartonella parasitise erythrocytes without leading to haemolysis, with the exception of B. bacilliformis, suggests that the re-infection waves are due to the liberation of the bacteria from a distant sanctuary site [...] All organs involved in bacillary angiomatosis could potentially play the role of sanctuary, including brain, penis, vulva, cervix, muscle and bone marrow [64–68]. However, after skin, bone is the second most frequent site, and bone lesions of bacillary angiomatosis are characterised by well circumscribed osteolysis, that is often painful and usually affects long bones [69]. Pain pattern and osteolysis echo those found in mastocytosis and multiple myeloma, suggesting that bone marrow cells may be infected by Bartonella. (iv) The outstanding features of trench fever are pain and tenderness in the shins and relapsing fever [70]. Many subjects also present only with painful shins, which were often, in the absence of fever, wrongly attributed to flat feet or rheumatism due to prolonged standing in mud and water "
Molecular
Evidence of Bartonella spp. in Questing Adult Ixodes pacificus Ticks in
California
C. C. Chang,1 B. B. Chomel,1,* R. W. Kasten,1 V. Romano,2
and N. Tietze2
Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary
Medicine, University of California, Davis,1 and Santa Clara County Department
of Health Services, Wildlife, Unit,
Vector Control Section, San Jose, 2 California
Received 18 September 2000/Returned for modification 29
November 2000/Accepted 20 January 2001Journal of Clinical Microbiology,
April 2001, p. 1221-1226, Vol. 39, No. 4 0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.4.1221-1226.2001
Bartonella
Infection in Animals: Carriership, Reservoir Potential, Pathogenicity,
and Zoonotic Potential for Human Infection FULL TEXT. More than you
ever wanted to know.
Edward B. Breitschwerdt* and Dorsey L. Kordick
Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina Clinical Microbiology
Reviews, July 2000, p. 428-438, Vol. 13, No. 3
0893-8512/00/
"Considering the extensive animal reservoirs and the large number of insects that have been implicated in the transmission of Bartonella spp., both animal and human exposure to these organisms may be more substantial than is currently believed. This statement is supported in part by seroprevalence data from healthy human blood donors as well as individuals with more frequent animal contact. Seroprevalence in healthy human blood donors has ranged from 2 to 6% (48, 86, 108) in the United States and 4% in Sweden (47). In Seattle, seroprevalence was 20% among an indigent, inner-city clinic population (48), and in Marseilles, 30% of homeless patients had high antibody titers to B. quintana (18). Two seroprevalence studies involving veterinary professionals from the United States and veterinarians from Europe have reported seroprevalence to B. henselae antigens as 7.1 and 51.1%, respectively (both studies used IFA testing) (78, 79). In addition to exposure to known and putative insect vectors, the high levels of bacteremia currently being documented in numerous domestic and wild animal species indicate that there is a tremendous animal reservoir for these organisms in nature. In this regard, transmission without an insect vector, although perhaps infrequent, seems plausible. For example, as a high percentage of wild rabbits, deer, and beef cattle can be bacteremic, inadvertent blood transmission might occur during the butchering process."
"Role of Insect Vectors
In general, knowledge related to vector transmission of Bartonella organisms is very incomplete. Several insects have been implicated in Bartonella transmission, including sand flies (36), the human body louse (93), the cat flea (23, 34, 45), the vole ear mite (3), and ticks (81, 106) (Table 1). Fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) collected from rats in downtown Los Angeles were commonly infected (61%) with Bartonella strains, including B. elizabethae (L. Beati, B. A. Ellis, M. Rood, S. Eldaieef, and R. L. Regnery, First Int. Conf. Bartonella Emerg. Pathogens, 1999, abstr. 13, p. 34). Certain Bartonella spp. appear to be more highly adapted to cause persistent infection in rodents (28, 106; Beati et al., abstr. 13). Infection with rodent Bartonella spp. such as B. elizabethae and B. vinsonii subsp. arupensis in aberrant hosts such as human beings can result in endocarditis and febrile illness, respectively (28, 106). "
Bartonella elizabethae in Los Angeles pdf file. And other rat/rodent host infections. Bear in mind the tests they are using in this study are of higher quality than commercially available tests. AFAIK there are no commercial tests for B.elizabethae.
Babesia is a family of protozoa, not bacteria. They are difficult to get rid of if they get hold. It is very possible that the interactions between lyme bacteria and babesia or other protozoa can make lyme refractory- hard to get rid of. Or perhaps vice versa. Tests are available for only 2 babesia species, and so, babesia becomes a clinical diagnosis. On the US west coast is not only Babesia microti, but also WA-1, and an unknown species recently identified which is not yet named but is related to a dog babesia- B. gibsoni. These 3 can infect humans for certain. Oh, there are more of them... They are awaiting "discovery" by someone other than patients....
There are many other protozoa which could be involved in Lyme. No one really knows. Theileria is a closely related tick borne protozoa which is generally assumed to only infect animals, but they don't know everything for certain when it comes to these critters. There are also some that they don't know whether to put in the babesia or the theileria family. They are closely related enough to possibly hybrid. Some other protozoa which have different symptoms than these are Giardia, Amebas, Pneumocystis, Toxoplasma, Plasmodium (malaria), Cryptosporidium etc etc. These are some of the ones they've found in humans. The tests are crap- many of them have high inaccuracy rates. Some species and subspecies of these can infect mammals and make you sick. Some can live within you and cause no problems. Some only cause problems in some people.
To make this really difficult a lot of the drugs used to treat protozoa are nasty and toxic. Not one works on all protozoa. It's not a fun prospect to treat protozoa without really knowing what's going on. Hopefully you know, but there's a chance you don't. Veterinarians use more drugs at higher doses and some of those drugs aren't a good idea for you. Some have a death rate- they could kill you or damage your central nervous system. Some will work differently in humans than say for instance a beef cow. & really, people who develop drugs aren't all that concerned if a beef cow loses some cognitive abilities. OTOH, some doctors manuals recommend ineffective drugs and doses for humans. Personally, I don't know how many times I've been treated for supposed giardia at a lower dose. & Some protozoa have developed antibiotic resistance; certain strains of giardia for instance. Protozoa also have complex life cycles which make lyme bacteria look very simple. Some can be eradicated with one drug, others need various drugs for various life cycles- like a bad case of amebas for instance.
This isn't meant to be discouraging, but to point out that mepron and artemisia annua extracts may not be the only answers.
The bottom line is it's very hard to be certain what you are really dealing with here if the therapy doesn't work. Hopefully you kill it the first try. Someday it would be nice if researchers and doctors from all sides of the lyme controversy worked together on this; both IDs and LLMDs, both chemists and biologists, with some practical advice from herbalists, but that probley won't happen for another 10 to 50 years if it ever happens at all. Until then we are sort of lost in space with a shotgun.
-caat
Babesiosis
[conservative, some parts may be inaccurate- particularly
some species' ability to infect humans- they really don't know; but lots
of info.]
Mary J. Homer,1 Irma Aguilar-Delfin,2 Sam R. Telford III,3 Peter J. Krause,4
and David H. Persing1,*
Corixa Corporation and The Infectious Disease Research Institute, Seattle,
Washington 981041; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo
Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 559052; Department of Tropical Public
Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 021153;
and Department of Pediatrics, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford,
Connecticut 061064
Info from the Santa
Cruz County Tick-Borne Disease Support Group on Babesia and WA-1.
Collection of abstracts.
"The standard treatment of clindamycin and quinine occasionally fails, and has undesirable side effects such as tinnitus and decreased hearing. In this study, 72% on the standard treatment experienced adverse reactions. Only 15% did so on the Mepron combination. " [Mepron + Zithromax]
Babesia Treatment with Artemisia annua and extracts (Raw notes and links) Interesting therapies developed and widely used in Asia and Africa for Malaria which have good effect on Babesia. Some people are very intolerant of A.a. & extracts (heart and respiratory problems), and might want to try a very small dose first.
Mefloquine [Mepron] and Artemesia: A Prospective Trial of Combination Therapy in Chronic Babesiosis
Tests for WA-1, a piroplasma closely related
to Babesia are performed by the Sonoma
County Public Health Laboratory You do not need to be a resident of
this county, but perhaps do need to be in California. The Public Health
Laboratory is liaison to the California State Microbial Disease Laboratory,
and the National Centers for Disease Control. The only other lab AFAIK
that tests for WA-1 is Igenix.
from Santa Cruz Lyme Support Group;
"THE TEST IS ONLY $30.
However, you need to get it drawn and sent there, results to your doctor.
Code 5a. Babesia sp. WA 1
Specimen requirements: Patients blood in red top tube 10 ml. Acute and/or convalescent sera. 24 per serum.
SONOMA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH LAB
3313 Chanate Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: 1-707-565-4711"
Herbal Amebacides may have an effect on Babesia. Who knows? That's a complete guess, but seeing as western medicine isn't all that great with babesia and babesia isn't easily identified, it could be worth a thought. If you check google on amebas remember theres an alternate spelling of ameobas. Be careful with herbs, anything that could kill an ameba has the potential to damage or kill you at a high enough dose. A low dose won't kill the suckers though. Amebas have 2 life forms- adult and cyst (egg). As opposed to lyme bacteria, what can work on the adult forms is flagyl or tinidazole & several other "azoles". One thing that works on ameba cysts is idoquinol. That's amebas- not babesia. BUT, that could be a clue there.
Evaluation of Antibiotic Susceptibilities of Ehrlichia canis, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum by Real-Time PCR. : Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004 Dec;48(12):4822-8. Branger S, Rolain JM, Raoult D.
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Colorado Tick Fever
Phylogeny
of North American Powassan virus [Perhaps not the most interesting-
but proof of it's existence.]
Gregory D. Ebel1, Andrew Spielman1 and Sam R. Telford,
III1 Laboratory of Public Health Entomology, Department of Immunology
and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington
Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA1 Authors for correspondence: Gregory Ebel (Present
address: Arbovirus Unit of the Wadsworth Center’s Griffin Laboratory,
5668 State Farm Rd., Slingerlands, NY 12159, USA; Fax +1 518 869 4530;
e-mail ebel@wadsworth.org) and Sam Telford (Fax +1 617 432 1796; e-mail
stelford@hsph.harvard.edu)
"To determine whether Powassan virus (POW) and deer tick virus (DTV) constitute distinct flaviviral populations transmitted by ixodid ticks in North America, we analysed diverse nucleotide sequences from 16 strains of these viruses. "
search for Deer Tick Virus
same as above; Phylogeny of North American Powassan virus
This virus is related to Western Nile virus but tends to be much more severe.
search for Powassan Virus
Unfortunately little research has been done on this spirochete which is related or the same as a deer and cattle infecting spirochete named B. theileri. They don't officially have a name for it yet, but B.lonestari is used. They are not quite sure B. lonestari is the spirochete causing the illness- or if it is the only other spirochete causing it. They're not really sure of anything here except the fact that B.b spp is not the only spirochete which causes EM and illness. STARI is in the southern US and the eastern sea board.
It IS lyme disease. It is borreliosis.
No tests are available for it. The little information available is extremely unreliable, claiming it is a self resolving infection with mild symptoms. This does not reflect any studies or research. There really aren't any to speak of. It is possible people with this experience a higher temperature than people with other strains and species, but no one really knows that either.
CDC Bland version
CDC/Georgia Weird health advisory. pdf file. Considering the almost total lack of research concerning this bacteria, the confident assumption of it being benign is surprising.
search pubmed