12 A Personal Note From A Fellow Lyme Patient

I was going to work on a page about the Lyme disease controversy which incorporated some of the discussion about Embers et al Rhesus macaque study on the Lyme Policy Wonk blog or post something about how Viral Genetics' chronic Lyme disease treatment is supposed to work. But I've decided for now to set that aside because now I have something to say about something more personal. Recently, someone mentioned me online in a Lyme disease support group forum and stated that my ability to knock out 1,000 word rebuttals and look up all this...

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0 A Win For Free Access To Publicly Funded Research

A couple weeks ago I posted about the Research Works Act, and how it would force the public to pay twice for research their hard earned tax dollars already funded. Today, I'm glad to report that the Research Works Act was rejected. Representatives Issa and Maloney pledged not to move the legislation forward. Infojustice's web site posted about this turn of events, and scathing commentary has ensued concerning the pay wall that is Elsevier. Read about it here: http://infojustice.org/archives/8477 Also, see this article in The Scientist: http://the-scientist.com/2012/02/28/elsevier-abandons-anti-open-access-bill/ This...

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0 Blog Log: Spirochetes Unwound On Persisters

Well, our favorite spirochete blogger has posted about the magic of antibiotic tolerance today - an apropos choice for this evening's post to follow on the heels of the discussion about Embers et al paper, "Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Rhesus Macaques following Antibiotic Treatment of Disseminated Infection". While this entry on persisters in Spirochetes Unwound is not specifically about Borrelia, it is an interesting read for those who wish to learn more about the mechanisms related to antibiotic tolerance and how some bacteria...

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5 Debate About Embers Non-Human Primate Chronic Lyme Disease Study Continues

UPDATE - Feb. 27:  I did receive a response from Dr. Baker. See comments below this post. There is some heated discussion going on at CALDA's web site regarding Embers et al study, "Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Rhesus Macaques following Antibiotic Treatment of Disseminated Infection (2012)". I wrote about this study last month and commented on some of the findings and the need for further research and confirmation of the findings in this study. (I recommend reviewing that post and comments made on it.) CALDA's Lorraine...

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1 Patent: Viral Genetics Chronic Lyme Disease Treatment

This post is related to an earlier post about Viral Genetics application for a pre-IND to begin clinical trials on their VGV-L product for the treatment of Chronic Lyme disease. See: http://campother.blogspot.com/2012/02/viral-genetics-issues-latest-report-on.html Apparently, I found Viral Genetics' current patent. And as I had previously speculated, I was correct that the treatment is going to modify B cells. I knew it! Buy me a drink, eh? Here is a link to the patent online: http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100166789 Patent...

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0 More On Lyme Disease In Australia On The Today Tonight Show

There's been increased interest from my readers in learning more about Lyme disease in Australia, so I decided I would offer an update on the situation for everyone including my northern hemisphere readers who are interested in new developments there. Last week, the Australian television news show, Today Tonight, posted a segment on Lyme disease in Australia and how it has become a controversial issue as a number of Australians who have never left the country were bitten by ticks and developed symptoms very much like those of Lyme disease....

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6 Paper On Borrelia burgdorferi, RpoS, And Formation of Round Bodies or "Cysts"

Dr. MacDonald just posted information on Lymenet Europe concerning a new paper by Dunham-Emsl et al about the round body aka "cyst" form of Borrelia burgdorferi as part of the Lyme disease life cycle within the tick. The indication here is that Borrelia burgdorferi assumes a round body form within the tick in order to survive until circumstances for transmission to the host are present. There is no confirmation here, however, of its formation in vivo within a host mammal... Full Text Source: http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1002532 Borrelia...

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0 Phage-holder

Rather than use the term "placeholder" I decided to use "phage-holder" because this post is going to be all about bacteriophage and phage therapy. First, I came across this Nature blog post from Jim Caryl from last April - "No action today, no antibiotics tomorrow..." It outlines the serious problem of growing antibiotic resistance to infection and proposes different technological solutions for combatting resistance. Jim advocates the revamping of our current drug manufacturing system to produce new antimicrobial therapies based on new targets...

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2 Lyme Disease In Australia On Today Tomorrow Show

Last night the Australian television news show, Today Tonight, aired a segment on Lyme disease in Australia. While the dramatic reporting in this segment is not to my taste, I took special note of the research starting at roughly the 6:28 mark [11 minute video below may not work on all mobile devices]: Excerpt from the transcript: Inside a laboratory at Newcastle University a dedicated team, including Professor Tim Roberts, is toiling away on a fresh independent study - a collaboration with Sydney University - to...

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2 More Thoughts On Birds, Cool Shirts, And My Evil Twin?

More On Ticks And The Atlantic Flyway: I continue to think about the role of birds carrying ticks to different regions and how Lyme disease (and other tickborne infections) could be spread that way. But much as I found the overlay map I posted earlier this week to be intriguing, I don't think that tracking infected ticks on birds is as simple as following major and principal flyways - even though that could be a reasonable point to start an investigation. Yale has already done some work in this area, and I have no idea whether or not they've...

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7 The New Tick Map Vs. The Atlantic Flyway: Things That Make You Go Hmm.

[Ed. - Overlay map revised Feb. 9, 2012.] Well, I guess everyone has seen this map from Yale University by now... Yes, it is a map of Lyme disease risk areas based on tick flagging from 2004-2007 in the above regions, followed by an analysis of those ticks. No matter where one looked, the odds of a tick carrying Borrelia burgdorferi were 1 in 5 everywhere... So be careful out there, huh? While it's good to let people know there are transition areas where Lyme disease is up and coming, it's good not to be too complacent if you fall into...

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1 Memo: Borrelia Are NOT Gram-Negative Bacteria, And Might Become Resistant

For years, Borrelia have been thought to be Gram-negative because of their diderm and structural appearance upon staining. Borrelia - including Borrelia burgdorferi - are not Gram-negative bacteria, though - even though many people are still referring to them as such. They belong in their own category. As I was telling Dr. MacDonald this week: I found information confirming the fact that Borrelia is not Gram-negative or Gram-positive. It's its own special thing: "Borrelia were thought to be Gram negative because of their double membrane...

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6 Viral Genetics Issues Latest Report On Chronic Lyme Clinical Trials Status

Recently, Viral Genetics posted an update on its move towards testing its product, VGV-L, for treating chronic Lyme disease. Research for this product was funded by two Lyme disease advocacy organizations, Time For Lyme, Inc. and the Turn The Corner Foundation. You might be familiar with the project lead, Dr. Karen Newell Rogers, whose research was mentioned at the LDA-Columbia University Lyme 2011 Lyme and TBD Conference. I previously wrote about Dr. Newell Rogers research, and highlighted the following excerpt from a summary report on her...

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