The article below (by Steve Nery) was published in at least three Maryland newspapers (June 2009)- the Star Democrat (front page), the Kent County News and the Record Observer.
The Kent County News
Lyme disease victims eye beneficial study.
By Steve Nery
BALTIMORE Lyme disease patient advocates are hopeful that new studies on especially resistant forms of bacteria at Johns Hopkins could help lead to less restrictive treatment guidelines.
The November issue of the Johns Hopkins newsletter contains an article about research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health on bacteria that can morph into the "L-form" bacteria that lack cell walls that are resistant to antibiotics. They include Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, as well as the bacteria responsible for anthrax, syphilis, tuberculosis, food poisoning and stomach ulcers.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America recommends the use of an antibiotic for a maximum of four weeks to treat Lyme disease, but many patients, especially those not diagnosed swiftly following a tick bite, report effects that can continue to linger for life. Droves of Lyme disease patients spend thousands in out-of-pocket dollars to receive treatment from the few doctors that don't follow the IDSA guidelines.
Ying Zhang, Yanking Yang and William A. Glover authored a study published last month in PloS ONE. The researchers used modern molecular tools to learn more about the origin and biological functions of the L-form bacteria. Researchers have known about the existence of this form of bacteria since the 1930's, but little beyond that.
Zhang, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Bloomberg and the senior author of the study, said in the newsletter that the bacteria take on the L form in response to stress caused by antibiotics. The wall-less cells cluster together in the shape of a fried egg, which makes them ever more resistant to antibiotics.
The team successfully cultured E. coli L-form bacteria and discovered genes that were linked with the inability to grow in the L-form.
These L-forms of various bacteria may be the underlying reason for chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to the newsletter.
"It is possible, with our discovery of the L-form genes, to develop new antibiotics and more effective ones that can be used with current ones as well as new vaccines to … allow these forms to be eliminated by the immune system", Zhang said in the publication.
Patients with chronic Lyme disease hope new research will change the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Lyme disease treatment guidelines, which are under review as ordered by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
"Hopkins proving L-form bacteria is not killed by antibiotics while in this form shows that the chronic and debilitating symptoms, disability and death can all be related to ongoing infection in those that have been exposed", said Lucy Barnes, director of the Lyme Disease Education and Support Groups of Maryland.