Carl Tuttle- Letter to Editors & CC to Others
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2017 8:03:10 AM
Subject: Confronting the misnomer of chronic Lyme disease
COVER STORY
Confronting the misnomer of chronic Lyme disease
Infectious Diseases in Children, June 2017
June 15, 2017
Managing Editor, Healio.com
6900 Grove Road
Thorofare, NJ 08086-9447 USA
To the Editor of Healio,
Untreated strep throat leads to rheumatic fever which can cause irreversible heart damage but rapid culture tests available in the primary care setting has virtually eliminated rheumatic fever and the life-threatening complications associated with that disease.
Misdiagnosed and untreated Lyme disease creates the same life-altering/life-threatening consequences but this has been hidden from the worldwide medical community and general population. Just ask Duke University Professor Neil Spector who required a heart transplant after his Lyme infection went four years untreated. Spector’s laboratory tests (serology) were repeatedly negative. Faulty/misleading antibody tests are the root cause of unimaginable pain and suffering.
Lyme disease is capable of producing sudden death with no warning signs; [1,2,3,] heart damage requiring transplant, [4] paralysis with seizures, [5] lymphoma [6] and persistent infection after antibiotic treatment [7, 8,9,10,11] along with congenital transmission [12] and ability to create wheelchair bound patients [13]. The last time we recognized a disease with this potential to cause serious harm, (Zika) the CDC wanted 1.8 billion for research. [14]
Quote from Senator Richard Blumenthal:
"Today for me culminates more than a decade of work and probably a decade more, because I've seen firsthand the devastating, absolutely unacceptable damage done by Lyme disease to individual human beings, Connecticut children and residents whose lives have been changed forever as a result of Lyme disease”
Source: http://ctmirror.org/2011/07/18/blumenthal-takes-lyme-disease-fight-senate/
There are no Public Service Announcements informing the public that you could become horribly disabled or die from Lyme disease. WHY?
The one-size-fits-all IDSA treatment guideline does not scratch the surface for a Borrelia infection misdiagnosed and untreated for years or decades. This growing class of Lyme patient has been ignored by the CDC, IDSA and American Lyme Disease Foundation as the focus has been to discredit the sick and disabled along with the courageous clinicians attempting to help these patients.
Lyme disease belongs in the same health threat category as AIDS and Zika and with over 300,000 cases annually Lyme is now six times the AIDS epidemic and twice as prevalent as breast cancer.
The Centers for Disease Control is 100% responsible for this runaway plague with unacceptable testing, inadequate treatment, lack of medical training and absolutely no disease control. This is an epic forty year failure of the nation’s health protection agency responsible for the health and wellbeing of all Americans.
This outdated bias viewpoint of Lyme disease as presented in the Infectious Diseases in Children article continues to control the narrative through editorial censorship of the truth. Manuscripts like this that does not reflect a balanced scientific consensus misguides the worldwide medical and scientific communities.
Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH
Lyme Disease: Call for a “Manhattan Project” to Combat the Epidemic
Raphael B. Stricker, Lorraine Johnson
Published: January 02, 2014DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.100379
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003796
REFERENCES:
1. Cardiac Tropism of Borrelia burgdorferi: An Autopsy Study of Sudden
Cardiac Death Associated with Lyme Carditis. (March 2016)
http://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(16)00099-7/abstract
Excerpt:
“Fatal Lyme carditis caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi rarely is identified. Here, we describe the pathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular findings of five case patients.”
2. CDC Case Study #1: Three Sudden Cardiac Deaths Associated with Lyme Carditis: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6249a1.htm?s_cid=mm6249a1_w
3. CDC Case Study #2: A case report of a 17-year old male with fatal Lyme carditis
http://www.cardiovascularpathology.com/article/S1054-8807(15)00025-3/abstract?rss=yes
4. Professor Neil Spector: Duke physician uses near-death experience to encourage patient self-advocacy
Dr Neil Spector from Duke University required a heart transplant after his Lyme disease went undiagnosed for four years.
5. Nashua Mom in the 'Lyme Light' on Katie Couric Show
http://patch.com/new-hampshire/nashua/nashua-mom-talks-chronic-lyme-on-katie-couric-show
Fifth-grade teacher Kelly Downing was paralyzed from the neck down and interviewed by Katie Couric.
6. Infection by Borrelia burgdorferi and cutaneous B-cell lymphoma (Cancer)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9331890
Specific DNA sequences of Borrelia burgdorferi were identified in cutaneous lesions from 9 patients (follicle center lymphoma: 3/20; immunocytoma: 3/4; marginal zone B-cell lymphoma: 2/20; diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: 1/6).
7. Application of Nanotrap technology for high sensitivity measurement of urinary outer surface protein A carboxyl-terminus domain in early stage Lyme borreliosis.
http://translational-medicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12967-015-0701-z
41 of 100 patients under surveillance for persistent LB in an endemic area were positive for urinary OspA protein after antibiotic treatment.
8. Culture evidence of Lyme disease in antibiotic treated patients living in the Southeast.
Rudenko and colleagues reported culture confirmation of chronic Lyme disease in 24 patients in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. All had undergone previous antibiotic treatment.
9. DNA sequencing diagnosis of off-season spirochetemia with low bacterial density in Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi infections.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968274
Faulty/misleading antibody tests landed a sixteen year old male in a psychiatric ward when his lab results did not meet the CDC’s strict criteria for positive results. His Western blot had only four of the required five IgG bands. Subsequent DNA sequencing identified a spirochetemia in this patient’s blood so his psychiatric issues were a result of neurologic Lyme disease misdiagnosed by antiquated/misleading serology. This patient was previously treated with antibiotics.
10. Granulomatous hepatitis associated with chronic Borrelia burgdorferi infection: a case report
The patient had active, systemic Borrelia burgdorferi infection and consequent Lyme hepatitis, despite antibiotic therapy.
11. Scotty Shelton and Persistent Infection in Saginaw MN
“Scotty's brain (cerebral cortex) was positive for Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia myamotoi, his testicle is positive for Bb. We are now testing other tissues. Seven years of antibiotics and 3.5 years of natural treatments (along with antibiotics) and he was highly highly positive.”
12. Congenital Transmission of Lyme/TBD
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z10em0szgpm8bll/Congenital%20Transmission%20of%20Lyme%202015.doc?dl=0
13. Wheelchair-Bound Girl Calls Blessing By Pope Francis ‘Most Precious Moment Of My Life’http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/09/24/pope-francis-blesses-girl-in-wheelchair/
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A 12-year-old girl who has been confined to a wheelchair since being diagnosed with Lyme disease said meeting Pope Francis as he arrived in New York Thursday was “the most precious moment of my life.”
14. $1.8 billion to fight Zika: CDC moves to highest alert level
Shared with permission.