ALS /Lyme
The controversy over Lyme disease continues to severely affect those living with other conditions who may actually have Lyme and tick borne coinfections. Please remember:
Lyme tests miss up to 75% of people with Lyme
1 month of Doxycycline is not sufficient to cure people with chronic Lyme disease
Tests for Lyme and other tick borne infections are not typically performed on ALS patients
Certain University based doctors /academia are driven by funding and cling tight to the disproved theory that Lyme is easy to diagnose and easy to cure
Funding for research in this area has been extremely poor
Countless people with ALS / Lyme have not had the results of their cases published
List of Articles
Compliments of
Bernt-Dieter Huismans
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When ALS Is Lyme
Examining the Link Between ALS and Lyme Neuroborreliosis
Free E-Book by Sarah and John Vaughter
Lou Gehrig Had A House in Lyme, CT
Dying of Lyme Disease- Case Fatality Rate Nearly 100%
Below are several abstracts and links to articles
On the connection between ALS and Lyme disease.
Int J Neurosci. 2014 Jan 7. [Epub ahead of print]
Lyme Disease -Induced Polyradiculopathy Mimicking Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Abstract Importance: To describe a case of predominantly motor polyradiculopathy secondary toLyme disease that can mimic motor neuron disease and has been rarely reported.
Observations: A 64 year-old man presented with a one-month history of rapidly progressive weakness involving bulbar, upper limb and lower limb muscles. The physical examination showed widespread weakness, atrophy, fasciculation and brisk reflexes. The initial electrodiagnostic test showed widespread active and chronic denervation findings.
The initial physical and electrodiagnostic findings were suggestive of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). However blood serology indicated possible Lyme disease. Thus, the patient was treated with doxycycline. The clinical and electrodiagnostic findings were resolved with the treatment.
Conclusion and Relevance: The diagnosis of Lyme disease can be very challenging and it can mimic other neurological disorders such as ALS or Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Careful and detailed examination and investigation are required to confirm the diagnosis and to prevent misleading inaccurate diagnoses.
Amyotroph Lateral Scler. 2012 Sep;13(5):487-91. Epub 2012 Aug 8.
ALS untangled No. 17: "when ALS is lyme".
Amyotroph Lateral Scler. 2009 Aug;10(4):248-50. doi: 10.1080/17482960903208599.
ALS Untangled update 1: investigating a bug (Lyme Disease) and a drug (Iplex) on behalf of people with ALS.
Muscle Nerve. 2009 Oct;40(4):626-8. doi: 10.1002/mus.21438.
Lyme disease serology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Qureshi M, Bedlack RS, Cudkowicz ME.
Abstract
Lyme disease is sometimes part of the differential diagnosis for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Herein we report on 414 individuals with ALS at the Massachusetts General Hospital who underwent laboratory testing for Lyme disease. Twenty-four (5.8%) were seropositive, but only 4 (0.97%) had confirmed past immunoreactive infection. Two of these patients received ceftriaxone for 1 month without clinical improvement. Lyme disease was rare in 414 patients with ALS and is not likely to be causative.
Int J Health Geogr. 2002 Dec 20;1(1):5.
Geographical and seasonal correlation of multiple sclerosis to sporadic schizophrenia.
Clusters by season and locality reveal a striking epidemiological overlap between sporadic schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis (MS). As the birth excesses of those individuals who later in life develop schizophrenia mirror the seasonal distribution of Ixodid ticks, a meta analysis has been performed between all neuropsychiatric birth excesses including MS and the epidemiology of spirochaetal infectious diseases.
RESULTS:
The prevalence of MS and schizophrenic birth excesses entirely spares the tropical belt where human treponematoses are endemic, whereas in more temperate climates infection rates of Borrelia garinii in ticks collected from seabirds match the global geographic distribution of MS.
If the seasonal fluctuations of Lyme borreliosis in Europe are taken into account, the birth excesses of MS and those of schizophrenia are nine months apart, reflecting the activity of Ixodes ricinus at the time of embryonic implantation and birth. In America, this nine months' shift between MS and schizophrenic births is also reflected by the periodicity of Borrelia burgdorferi transmitting Ixodes pacificus ticks along the West Coast and the periodicity of Ixodes scapularis along the East Coast. With respect to Ixodid tick activity, amongst the neuropsychiatric birth excesses only amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) shows a similar seasonal trend.
CONCLUSION:
It cannot be excluded at present that maternal infection by Borrelia burgdorferi poses a risk to the unborn. The seasonal and geographical overlap between schizophrenia, MS and neuroborreliosis rather emphasises a causal relation that derives from exposure to a flagellar virulence factor at conception and delivery. It is hoped that the pathogenic correlation of spirochaetal virulence to temperature and heat shock proteins (HSP) might encourage a new direction of research in molecular epidemiology.
Wien Med Wochenschr. 1995;145(7-8):186-8.
[ALS-like sequelae in chronic neuroborreliosis].
[Article in German]
Hänsel Y, Ackerl M, Stanek G.
CSF investigation in a 61-year old female patient with clinical picture of motoneuron disease gave evidence for chronic infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Improvement of clinical and CSF findings could be observed after antibiotic therapy. The diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis which was initially suspected had to be revised and the disorder was interpreted as chronic neuroborreliosis.