Lyme disease

LYME DISEASE ENHANCES SPREAD OF EMERGING TICK INFECTION

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Mice that are already infected with the pathogen that causes Lyme disease appear to facilitate the spread of a lesser-known but emerging disease, babesiosis, into new areas.

Research led by the Yale School of Public Health and published Dec. 29 in the journal PLOS ONEused laboratory experiments, mathematical models, and fieldwork data to find that mice infected with the agent that causes Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) are at increased risk for also transmitting Babesia microti, the pathogen responsible for babesiosis, and could be enhancing the geographic spread of this emerging disease. Both diseases are transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis).

The finding provides a possible answer as to why human babesiosis is only emerging in areas where Lyme disease is well established, said Maria Diuk-Wasser, senior author of the study, who performed the research in collaboration with Peter Krause’s and Durland Fish’s research groups while she was assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health. Diuk-Wasser, who maintains an adjunct position and active collaboration with the Yale School of Public Health, is an associate professor at Columbia University. Other study collaborators were at the Yale School of Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“Ticks and natural hosts are commonly co-infected in nature, so understanding how these pathogens may influence each other’s abundance and distribution is key for public health,” Diuk-Wasser said. “We found that B. burgdorferi and B. microti co-occur in ticks more frequently than expected, resulting in enhanced human exposure to multiple infections that can cause more severe symptoms and sometimes make diagnosis more difficult.”

Ninety-five percent of all Lyme disease cases are reported from 14 states (primarily on the East Coast and in the Midwest), and there are approximately 30,000 new cases reported each year. Babesiosis is found in similar regions, but 95% of cases are concentrated in the seven “core” Lyme disease states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). About 1,000 new cases of babesiosis are reported annually.

While the two diseases share some of the same symptoms, babesiosis is potentially fatal in immunocompromised patients and can be transmitted through blood transfusions in addition to tick bites, posing an additional public health threat.

Refined mathematical models may allow scientists to better predict areas that are at risk for B. microti expansion and to assess whether methods to reduce B. burgdorferi infection in ticks and mice may simultaneously reduce B. microti infection, Diuk-Wasser said.

Lyme Disease, Fibromylagia Link Evaporates.

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Earlier studies may have included patients who did not have Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is not a trigger for fibromyalgia, according to a long-term assessment of patients with culture-confirmed Lyme disease.

The prevalence of fibromyalgia among patients with culture-confirmed Lyme disease who were followed at the Lyme Disease Diagnostic Center in Westchester County, N.Y., for up to 20 years was no greater than that in the general population, say investigators at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., led by Gary P. Wormser, MD.

Earlier studies that suggested that Lyme disease may trigger fibromyalgia were performed before the use of two-tier serologic testing for Lyme disease and therefore may have included patients who did not actually have Lyme disease, the investigators wrote online in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Further, these studies did not follow Lyme disease patients over the long term.

In the current study, 100 patients with a diagnosis of Lyme disease confirmed by recovery of Borrelia burgdorferi from culture — the gold standard for microbiologic confirmation — were systematically evaluated for fibromyalgia using both prior and current diagnostic criteria 11 to 20 years after the onset of Lyme disease. At diagnosis, patients were treated with antibiotic regimens consistent with current guidelines.

During 2011 to 2013, patients were evaluated by interview and tender point examination at 18 specific sites to determine if they met the criteria for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia using both the 1990 criteria (including the use of tender point examination) and the 2011 criteria (omission of tender point examination). At least 11 tender points or a total symptom score of 12 or greater was required to diagnose fibromyalgia, lacking an alternate diagnosis to explain symptoms. All 100 patients were interviewed, and 87 had a tender point examination.

The 100 patients had a mean age of 64.9 years at the time of their assessment for fibromyalgia, and 52% were male. The mean duration of follow-up since culture confirmed their Lyme disease diagnosis was 15.4 years (range 11 to 20 years). At least twenty-four of the 100 patients had an additional episode of early Lyme disease (i.e., erythema migrans) during follow-up. Sixteen of the 24 had one additional episode of erythema migrans and eight had two subsequent episodes.

Only one patient met the interview criteria for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Only one of the 87 patients who underwent tender point examination had at least 11 tender points. The prevalence is consistent with that in the general population, the authors note.

“Furthermore, at least 24% of our patients experienced a second episode of early Lyme disease associated with erythema migrans during the follow-up period suggesting that repeated episodes of early Lyme disease also infrequently trigger the development of fibromyalgia,” according to the authors.

One limitation of the study “is that we cannot exclude that fibromyalgia is triggered, lasts for a period of time and then resolves in some patients beginning at or shortly after the diagnosis of Lyme disease when the patients are most likely to be symptomatic,” they wrote. Another potential limitation is selection bias — 200 patients were enrolled but only 100 returned for follow-up assessment of fibromyalgia.

Cannabis kicks Lyme disease to the curb

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Lyme disease has been controversial for some years. Many medical practitioners misdiagnose it, while several think that it’s mental. With Lyme disease, there are so many symptoms, so many debilitating, agonizing manifestations, that it’s often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, lupus or a mental issue.

disease

Lyme disease is caused by a spirochetal bacteria of the Borrelia genus. Spirochetes are composed of about 40% DNA and have double-membrane envelopes that make them difficult to trace and kill. They’re apparently able to hide in deep tissue and change shapes to disguise their identities.

They’re somewhat similar to the bacteria behind syphilis, as Lyme disease affects the nervous system and brain also.

Going through the medical system with Lyme disease is like being a ball in an old fashioned pinball game machine. Being on antibiotics forever is risking serious adverse events or at least reducing one’s immunity to invite all sorts of other complications.

All this without a complete cure. But now there is considerable hope with cannabis.

Cannabis Lyme successes

There are two levels of handling Lyme with cannabis: managing symptoms well by smoking marijuana, or completely reversing the disease with cannabis oil. Not many are aware of cannabis oil pioneered by Rick Simpson a few years ago. Rick has said that most of the healing qualities of cannabis are lost in the smoke.

Alexis, diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease, is an example of someone handling symptoms without pharmaceuticals by smoking marijuana. She was on antibiotics long enough for her gastrointestinal tract to be damaged and to be hospitalized with hemorrhagic colitis.

She was taken off antibiotics and put on several strong pain prescriptions that were barely effective while putting her into lower emotional states. Then she tried smoking marijuana.

That routine handled most of her nausea, enabled her to eat well enough to avoid wasting away, helped her sleep better and eased her pain while elevating her mood. She maintains that marijuana has been the best thing for her Lyme disease.

Alexis wrote, “In the hospital, I have needed to have morphine or lorazepam through an IV to accomplish what smoking two grams of cannabis does on the comfort of my couch, in a fraction of the time.” [1] But Alexis is looking for a long-term solution.

Some have discovered that solution using cannabis oil for Lyme disease. Cannabis oil is a highly concentrated substance that’s extracted and reduced from large amounts of cannabis with a good balance of THC and other cannabinoids.

It has become increasingly available in states that allow medical marijuana. But it’s also available “underground” if you search on the internet. This is the stuff that has been curing cancer lately.

Shelly White’s Lyme disease was so debilitating that she had endured at least 10 seizures daily for a year and a half. She began smoking marijuana from a pipe and then switched to inhaling it through a vaporizer. Just from that, her seizures had stopped. Then she decided to go to the next level of using cannabis oil.

After a month of the oil, she was able to return to work and school. At the time of writing her story, she was happy to announce that she could now move out and live on her own and enjoy a normal social life. [2]

An internet radio show called “High Noon” interviewed a couple of Lyme disease victims who had been using cannabis oil successfully, Pamela Baily and Lisa Sikes. Listen via the link at source [3].

“Lymies” should look into cannabis since it handles so many ailments associated with Lyme disease. [4]

Sources for this article include:

[1] http://www.unitedpatientsgroup.com

[2] http://www.collective-evolution.com

[3] http://www.blogtalkradio.com

[4] http://the420times.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/043834_cannabis_Lyme_disease_medical_marijuana.html#ixzz2swUDBGVr

Time to say goodbye to minocycline?

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Minocycline has been licensed for over 35 years for a wide range of bacterial infections (a Summary of Product Characteristics [SPC] lists 16 indications) including respiratory, genitourinary and skin conditions.1,2 However, much of its popularity has been for its use in treating acne. Minocycline was associated with claims that it was “more effective, less likely to cause bacterial resistance and easier to take than other tetracyclines”.3 In addition, the availability of an adherence-friendly, once-daily, modified-release preparation and a lack of restriction when taken with food or ‘moderate amounts of milk’, quickly made it a favourite with general practitioners and patients. It became particularly popular for use for teenagers with acne, a group notorious for non-adherence and for whom a single daily dose was seen as an advantage. Between 1997 and 2006 about 500,000 prescriptions for minocycline were dispensed each year in England, accounting for about one third of all tetracycline prescriptions by volume and two thirds by cost.4 Partly as a result of concerns over its safety, the amount of minocycline prescribed has fallen by about two thirds, while the overall volume of prescribing of all tetracyclines has increased by 10%. However, given that over 100,000 prescriptions for minocycline are still issued each year, is further action required in light of the adverse effect profile of the drug?

Doubts about the safety of minocycline started in the 1990s with reports of rare but serious and apparently idiosyncratic adverse effects that included hypersensitivity reactions of eosinophilia, pneumonitis and nephritis, autoimmune hepatitis and lupus erythematosus-like syndrome.5,6Such reactions seem to be more common with minocycline than with other tetracyclines.7 In addition, minocycline appears to be the only tetracycline that can cause potentially irreversible slate-grey pigmentation of the skin.

Source: BMJ

 

 

Recurrent Erythema Migrans Represents New Lyme Infection.

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In a study involving 17 patients with recurrent erythema migrans, the implicated strains of Borrelia burgdorferi differed between the first and second episodes.

Lyme disease — infection with the tickborne spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi — is becoming more common, and its geographic zone is enlarging. The infection has protean manifestations and has been blamed for chronic symptoms of arthritis and fatigue. The most common initial symptom is erythema migrans (EM), a target-like lesion. Some patients, despite appropriate antibiotic treatment, experience recurrent EM. Distinguishing reinfection from relapse in these individuals can be difficult, and the issue remains controversial.

To explore this matter, researchers compared B. burgdorferi isolates from the skin or blood of adults with recurrent EM (17 patients, 22 paired consecutive episodes). All patients were treated with standard courses of antibiotics during each episode, with subsequent resolution of lesions.

Molecular typing of the isolated strains of B. burgdorferi, including analysis of the gene governing an outer-surface protein, revealed that in all of the paired EM episodes, the two episodes were associated with different strains. All repeat episodes were due to reinfection rather than relapse.

Comment: As noted by an editorialist, this study adds to the evidence that in antibiotic-treated patients, recurrent EM is caused by reinfection rather than by relapse of the original infection. The findings offer no real surprises: EM generally appears days to weeks after the offending tick bite. However, many patients with proven Lyme disease never experience (or notice) EM, and this study does not resolve the question of relapse or new infection in individuals with recurrent systemic symptoms.

Source: Journal Watch Infectious Diseases

 

 

 

 

Recurrent Lyme Disease Rash in Treated Patients Usually Due to Reinfection, Not Relapse .

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Repeat bouts of erythema migrans after treatment of Lyme disease are most likely reinfections, as opposed to relapses of incompletely treated infections, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers in New York analyzed 17 patients who had 22 pairs of consecutive episodes of erythema migrans caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. All episodes were treated with standard antibiotic therapy.

None of the paired consecutive episodes had the same ospC genotype, leading the researchers to conclude that patients had been reinfected with a different strain. In addition, all the recurrent infections occurred 1 year or longer after the initial infection, lending support to reinfection.

An editorialist concludes: “Although B. burgdorferi infection may persist for years in untreated patients, the weight of evidence is strongly against persistent infection as the explanation for persistent symptoms in antibiotic-treated patients with Lyme disease.”

Source: NEJM

The Surprising Health Benefits of Oxidative Medicine.

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Dr. Robert Rowen was board-certified and recertified by the American Boards of Family Practice and Emergency Medicine; he’s currently also certified by the American Board of Clinical Medical Toxicology.

He’s also a leader in medical freedom, primarily with his pioneering work in 1990 in Alaska, where he was instrumental in creating the first statutory protection for natural medicine in the United States. Alaska’s governor appointed him to the state medical board in 1992.

I’ve interviewed Dr. Rowen before on the topics of natural health, cholesterol and statin drugs. This discussion will review the fascinating uses for oxidative medicine and oxidation therapies.

What is Oxidative Medicine?

When most people consider oxidation, they think about free radicals and the need to protect themselves using antioxidants. However, when used therapeutically, oxidants can be beneficial for treating a wide range of conditions ranging from viral and fungal infections to joint pain and arthritis.

Dr. Rowen explained:

“Oxidation medicine is any number of therapies that uses oxidants. Oxidants are electron receptors. Oxygen is typically the final electron receptor of oxidants, which facilitate and stimulate body processes.

The three that are most commonly used parenterally – meaning intravenously or by other injection – would be ozone therapy, ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy, and intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy. Believe it or not, a high dose of vitamin C has now been proven to work through oxidation medicines, because it stimulates the production of hydrogen peroxide in the tissues.”

A Cure for Staph Infections Discovered in 1943

The use of oxidative therapies clinically was first documented during the great flu outbreak of 1918-1920. During that time a British physician in India was able to cut the death rate of influenza and pneumonia by 50 percent using intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy. Ultraviolet energy had been applied to skin for skin infections. Then, in the 1930s and ’40s, ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) treatment began to appear in the literature and a physicist named Knott developed a technique for removing some blood, treating it with ultraviolet light, and putting it back into the patient.

Remember, this was before antibiotics, and the therapy was remarkably effective for treating infections that would have otherwise been fatal.

“I have every American article that was ever published on ultraviolet blood irradiation therapy, and the results were simply stunning in terms of what it could do to bacterial infections, viral infections, and even allergic problems,” Dr. Rowen said.

Now, more than half a century later we’re facing an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant diseases like MRSA staph infections. Dr. Rowen continued:

“In 1943, I believe it was the American Journal of Surgery, they had an article showing that the Knott technique was used for staph infections. We have a crisis in this country today with staph. People are dying. They (UBI clinicians) started using UBI on a series of staph infections and patients died. But they happened to notice that the patients that died… had also simultaneously been given the new ‘wonder drug,’ sulfa. They thought that maybe that (sulfa) could be interfering.

So they did another series of patients with staph. Every one of them lived with just a couple of sessions of UBI. These patients were denied the use of sulfa. Sulfa actually happens to absorb ultraviolet energy. So yes, it would interfere.

But going back to 1943, we have a cure for staph. It doesn’t matter whether it’s MRSA or not. MRSA means methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. That germ is no more pathogenic or pathological than any other common staph. The only difference is it happens to be resistant to the relatively (I said relatively) safe antibiotic, methicillin.

So you have to use extraordinarily toxic antibiotics, if you’re able to treat it at all. Remember, that germ is not any different in terms of its pathogenicity, meaning its risk of hurting you. And it’s no more or less susceptible today to ultraviolet energy than it was four billion years ago, because organisms have had years to get used to the sun’s energy and they haven’t, because they can’t.”

The Ultimate Safe “Vaccination”?

So how, specifically, does UBI work? When you take several ounces of blood out of your body and expose it to ultraviolet energy, it becomes cleansed of UV-sensitive pathogens. What about the rest of the blood that’s infected?

Dr. Rowen explained:

“If you give that blood a clean slate, you inactivate the organisms with the ultraviolet, and give it back to the body, the body can now see the antigen structure of those organisms, or in other words, the three dimensional structure. It knows that those organisms are there, but the organisms happen to be dead, so they’re not going to hurt you. Your body can then see those organisms and mount a much more efficient immune response.”

Simplistically, another way to describe that would be as the ultimate, safe vaccination, because you’re getting the proper dose, but you’re not getting any additives that are potentially harmful like preservatives, mercury, aluminum, and all those other components.

Dr. Rowen continued:

“All the toxins could be inactivated by ultraviolet presumably because it carries so much energy, it can actually break linkages. That’s one of the things that it’s doing. Also, we know that bacteria and viruses don’t have a mechanism to protect themselves from oxidation. Viruses, for example, have what’s called lipid envelopes, meaning they’re surrounded by lipids. These lipids could be very vulnerable to oxidative damage. If they’re altered, then they’re not functional and the virus might not be able to penetrate the cell.”

Interestingly, in Germany they have been using a similar process known as minor autohemotherapy for decades. During this process, a small portion of blood, such as 5-10 cc’s, are removed, ozonated or exposed to UV light, shaken up and then given back as a “vaccine” in the hip, to stimulate the immune system. Major autohemotherapy involves taking six to seven ounces of blood and undergoing the same process, for similar immune-boosting benefits. The same process can be done with ozone instead of ultraviolet.

Dr. Rowen says that these therapies are the ultimate modern treatment for influenza. Rather than take a shot in the dark on a potentially dangerous vaccine, he uses oxidation. These techniques are his first choice for treating influenza and viruses. Research and experience indicates they will cut recovery time about in half. In fact, intravenous hydrogen peroxide was published in 1920 in Lancet to cut by 50% the death rate from the horrible Spanish flu epidemic in India, and UBI cured viral pneumona quite quickly in American hospitals in the 1940’s.

Amazing Improvements in Lyme Disease, Heart Attack Recovery and More

On Dr. Rowen’s YouTube channel, “RobertRowenMD,” you can hear stories from numerous patients who have experienced amazing improvements, sometimes after just two or three UVI or ozone treatments. Dr. Rowen shared the case of a licensed health professional with Lyme disease, which is very difficult to treat. In a matter of weeks, he came in with a smile on his face rating his improvement eight points on scale of 10. In other words, coming in at zero, 10 is perfect. In three weeks, he improved to an eight. And another was a woman with skin MRSA whose problem melted away dramatically with just her first session of ozone.

In another case, an eye surgeon who Dr. Rowen described as a “cardiac cripple” due to a heart attack also experienced an eight-point improvement after four to six weeks of treatment with intravenous oxidation therapy, oral and occasional intravenous chelation therapy, and nutrients.

Other cases include a woman with bone-on-bone arthritis who was advised to get joint replacement, and in a few sessions of ozone gas injections into her knee joints she no longer had pain. In a similar case, a woman who was told she needed an ankle replacement experienced a 90 percent improvement in just two sessions of ozone injections.

How is it that oxidative therapies have the potential to treat such a wide range of health issues? Dr. Rowen explained the research of Velio Bocci, an Italian MD who has written numerous books on ozone. Initially, he got to wondering how doctors could get such a wide variety of specific responses and cures to a really broad variety of non-specific diseases using oxidative medicine. It didn’t make sense to him, because Western medicine is designed to shoot a bullet at one particular disease like, say, methicillin for staph.

Dr. Rowen continued:

“He [Bocci] then started doing research on the effects of ozone on the immune system. He found that ozone generated a whole host of cytokines and interferons. Those are the hormones that white blood cells use to talk to each other. These are extraordinarily immune stimulating. What he found, in his own words, was that ‘ozone is the ideal cytokine inducer.’ Contrast that to Pharma, which is trying to dissect out individual cytokines and interferons for parenteral use. And they’re killing people, because you’re giving one.

Bocci found that when you use oxidation therapy – and this crosses over to ultraviolet, same thing – you’re stimulating your white cells to come alive and do what God designed those cells to do, which is to go out and kill infections. He also found that ozone therapy generates what he calls, super-gifted red blood cells. Red blood cells… carry oxygen. A super-gifted red cell would be a red cell that can dump its oxygen into the tissues. Because it might carry oxygen, but if it doesn’t get rid of that oxygen, that’s not going to do you any good.

He says, ‘Ozone creates super-gifted red cells.’ So now we’re getting a treatment that improves oxygenation. I’m an oxygen man. Burn more oxygen, you heal, stimulate, and augment the immune system. It’s a really nice one-two punch to jumpstart your body. It doesn’t just deal with the immune system. If you’re going to get more oxygen to the tissues, you can heal almost anything.”

Using Oxidative Medicine Preventively at Home: The Best Anti-Aging Therapy of All Time?

Dr. Rowen is, to his knowledge, the longest living continuous user of oxidation therapy in North America, since 1986. He uses this prophylactically because, in his words:

“I happen to think that oxidation therapy is an ultimate – if not the ultimate – anti-aging therapy… I really believe this. I have been doing this for years. I have been in ozone, like I said, longer than anybody in North America. I think it’s the ultimate anti-aging therapy. I do it on a regular basis even on me.


 One option is to use oxygenation therapy while you exercise. Dr. Rowen continued:

“My favorite here is exercise with oxygen therapy also known as, EWOT exercise with oxygen therapy). I have written about that repeatedly in Second Opinion. With EWOT, you breathe oxygen at a high concentration. Try and get it as close to 100 percent, as you can while you exercise. A German named Manfred Von Ardenne studied this many years ago. He found that if you exercise with this extra load of oxygen coming in under a higher partial pressure, meaning 100 percent oxygen, you can reverse aging in your capillaries and improve oxygenation of your body.

This is any man’s approach to improving oxygenation. All you need is an oxygenator. I have written about this in my newsletter, Second Opinion, with full details on how to do it. It’s not expensive to do.”

Why Isn’t Oxidative Medicine More Widely Known?

If you’re experiencing joint pain, Lyme disease or an infection, drugs are probably the go-to treatment recommended by your physician. This is, unfortunately, the way the medical system is set up – to promote drugs and surgery first and foremost, even when safer, more natural alternatives exist. When asked why he thinks oxidative medicine isn’t adopted more widely,

Dr. Rowen said:

“One of the reasons why is because these drugs are extraordinarily, widely promoted. If you take the case of any of the NSAIDs or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, I tell my patients, ‘You can reduce your pain by taking the drug today and destroy your cartilage tomorrow,’ because one of the mechanisms by which they act is reducing the production of cartilage. So they’re actually inducing long-term arthritis by reducing your pain forcibly today.

But the drug industry is a huge industry. Everywhere you turn on television… [and] you see these commercials for petrochemical pharmaceuticals.

I’m wondering when are the people going to wake up? There are plenty of alternatives. If you’re really in pain, there’s plenty of ways to reduce the COX enzyme or cyclooxygenase enzymes, which is what these drugs do, without poisoning yourself. Curcumin is a great one. Ginger is another one. Almost all bioflavonoids do it with very little risk.

The reason why you don’t see things like ozone out there taking over things is mainly because of what I call the most corrupt industry in the world. That gets back to the politics, where if you can’t make a better product, how do you keep your product out there? You can’t do it in a free market. You have to buy the government, so that you can purchase a monopoly on what you have and keep out everything else. That’s what we have in this country today.

We have the best disease maintenance system money can buy. It’s not a health system. It’s a disease maintenance system.”

Additional Resources for Exploring Oxidative Therapies

“I believe that the fundamental cure for almost every condition is getting the body to burn oxygen. You burn oxygen – you make energy – you feel better. Oxidation therapy is a system that’s with virtually no risks,” Dr. Rowen said. “They can stimulate better circulation and better immune system. They actually turn on mitochondrial processes. If you look at the blood levels of lactate and pyruvate after you go through oxidation, these reduce. The only way they can reduce is if you’re turning on mitochondria (energy production).”

If you’d like more information on oxidative therapies and practitioners, see the resources below:

  • The American Academy of Ozonotherapy1
  • OxygenHealingTherapies.com
  • International College of Integrative Medicine
  • American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM)2 – look for physicians in your area that list the words “oxidation therapies,” “ultraviolet,” or “ozone” in their profile
  • Dr. Rowen’s YouTube Channel “RobertRowenMD“
  • Velio Bocci’s book, Ozone: A New Medical Drug
  • Into the Light – Tomorrow’s Medicine Today, by William Campbell Douglass

You can also visit Dr. Rowan’s Web site, www.DoctorRowen.com, and see his article “Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation Therapy (Photo-Oxidation): The Cure That Time Forgot.”3

“I would encourage anybody with chronic unexplained conditions that’s not getting any better from any other means to consider oxidation therapy, because it really stimulates your body to take over,” Dr. Rowen said.

Watch the interview on Youtube. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BXVfI-O7NhA

Source: Dr. Mercola

 

The Ecology of Disease – How Environmental Sustainability Can Make or Break Animal and Human Health.

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The featured article is a rare gem that highlights the interrelatedness of humans with the environment, pointing out that most epidemics, such as AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, SARS, and Lyme disease, just to name a few, are a direct result of man’s failure to live in harmony with nature. By severely disrupting our environment, we create our own demise.

A project financed by the United States Agency for International Development has made its goal to determine the ecology of disease – a project that, if successful, will aid health officials in determining where the next disease outbreak may occur. While lack of food sources, water and sanitation play a key part in disease, they know that in developing countries disease also hinges heavily on the types of wildlife in an area, destruction of wildlife and forest areas, and the diseases and bacteria the wildlife may be carrying.

As reported by the New York Times:1

“There’s a term biologists and economists use these days – ecosystem services – which refers to the many ways nature supports the human endeavor. Forests filter the water we drink, for example, and birds and bees pollinate crops, both of which have substantial economic as well as biological value.

…By mapping encroachment into the forest you can predict where the next disease could emerge, So we’re going to the edge of villages, we’re going to places where mines have just opened up, areas where new roads are being built. We are going to talk to people who live within these zones and saying, ‘what you are doing is potentially a risk.'”

Project PREDICT

Our modern lifestyle has largely separated us from nature, and few stop to consider the immense impact environmental destruction has on our individual health. We simply cannot extricate ourselves from the symbiotic relationship we have with nature, and that includes both the environment and wildlife, big and small.

According to the featured article, some 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in the animal kingdom, and environmental destruction promotes this animal-to-human transfer of disease.

A new project called Predict, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, aims to determine where new diseases are likely to emerge, based on how the landscape is altered by human activities. The project will also study forest-, wildlife- and livestock management to prevent the spread of pandemic disease.

As the New York Times explains:

“The Nipah virus in South Asia, and the closely related Hendra virus in Australia, both in the genus of henipah viruses, are the most urgent examples of how disrupting an ecosystem can cause disease. The viruses originated with flying foxes, Pteropus vampyrus, also known as fruit bats…
[O]nce the virus breaks out of the bats and into species that haven’t evolved with it, a horror show can occur, as one did in 1999 in rural Malaysia.

It is likely that a bat dropped a piece of chewed fruit into a piggery in a forest. The pigs became infected with the virus, and amplified it, and it jumped to humans. It was startling in its lethality. Out of 276 people infected in Malaysia, 106 died, and many others suffered permanent and crippling neurological disorders.”

According to experts, the answer to preventing these kinds of pandemics lies in understanding how leaving nature intact can protect against the emergence of disease. For example, according to a study cited in the featured article, a four percent increase in deforestation in the Amazon increased malaria by nearly 50 percent! The reason for this non-linear increase in disease in response to cutting down of forest is because disease-spreading mosquitoes thrive in a mix of water and sunlight, which is in ample supply in deforested areas.

Lyme disease is another disease produced by man’s interference with nature. By reducing and fragmenting large swaths of forests, larger predators such as wolves, foxes, and hawks, for example, have been pushed out. As a result, certain kinds of mice that are the primary carriers of Lyme bacteria have been given free rein to multiply.

According to the New York Times:

“‘When we do things in an ecosystem that erode biodiversity – we chop forests into bits or replace habitat with agricultural fields – we tend to get rid of species that serve a protective role,’ [Lyme disease researcher] Dr. Ostfeld told me. ‘There are a few species that are reservoirs and a lot of species that are not. The ones we encourage are the ones that play reservoir roles.'”

The One Health Initiative

In response to these findings, a worldwide program called the One Health Initiative2 launched a couple of years ago, involving a number of medical, veterinarian and agricultural organizations and federal agencies, along with more than 600 scientists and other professionals in both human and veterinary medicine. Its mission statement reads:

“Recognizing that human health (including mental health via the human-animal bond phenomenon), animal health, and ecosystem health are inextricably linked, One Health seeks to promote, improve, and defend the health and well-being of all species by enhancing cooperation and collaboration between physicians, veterinarians, other scientific health and environmental professionals and by promoting strengths in leadership and management to achieve these goals.”

Sustainability is at the heart of this holistic view. And the creation of such a global program comes not a moment too late, as the ever increasing spread of genetically engineered crops and plants now threatens sustainability everywhere.

Genetically Engineered Plants – One of the Most Dire Threats to Sustainability

As explained by Dr. Don Huber – an expert in soil-borne diseases, microbial ecology, host-parasite relationships, and GE toxicity – it’s essential to understand that agriculture is a complete system based on inter-related factors. In order to maintain ecological balance and health, you must understand how that system works as a whole. Any time you change one part of that system, you change the interaction of all the other components, because they work together.

It is simply impossible to change just one minor aspect without altering the entire system, and this is why genetically engineered crops pose such a dire threat not just to the environment, but also to wildlife, livestock, and humans, and do so in more ways than one.

Dr. Huber’s research, which spans over 55 years, has been devoted to looking at how the agricultural system can be managed for more effective crop production, better disease control, improved nutrition, and safety. The introduction of genetically engineered crops has dramatically affected and changed all agricultural components:

  • The plants
  • The physical environment
  • The dynamics of the biological environment, and
  • Pests and diseases (plant, animal, and human diseases)

Food Quality is Related to Soil Quality

One of the major modifications done to genetically engineered (GE) food crops is the introduction of herbicide resistance. Monsanto is the leader in this field, with their patented Roundup Ready corn, cotton, soybean and sugar beets, which can survive otherwise lethal doses of glyphosate – the active ingredient in Roundup.

The introduction of glyphosate-resistance has had a direct impact on soil microbes, which in turn decreases the food quality. While the link between an herbicide (which is directed toward plants) and soil microbes may not be immediately apparent, this ripple effect occurs because, again, it’s an inter-related system.

In a nutshell, herbicides are chelators that form a barrier around specific nutrients, preventing whatever life form is seeking to utilize that element from utilizing it properly. That applies both to plants and soil microbes – as well as animals and humans. This may actually be one of the primary reasons why genetically engineered foods appear to be able to cause such profound health problems in those who consume them. According to Dr. Huber, the nutritional efficiency of genetically engineered (GE) plants is profoundly compromised. Micronutrients such as iron, manganese and zinc can be reduced by as much as 80-90 percent in GE plants!

The quality of the food is almost always related to the quality of the soil. The most foundational and critical components of the soil are the microorganisms that thrive there – more so than the necessary nutrients, because it’s the microorganisms that allow the plants to utilize those nutrients.

According to Dr. Huber:

“The plant can only utilize certain [reduced] forms of all the nutrients… The way that it becomes reduced in the soil is through those beneficial microorganisms. We also have microorganisms for legumes like soybeans, alfalfa, peas, or any of the other legumes that can fix up to 75 percent of their actual nitrogen for protein in amino acid synthesis that actually comes from the air through the microorganisms in the soil.

Glyphosate is extremely toxic to all of those organisms. What we see with our continued use and abuse of this powerful weed killer is that it is also totally eliminating many of those organisms from the soil. We no longer have the same balance that we used to have.”

The result of this imbalance in soil organisms is disease – in plants, animals, and humans. As just one example, toxic botulism is now becoming a more common cause of death in dairy cows whereas such deaths used to be extremely rare. The reason it didn’t occur before was because beneficial organisms served as natural controls to keep the Clostridium botulinum in check. Glyphosate, and glyphosate-resistant crops decimate beneficial organisms not just in soil, but also in animal and human intestines. As a result, the Clostridium botulinum is allowed to proliferate in the animal’s intestines and produce lethal amounts of toxins.

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth is… Some Food for Thought

As Dr. Huber states:

“When future historians come to write about our era they are not going to write about the tons of chemicals we did or didn’t apply. When it comes to glyphosate they are going to write about our willingness to sacrifice our children and to jeopardize our very existence by risking the sustainability of our agriculture; all based upon failed promises and flawed science. The only benefit is that it affects the bottom-line of a few companies. There’s no nutritional value.”

Unfortunately, due to lack of labeling, many Americans are still unfamiliar with what genetically engineered foods are. We now have a great opportunity to change that, and I urge you to participate and to continue supporting the California ballot initiative – which will require labeling of genetically engineered foods and food ingredients, and eliminate the routine industry practice of labeling and marketing such foods as “natural.”

The voting takes place in November. Remember, since California is the 8th largest economy in the world, a win for the California Initiative would be a huge step forward, and would likely affect ingredients and labeling nation-wide, as large companies are not likely going to label their products as genetically engineered when sold in California, but not when sold in other states. Doing so would be a PR disaster.

But it’s an enormous ongoing battle, as the biotech industry will outspend us by 100 to 1, if not more, for their propaganda. Needless to say, the campaign needs funds, as there are no deep corporate pockets funding this citizen’s initiative. So, please, if you have the ability, I strongly encourage you to make a donation.

Some good news: the California “Yes on 37” Right to Know campaign recently received the endorsement of the California Labor Federation and U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Mark Leno.

“Senator Boxer said, ‘California consumers have the right to know if their food has been genetically engineered. This basic information should be available for consumers on the label the way it is in 50 other countries around the world.’ The Digital Journal reported on July 27.3

State Senator Mark Leno said, ‘The people of California want to know what’s in their food. More than half the people in the world live in countries that already require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Californians deserve to have this information too.’

Steve Smith, Communications Director for the California Labor Federation, said, ‘Working people deserve the right to know what is in the food we are feeding our families. Prop 37 is a commonsense measure that ensures our families are able to make educated choices about the food we purchase. We’re proud to join with millions of Californians in supporting the right to know what’s in our food.'”

I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can. Be assured that what happens in California will affect the remainder of the U.S. states, so please support this important state initiative, even if you do not live there!

  • Join the CA RightToKnow campaign, and tell everyone you know in California to vote YES on Proposition 37.
  • Whether you live in California or not, please donate money to this historic effort through the Organic Consumers Fund.
  • Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to actively support Proposition 37.  It may be the only chance we have to label genetically engineered foods.

Source: .mercola.com

New Parasite Prevalence Maps Help Pet Owners Prepare.

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The Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) has redesigned its website1 for pet owners and now features a set of maps you can check for information on parasite prevalence in a specific area.

If you’re only interested in heartworm disease, you can select your state from a drop-down menu on the right side of the home page to see the infection risk for your state. If you’d like more extensive information, you can view the entire U.S. map.

If you choose the second option, you can find out the risk for several different diseases for dogs and cats individually, by state. The maps include infection rates for:

  • Tick borne diseases (Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis)
  • Intestinal parasites (roundworm, hookworm and whipworm)
  • Heartworm

You can also click on a state and see infection rates for individual counties, then hover your mouse over a county to see its name.

According to Dr. Christopher Carpenter, executive director of CAPC, “Our unique parasite prevalence maps provide localized statistics about diseases that affect dogs and cats in consumers’ backyards, and we update them monthly.”

Keep Your Pet Safe from Overuse of Parasite Preventives

I think these maps are useful for pet owners looking for general information about the prevalence of a certain disease in a certain location. The intent of the maps is to “… help drive clinic visits,” according to Dr. Carpenter, because “People respond to and appreciate it when experts share pertinent information.”

He goes on to say that CAPC hopes veterinarians leverage the maps “… to strengthen client relationships and consistently ‘tap consumers on the shoulder’ with facts that underscore the risk of parasitic disease that exists everywhere.”

Since the Companion Animal Parasite Council is sponsored by a “Who’s Who” list of major veterinary drug manufacturers, I think it’s safe to assume the real intent of the maps is to get pet owners to buy into the belief that every dog and cat in the country should be on parasite preventives year-round.

And while I agree pet owners appreciate learning information pertinent to the health of their furry family members, I think it’s extremely irresponsible of veterinarians to encourage the overuse of parasite preventives. These drugs, like all drugs, have side effects.

Just because a drug is used as a preventive doesn’t automatically put it in the category of “better safe than sorry.” This is a lesson the traditional veterinary community is slowly learning about vaccines. Every single thing we put into or onto an animal should be carefully assessed to insure its benefits outweigh its risks.

And keep in mind that even pets loaded down to the point of toxicosis with chemical preventives still frequently wind up with pests and parasites. There is no absolutely foolproof method for keeping every single pet protected from every single pest.

Around this time last year I saw my first dog patient with Lyme disease AND heartworm disease – conditions she acquired while taking a monthly, year-round heartworm preventive drug AND a spot-on flea/tick preventive prescribed by her regular vet. This is a good illustration of the ineffectiveness of some of these drugs, as well as the fact that parasites are growing resistant to them because they are being overused.

Preventing Tick Borne Diseases

  • In the spring, summer and fall, avoid tick-infested areas.
  • If you live where ticks are a significant problem, check your pet for the little blood suckers twice each day. Look over his entire body, including hidden crevices like those in the ear, underneath his collar, in the webs of his feet, and underneath his tail. If you find a tick, make sure to remove it safely.
  • Use a safe tick repellent like Natural Flea and Tick Defense. If you live in a Lyme endemic region of the U.S., your veterinarian will probably recommend you use a chemical repellent. Remember: it’s important to investigate the risks and benefits of any medication before you give it to your pet. Natural repellents are NOT the same as toxic preventives … they are not a guarantee your pet won’t be bitten by ticks….they only reduce the likelihood of infestation. So frequent tick checks are really important.
  • Create strong vitality and resilience in your dog or cat by feeding a species-appropriate diet. Parasites are attracted to weaker animals. By enhancing your pet’s vitality, you can help her avoid the ill effects of a tick borne disease.

Preventing Intestinal Parasites

  • Puppies and kittens can get intestinal parasites from an infected mother – either across the placenta or from their mother’s milk.
  • Beyond that, most pets acquire intestinal worms by eating infected poop. So the best way to prevent infection is to make sure your pet’s environment is clean and ‘feces-free.’ Pick up your pet’s poop and make sure she doesn’t have access to infective feces from wild or stray animals around your property or anywhere else outdoors.
  • Whipworm eggs in the environment are extremely resilient and resistant to most cleaning methods and freezing temperatures as well. They can be dried out with strong agents like agricultural lime, but the best way to decontaminate a whipworm-infested area is to replace the soil with new soil or another substrate.
  • Keep your pet’s GI tract in good shape and resistant to parasites by feeding a balanced, species-appropriate diet. I also recommend either periodic or regular probiotic supplementation to insure a good balance of healthy bacteria in your pet’s colon, as well as a good quality pet digestive enzyme.
  • Have your vet check a sample of your pet’s stool twice a year for GI parasites.

What You Need to Know About Heartworm Disease Prevention

According to heartworm preventive dosing maps, there are only a few areas of the U.S. where dosing your dog with 9 months to year-round heartworm medicine might be advisable. Those locations are in Texas and Florida, and a few other spots along the Gulf coast. The rest of the country runs high exposure risk at from 3 to 7 months. The majority of states are at 6 months or less.

Preventives don’t actually stop your dog from getting heartworms. What these chemicals do is kill off the worm larvae at the microfilaria stage. These products are insecticides designed to kill heartworm larvae inside your pet. As such, they have the potential for short and long-term side effects damaging to your canine companion’s health.

To reduce your pet’s risk of exposure to heartworms, control mosquitoes:

  • Use a non-toxic insect barrier in your yard and around the outside of your home.
  • Don’t take your pet around standing water. Eliminate as much standing water as possible around your home and yard by cleaning your rain gutters regularly and aerating ornamental ponds and decorative water gardens.
  • Stay out of wet marshes and thickly wooded areas.
  • Keep your pet indoors during early morning and early evening hours when mosquitoes are thickest.
  • Make liberal use of a safe, effective pet pest repellent like my Natural Flea and Tick Defense.

If You MUST Use a Chemical Heartworm Preventive …

If you live in an area of the U.S. where mosquitoes are common and you know your pet’s risk of exposure to heartworm disease is significant, here are my recommendations for protecting your precious furry family member:

  • With guidance from a holistic vet, try using natural preventives like heartworm nosodes rather than chemicals. Make sure to do heartworm testing every 3 to 4 months (not annually) as natural heartworm preventives can’t guarantee your pet will never acquire the disease.
  • If your dog’s kidneys and liver are healthy, try using a chemical preventive at the lowest effective dosage. This could mean having the drug compounded if necessary for dogs weighing in at the low end of dosing instructions. Give the treatment at 6-week intervals rather than at 4 weeks, for the minimum number of months required during mosquito season.
  • Remember, heartworms live in your pet’s bloodstream, so natural GI (gastrointestinal) dewormers, such as diatomaceous earth, and anti-parasitic herbs (such as wormwood and garlic) are not effective at killing larvae in your pet’s bloodstream.
  • Avoid all-in-one chemical products claiming to get rid of every possible GI worm and external parasites as well. As an example, many heartworm preventives also contain dewormers for intestinal parasites. Remember – less is more. The goal is to use the least amount of chemical necessary that prevents heartworm. Adding other chemicals to the mix adds to the toxic load your pets’s body must contend with. Also avoid giving your pet a chemical flea/tick preventive during the same week.
  • Follow up a course of heartworm preventive pills with natural liver detox agents like milk thistle and SAMe, in consultation with your holistic vet.
  • Always have your vet do a heartworm test before beginning any preventive treatment. A protocol I put in place in my clinic last year is to run a SNAP 4Dx blood test every 6 months on dogs that spend a lot of time outdoors during warmer weather. The 4Dx tests for heartworm and tick borne diseases. Because parasites are becoming resistant to overused chemical preventives, the sooner you can identify infection in your pet, the sooner a protocol can be instituted to safely treat the infection with fewer long-term side effects.
  • ·         Source: Dr. Mercola