Lyme Disease Biological Warfare? | Arthritis Information

 

I was directing the Second WW comment to you since it piqued your interest...

 

the Ms Straw inference is because you constantly call someone else out on straw dogs when you are the best at it! 

 

I'm perfectly fine w/ discussing opposing viewpoints and giving information about other opinions ......  but I'd hope they'd be a little more intelligent than Lymes being engineered after WW2 and changes into "Oldtimers" in it's late stage.. and comparing Lymes to Syphilis.

 

I look forward to the next link.........................................  I'll have half my brain ready..

 

babs102008-12-08 19:26:27cah, I haven't seen the movie myself but I have read quite a bit about Lyme and the medical controversy around it, so I'm keeping my eyes open for a screening near me. (I'm not sure why Babs thinks Lyme has been documented as far back as the 1880's, since I was under the impression it was discovered in the 1970's.)

There's a lot of people who still believe Lyme is confined to only a few geographocal areas. However, it has been pretty well established that instances of Lyme are much more widespread than those areas. I'm not sure why. Indeed, I think a lot of people would like to know why.

Probably a lot of people diagnosed with other diseases actually have Lyme. I have a friend who was diagnosed with MS for a few years before her doctor figured out she actually has Lyme.

Here's a bit of epidemiology and some more about the controversy from WikiPedia:


Epidemiology

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in North America and Europe and one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States. Of cases reported to the United States CDC, the ratio of Lyme disease infection is 7.9 cases for every 100,000 persons. In the ten states where Lyme disease is most common, the average was 31.6 cases for every 100,000 persons for the year 2005.[110]
Although Lyme disease has been reported in 49 of 50 states in the U.S, about 99% of all reported cases are confined to just five geographic areas (New England, Mid-Atlantic, East-North Central, South Atlantic, and West North-Central).[111] New 2008 CDC Lyme case definition guidelines are used to determine confirmed CDC surveillance cases.[112] Effective January 2008, the CDC gives equal weight to laboratory evidence from 1) a positive culture for B. burgdorferi; 2) two-tier testing (ELISA screening and Western Blot confirming); or 3) single-tier IgG (old infection) Western Blot. Previously, the CDC only included laboratory evidence based on (1) and (2) in their surveillance case definition. The case definition now includes the use of Western Blot without prior ELISA screen.
The number of reported cases of the disease have been increasing, as are endemic regions in North America. For example, it had previously been thought that B. burgdorferi sensu lato was hindered in its ability to be maintained in an enzootic cycle in California because it was assumed the large lizard population would dilute the prevalence of B. burgdorferi in local tick populations, but this has since been brought into question as some evidence has suggested that lizards can become infected.[113] Except for one study in Europe,[114] much of the data implicating lizards is based on DNA detection of the spirochete and has not demonstrated that lizards are able to infect ticks feeding upon them.[115][116][117][118] As some experiments suggest lizards are refractory to infection with Borrelia, it appears likely their involvement in the enzootic cycle is more complex and species-specific.[38]
While B. burgdorferi is most associated with ticks hosted by white-tailed deer and white-footed mice, Borrelia afzelii is most frequently detected in rodent-feeding vector ticks, Borrelia garinii and Borrelia valaisiana appear to be associated with birds. Both rodents and birds are competent reservoir hosts for B. burgdorferi sensu stricto. The resistance of a genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes to the bacteriolytic activities of the alternative complement pathway of various host species may determine its reservoir host association.
In Europe, cases of B. burgdorferi sensu lato infected ticks are found predominantly in Norway, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Slovenia and Poland, but have been isolated in almost every country on the continent.[119]
B. burgdorferi sensu lato infested ticks are being found more frequently in Japan, as well as in Northwest China and far eastern Russia.[120][121] Borrelia has been isolated in Mongolia as well.[122]
In South America tick-borne disease recognition and occurrence is rising. Ticks carrying B. burgdorferi sensu lato, as well as canine and human tick-borne disease, have been reported widely in Brazil, but the subspecies of Borrelia has not yet been defined.[123] The first reported case of Lyme disease in Brazil was made in 1993 in Sao Paulo.[124] B. burgdorferi sensu stricto antigens in patients have been identified in Colombia and Bolivia.
In Northern Africa B. burgdorferi sensu lato has been identified in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia.[125][126][127]
Lyme disease in sub-Saharan is presently unknown, but evidence indicates that Lyme disease may occur in humans in this region. The abundance of hosts and tick vectors would favor the establishment of Lyme infection in Africa.[128] In East Africa, two cases of Lyme disease have been reported in Kenya.[129]
In Australia there is no definitive evidence for the existence of B. burgdorferi or for any other tick-borne spirochete that may be responsible for a local syndrome being reported as Lyme disease.[130] Cases of neuroborreliosis have been documented in Australia but are often ascribed to travel to other continents. The existence of Lyme disease in Australia is controversial.
Northern hemisphere temperate regions are most endemic for Lyme disease.[131][132]
[edit]Controversy and politics

While there is general agreement on the optimal treatment of early Lyme disease, considerable controversy has attached to the existence, prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and treatment of "chronic" Lyme disease.[133] The popularity of "chronic Lyme disease" as a concept despite a lack of supporting medical evidence led to a 2008 New England Journal of Medicine article calling it "the latest in a series of syndromes that have been postulated in an attempt to attribute medically unexplained symptoms to particular infections."[10] Most medical authorities, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Academy of Neurology, and the Centers for Disease Control, do not recommend long-term antibiotic treatment for "chronic" Lyme disease, since trials have shown little or no benefit and considerable risk from long-term antibiotics, especially when given intravenously.
Groups of patients, patient advocates, and physicians who support the concept of chronic Lyme disease have organized to lobby for recognition of the disease, as well as insurance coverage of long-term antibiotic therapy, which most insurers deny as it is at odds with guidelines released by major medical organizations.[134] As part of this controversy, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whose decade-long ties to chronic Lyme advocacy groups[134] had prompted the rebuke of medical experts,[135] opened an antitrust investigation against the IDSA, accusing the IDSA panel of undisclosed conflicts of interest and of unduly dismissing alternative therapies. This investigation was closed on May 1, 2008 without charges after the IDSA agreed to a review of its guidelines by a panel of independent scientists and physicians.[136] Blumenthal's corresponding press release argued that the agreement vindicated his investigation and again alleged conflicts of interest.[137] A journalist writing in Nature Medicine[133] later wrote that some IDSA members may not have disclosed potential conflicts of interest. The IDSA's press release focused on the fact that the medical validity of the IDSA guidelines was not challenged.[138] Paul G. Auwaerter, director of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, cited this political controversy as an example of the "poisonous atmosphere" surrounding Lyme disease research which has led younger researchers to avoid the field.[136]
In 2001, the New York Times Magazine reported that Allen Steere, chief of immunology and rheumatology at New England Medical Center and a leading expert on Lyme disease, had been harassed, stalked, and threatened by patients and patient advocacy groups angry at his refusal to substantiate their diagnoses of "chronic" Lyme disease and endorse long-term antibiotic therapy.[139] Because of death threats, security guards were assigned to Steere.[76]
A significant amount of inaccurate information on Lyme disease exists on the Internet. A 2004 study found that 9 of 19 websites surveyed contained major inaccuracies. Sites found to be good sources of accurate information in this study included those of the American College of Physicians, the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and Johns Hopkins University (www.hopkins-arthritis.org).[140]

Gimpy-a-gogo2008-12-08 19:32:13

That Gimp is a character Babs..she said you insulted her and then goes on to say you were not working with a full brain

She is and always will be Queen of rude!!!

Babs, your late nite look LOLmabus, I was simply confirming what Babs herself said: that she was working and replied with only half a brain. And you should talk, mabus; ou called me a moron recently.

And Babs, he compared Lyme to Syphilis because they're both caused by spirochette bacteria. I realise thast may not seem relevent to you, but to a biological scientist that might suggest that they, I dunoo, uh....HAVE SOME THINGS IN COMMON.

You guys just post to argue. Gimpy-a-gogo2008-12-08 19:39:04when, need some glasses???http://www.lyme.org/otherdis/ld_history.html