Breakspear Hospital's Dr Terence Daymond was interviewed by the Sunday Sun on the viral illness, Lyme disease's increase of occurrences. |
Borreliosis (also known as Lyme Disease) is an illness that occurs as a result of an infection with a stealth pathogen (a cell-wall-deficient organism) called Borrelia burgdorferi.
For over two decades Breakspear physicians have been actively looking for infectious agents such as borreliosis, Epstein-Barr virus, Parvovirus B19 and bacterial, rickettsial and parasitic organisms to find the cause of many illnesses.
After a person becomes infected with borreliosis by a tick or other blood-feeding insect, the person may develop a resulting skin rash. Sometimes later a chronic rash can occur, with fever, headache and pain in the muscles and joints. Some infected people may not experience any noticeable symptoms at the time of infection.
Without treatment, the symptoms can last for weeks or even longer. Sometimes serious complications may occur several years later including arthritis, heart problems, nervous system problems and/or neurological abnormalities.
Lyme disease facts:
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Lyme disease is caused by bacteria transmitted to humans via the bite of an infected tick
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7 to 10 days after an infected tick’s bite, the first stage of Lyme disease begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fatigue, muscle aches and joint pain
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Neurological complications most often occur in the second stage of Lyme disease
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Complications include numbness, pain, weakness, visual disturbances, and meningitis symptoms such as fever, stiff neck, and severe headaches
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Weeks, months, or years after a tick bite, other problems, such as difficulty with concentration, irritability, depression, fatigue, muscle pain, memory and/or sleep disorders and nerve damage may occur
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If a tick bite has not been noticed, these symptoms often get misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or psychiatric problems
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There is controversy over the testing of Lyme disease. Serological tests may not pick it up, leading to falsely negative diagnosis. Clinical diagnoses of borreliosis may be made but it is helpful to have other laboratory evidence of infection
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The treatment outcome of Lyme disease depends on numerous factors including the duration of infection, the number of tick bits, the strength of the person’s immune system and his/her detoxification capacity
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Unfortunately the many common symptoms lead to many cases of borreliosis being
undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Many undiagnosed sufferers have been told that the symptoms are just in their heads.
The standard investigations at Breakspear Hospital for borreliosis are:
- Borrelia antibody evaluation by ELISA technique, which measures antibodies to the organism.
- Polymerase Chain Reaction test for Borrelia burgdorferi, which measures the presence of the DNA – the chromosomes of the organism from the patient.
- Lymphocyte Transformation Test for Borrelia burgdorferi (LTT MELISA), which, if the results are positive, demonstrates current active infection with the organism.
- Borrelia burgdorferi IgG and IgM antibody evaluation by the Immunoblot/Western Blot technique, which detects portions of the Lyme disease organism.
There are other investigations that may be undertaken. Tests of specific Lyme related lymphocyte reactions can be performed. The outer surface peptides often camouflage the organisms and reactions to these may be evaluated. We can also measure co-factor infections of Borrelia.
How Breakspear Hospital can help with the treatment of borreliosis
Once it has been determined that a patient has borreliosis, we have been favouring the use of third generation cephalosporins, which are intravenous antibiotics that have proved to be very effective for some patients.
Other patients require a different, adapted antibiotic treatment that targets different conditions with different antibiotics, over varying time periods.
Recently we found a link between chronic fatigue patients and stealth pathogens, including borreliosis. Stealth pathogens are also present in many patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Whether a patient is suffering from fatigue syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis, we usually recommend he/she complete a personalised investigation and treatment programme, which includes investigating the evidence of harmful stealth organisms.
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