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Sunday 28 September 2014

Bartonella and Mycoplasma Gulf War Veterans



Hello all,

I came across a very interesting article about how Veteran soldiers are coming back from Iraq and a soldiers men and women are committing suicide every 20 minutes!.

This is an alarming figure to say the least.  

Why would this be happening?

Apparently soldiers who are serving in Iraq according to the USDA in a published report revealed that sand flies were biting the troops as much as 1,000 times a night!
These insects are also rife in Africa, The Middle East, Afghanistan.

There were 100 infectious diseases identified for consideration based on illnesses contracted by soldiers the list will be all too familier to those who who do have Chronic Lyme or suspected Lyme:

  • Borellia Burgdofen
  • Bartonella (cat scratch fever)
  • Anaplasmosis
  • Qfever
  • Rickettsiosis 

Dr Rick Sponaugle founder of Sponaugle Clinic  Tampa Florida has written the following article regarding the possible connection between the continued spread of Bartonella and the war he writes as follows:


"Is the Iraq War Partly Responsible for the Surge of Bartonella Infections in America

I found the study below from University of California Davis both alarming and thought provoking. It reveals that 47 percent of the domestic dogs tested in Iraq had an active Bartonella infection. The infection rate is potentially much higher because the antibody testing they used has far more false negatives than testing with actual blood smears.

Are our troops getting exposed to more Bartonella in Iraq than they would here in America?

The answer is most likely yes. Americans spend more money on their pets than Iraqi citizens. They treat their pets for fleas and they often pay their Veterinarian to test their dogs and cats for Lyme disease and Bartonella. Fleas on cats were found years ago to spread Bartonella, thus the original name for Bartonellosis was “cat scratch fever.”

As the Medical Director of Sponaugle Wellness Institute, I have treated hundreds of patients with Bartonella, most of these patients did not have cats. You don’t need a cat to get “cat scratch fever.” Ticks, mosquitos and fleas have all been proven to harbor Bartonella and the Lyme spirochete.

Desert sand fleas in Iraq were given credit for causing the first “Gulf War Syndrome.” They infected our troops with Mycoplama, a bacterium that is even smaller than the tiny Bartonella bacterium seen on my patient’s blood smear below. Surely, the desert sand fleas in Iraq transport Bartonella from Iraqi dogs to our troops!

The slide below demonstrates just how small the Bartonella bacterium looks when compared to the red blood cells surrounding it. For a frame of reference, our red blood cells are only 8 microns in diameter. Common sense dictates that the Bartonella bacterium is small enough to be carried by almost any vector, desert sand fleas included.

Are American troops infecting their wives and husbands with Bartonella when they return from Iraq?

Most likely they are. We know that the larger Lyme spirochete is passed from one spouse to another during sexual activity. We also know the Lyme spirochete can cross the placenta infecting an unborn baby. Why would we not believe that the much smaller Bartonella bacterium would readily pass through the placenta and infect sexual partners.

Soldiers returning from Iraq have experienced a much higher rate of psychological disorders than other war veterans including; depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, Bipolar disorder, and addiction issues.

Do Bartonella infections have causation in the higher prevalence of mental disorders seen in soldiers returning from Iraq verses soldiers returning from other wars?

If indeed our troops are getting infected with Bartonella in Iraq, the answer is definitely yes. Bartonella is notorious for causing mental disorders, especially rage issues.

I have performed clinical research in hundreds of Lyme patients comparing their psychological symptoms to changes on their brain scans and their brain chemistry patterns. Those Lyme patients, who on blood smear testing, revealed a significant Bartonella infection, always experienced more severe psychological symptoms. This is with the Lyme biomarker CD 57 being relatively equal.

More specifically, patients with the worst Bartonella infections demonstrate dangerously high levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter, Glutamate. When Glutamate levels are excessive, calcium channels in brain neurons remain open causing rapid and repetitive electrical firing.

These Bartonella patients suffer from a phenomenon called excito-neurotoxicity, their brain is over-electrified. They often state their brain feels like it’s going to explode or it feels like it’s on fire. Symptomatically, they suffer with insomnia, anxiety disorders, panic disorder, rage issues and in the most severe cases, paranoia.

Perhaps too many veterans from the Iraq war are being misdiagnosed as having PTSD, when in fact they are suffering from brain infections with Bartonella. We could argue that these soldiers have experienced no more psychological trauma than veterans from previous wars.

Lyme literate doctors are fully aware that Lyme disease goes undiagnosed in millions of Americans. I have personally treated hundreds of patients who were infected with both Lyme and Bartonella and I am convinced that Bartonella is under diagnosed far more than Lyme disease!

At Sponaugle Wellness Institute, we diagnose Bartonellosis in 90 percent of our chronic Lyme patients. Many of these Lyme patients were previously informed by other Lyme physicians that they were not infected with Bartonella.

Problematic is that antibody and PCR testing for Bartonella will often produce false negatives when the Bartonella bacteria are sequestered in a “bio-film bubble” as seen below in my patient’s blood smear.

Perhaps the most compelling question is whether our military would find it more efficacious to routinely test Iraq war veterans for Bartonella than to label infected soldiers as mentally disturbed and treat them with psychiatric medicines.

As I finished this article on April 23, 2013, I picked up the St. Petersburg Tribune which I had not read for two weeks. Maybe it’s a God thing. I found the following Associated Press Article titled “Iraq Vet Pleads Guilty to Killing 5 At Clinic.”

The story explains that Army Sergeant John Russell went on a shooting spree at an Army mental health clinic in Bagdad. It was one of the worst instances of soldier-on-soldier violence in the Iraq war.

Russell was nearing the end of his third tour in Iraq when according to other soldiers in his unit he became distant and paranoid. He was referred to the Camp Liberty clinic where he received prescription medication which apparently made him suicidal, he later returned to the clinic and shot five soldiers.

I couldn’t have made up a better story to match the science I just explained in this article. I wrote a similar blog on Adam Lanza pleading for testing. Perhaps if enough of you Lyme – Bartonella literate people share this on your Lyme blogs, we can unite in an effort to mandate testing for soldiers like John Russell."

Dr. Rick Sponaugle, Medical Director of Sponaugle Wellness Institute.


Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.

Abstract

Bartonellae are emerging vector-borne pathogens infecting erythrocytes and endothelial cells of various domestic and wild mammals. Blood samples were collected from domestic and wild canids in Iraq under the United States Army zoonotic disease surveillance program. Serology was performed using an indirect immunofluorescent antibody test for B. henselae, B. clarridgeiae, B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii and B. bovis. Overall seroprevalence was 47.4% in dogs (n = 97), 40.4% in jackals (n = 57) and 12.8% in red foxes (n = 39). Bartonella species DNA was amplified from whole blood and representative strains were sequenced. DNA of a new Bartonella species similar to but distinct from B. bovis, was amplified from 37.1% of the dogs and 12.3% of the jackals. B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii was also amplified from one jackal and no Bartonella DNA was amplified from foxes. Adjusting for age, the odds of dogs being Bartonella PCR positive were 11.94 times higher than for wild canids (95% CI: 4.55-31.35), suggesting their role as reservoir for this new Bartonella species.
This study reports on the prevalence of Bartonella species in domestic and wild canids of Iraq and provides the first detection of Bartonella in jackals. We propose Candidatus Bartonella merieuxii for this new Bartonella species. Most of the Bartonella species identified in sick dogs are also pathogenic for humans.
Therefore, seroprevalence in Iraqi dog owners and bacteremia in Iraqi people with unexplained fever or culture negative endocarditis requires further investigation as well as in United States military personnel who were stationed in Iraq. Finally, it will also be essential to test any dog brought back from Iraq to the USA for presence of Bartonella bacteremia to prevent any accidental introduction of a new Bartonella species to the New World.
Please pass this information on.

Regards

Lyme Girl








Thursday 7 August 2014

Back to the start





Hello all,

I have not written for a while not because of ill health not at all but just because well I have been rather busy.
This makes a change to before the treatment of MMS when my life was slowly but surely taken away from me by the illness or rather the infection.

From one day to the next I would not know if I would be well enough to even get out of bed let alone rush around after my kids!

The long journey.......


The other day I had to make a trip back to the very place I was bitten by the horsefly well the area anyway.
I went to visit my old haunts, places I used to go as a carefree child unbeknownst to me that I would contract a debilitating illness that would take over my whole life.
I sat in the pretty public gardens looking at the blooming flowers and smelling the scents that were carried on the breeze and realised how far I had come on my very long journey back to good health.

Nature hurt me so much......

So Ironic the one thing I love is going out into nature, I love watching the seasons change and I love watching the insects like bees going about their busy lives.
The very thing I love hurt me and made me and my children sick.
At first when I realised all my ailments stemmed from a bite of a horse fly nature actually scared me well what if it happens again?

Forgiveness....

Well now I have forgiven nature and now I can enjoy it again only this time I take precautions like insect repellant carrying tick removal tweezers that sort of thing. Being more aware of the insects and their habitat and the insects that could pose a risk of spreading infections.
I was angry when i first found out the truth about my ailments and now I have forgiven and let go of the anger because well holding onto the anger is not going to help any ones immune system now is it.


Best wishes
Lyme Girl x

*Always consult a LLMD (Lyme Literate Doctor) or your own health care professional.**

 Copyright 2012-2014  LymeGirl all rights reserved.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Been away but now I am back...








Hello all,

I have been away for a while all thanks to the terriable weather we have had in the UK.
My bathroom roof collapsed and we had to vacate our rented house because well we could not stay in the house without a working bathroom or toilet for that matter!

I am sorry I have not been online for a while but i had no access to the Internet.

Well i am now settled back into my home and i am back on the Internet and able to write this blog.

I have not got bored of writing the blog and i am still willing to keep you updated with our MMS progress we are still doing well i am glad to report and yes MMS does work well it has worked for my children and I.

Good Luck
LymeGirlx


*Always consult a LLMD (Lyme Literate Doctor) or your own health care professional.**

 Copyright 2012-2014  LymeGirl all rights reserved.

Sunday 5 January 2014

MMS update 2 Years & 5 months !!!!


Hello all,

I have been very busy phew. You see I home school my youngest and for the past 4 months she and I have felt more able to take part in our home education group and the activities.

This is quite a giant leap forward for the both of us seeing as while we were in the process of treatment we wouldn't know how we would be physically or if we would herx or just be plain old exhausted!

This would make it extremely difficult to make any plans or even have a routine or even do anything remotely active oh the joys of treating chronic Lyme or a Spirochete infection/s.

Well we can report that we are still going strong and getting better all the time.

It is a great feeling to become part of the human race again.

Vitamin B


I increased my Vitamin B intake (supplements) and have noticed this has helped immensely now of course you should consult a medical professional if you wish to do this.
Lyme and Spirochetes do gobble up all the vitamin B we need and people with Chronic Lyme and M.S do suffer from the lack of Vitamin B in their system.
To me it made sense to increase my Vitamin B intake and I am glad to say it has really helped me with my body strength and immune system.

Well at the moment this is all I have to report and just to say it is so worth treating a Spirochete infection whether with MMS or Antibiotics just to get your life back.


Good Luck
LymeGirlx

*Always consult a LLMD (Lyme Literate Doctor) or your own health care professional.**

 Copyright 2012-2014  LymeGirl all rights reserved.