Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
For those of you who don't know him.. the author (see article below) has kicked Lyme patients in their search for help and the truth pretty hard over the years. He was the NIH's Lyme research manager at one time years ago... but was relieved of his duties after some major brew-ha-ha's with Lyme patients/groups.
He actually went on tv complaining he was getting big bucks at NIH... and not doing his job or what he should be doing after the Lyme fights (including court related type stuff) he was involved with.
Now he is writing articles on Babesiosis for the newspaper!!!
He had been publishing Lyme articles here and there.. specializing in saying stuff like... "it is important to point out that while "chronic Lyme disease" is a popular social diagnosis for covering a variety of ill-defined symptoms, it is not a medically recognized condition. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks (not breast milk), which responds well to common antibiotic treatments, has low morbidity and almost no mortality".
blah blah blah
And..
"It's a condition called 'delusional parasitosis'. Lyme disease fits this paradigm for a lot of people: some of whom are often so desperate for a physical explanation to an illness when, in fact, it may be more appropriate to explore an emotional or psychiatric...."
Here is his Quack Watch site to review.. if you can stomach it. Actually, this one is calm compared to most of his writings in the past. He hangs out at Lyme chat groups (as you will see by reading his "junk")... and hopefully not while on govt. time and while being paid taxpayers money.
So be aware you are being watched.. and possibly quoted!!
Pathogens & People: A tick bite can give you a malaria-like ailment
By EDWARD McSWEEGAN, For The Capital
I have to go to India in a few days so I've started taking two drugs called proguanil and atovaquone. The drugs are used to treat, or in this case, prevent malaria.
There are plenty of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in downtown New Delhi so a daily dose of anti-malarial meds is a good idea for visitors. Interestingly, these same drugs also may protect me from a malaria-like infection found here in the U.S.
The infection is babesiosis. It is caused by the parasite Babesia microti. Unlike malaria, babesiosis is usually acquired from the lazy bite of a tick, not the hypodermic sting of a mosquito. It is the same slow-feeding, dot-size tick that transmits Lyme infections. And yes, it is possible to find ticks that carry both Lyme bacteria and Babesia parasites, with the resulting bite giving you two infections.
Where do ticks get Babesia? They get it from local rodents such as deer mice, voles, rats and chipmunks. Ticks feeding on these common rodents pick up the parasites during a blood meal and later pass it to humans.
By itself, babesiosis is not a terribly dramatic infection. Most Babesia infections are probably asymptomatic, which means you may never even notice you had it. The more obvious infections will produce fever, chills, fatigue, anemia and myalgia one to four weeks after being bit. It tends to be more severe in the elderly and immunosuppressed populations, and among people who have had their spleens removed.
The severity of the infection also may be caused by delays in diagnosis and treatment. There are few standardized, high-tech diagnostic tools for babesiosis, so blood smears have to be prepared and examined under a microscope. As with the malaria parasite, Babesia parasites are found in the blood and nestled inside red blood cells.
Treatment consists of 7 to 10 days of the antibiotic clindamycin and quinine (the original malaria drug), or antovaquone and azithromycin.
Babesiosis is not a national reportable infectious disease so it's hard to know how common it is in various parts of the country. Tom Mather, who runs the University of Rhode Island's Center for Vector-Borne Disease, recently told The Providence Journal newspaper that it's a "relatively rare infection, but it's increasing." Rhode Island had 43 human cases in 2005. Mr. Mather's research found that about 12 percent of the state's Ixodes ticks carried Babesia parasites. There are several Babesia hotspots in the Northeast, including Nantucket Island, Martha's Vineyard, Shelter Island, Cape Cod, Block Island and Fire Island. New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Maryland also have reported cases in recent years.
Sporadic cases of a related Babesia species called WA-1 have been reported in Washington state and California.
Interestingly, ticks are not the only way to catch babesiosis. Transfusion is another possible route. In the absence of a quick and accurate test for Babesia, these blood-borne parasites will sometimes slip through the blood donor screening process. Last year in Connecticut, a small study of donated blood samples found that 0.9 percent of 3,490 donations were positive for antibodies to Babesia. That means the donors showed evidence of having had babesiosis. A small number of those seropositive samples also tested positive for the presence of Babesia DNA, suggesting their blood was still infectious and likely to transmit Babesia to transfused patients.
Ticks, transfusions and even Mom can be sources of this obscure parasitic infection. I include Mom here because the medical literature contains two documented cases of congenital Babesia infection. Both cases involved a maternal tick bite and infection of the mother. Babesia parasites subsequently infected the fetuses. Both newborns were treated with clindamycin and quinine, and recovered.
Babesiosis is another example of the many different infections - some life-threatening and some merely irritating - one can get from the bite of a tick. For more information about babesiosis and ticks, visit the University of Rhode Island's Tick Research Laboratory at: http://riaes.cels.uri.edu/resources/ticklab/babesia.html.
Dr. Edward McSweegan has a Ph.D. in microbiology and lives in Crofton. He works on and writes about infectious disease issues. He may be contacted at [email protected].
- No Jumps-
Published October 01, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright � 2007 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
-------------------- "You know, the worst, meanest, nastiest, ticks in the world are politicks," - Steve Nostrum Posts: 242 | From South NJ | Registered: Dec 2006
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AliG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9734
posted
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
Sorry, off the subject a little but here's a little irony for you. Stephen Barrett's wife or it might be his daughter (the guy who runs quackwatch) has fibromyalgia which is probably actually lyme disease. http://www.quackwatch.org/03HealthPromotion/fibromyalgia/fms06.html
Sad for her.
looked around, it is his daughter. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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Truthfinder
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8512
posted
Betty, voles are little mouse-sized creatures that burrow and live underground.
There are zillions of them in Alaska.
Oh, they have a little short, stubby tail, not a long one like a mouse.
Tracy
-------------------- Tracy .... Prayers for the Lyme Community - every day at 6 p.m. Pacific Time and 9 p.m. Eastern Time � just take a few moments to say a prayer wherever you are�. Posts: 2966 | From Colorado | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
It's interesting that McSweegan uses patient quotes off of patient sites to support his positions on: the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease, the 'dangers' of IV and antibiotics, the "fallacy" of severe herxheimer reactions, etc... while at the same time IGNORING the hundreds of patient reports to the contrary!
Anneke
Posts: 364 | From California | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
McSweegan seems like a strange fellow. My impression is that he has a big ego, likes to manipulate, and enjoys baiting Lyme advocates in an effort to discredit them.
His letter on Babesiosis seems considerably more credible than other things I have seen written by him. So what could be going on? Maybe he is needing more credibility or is finding bigger fish to fry.
He has served as a visable source of disinformation about Lyme disease and a disraction for Lyme advocates. Is that what he gets paid to do or is it just a hobby for him?
In the past, he made a trip half-way around the world for the government without obvious job related reasons. My hunch is that he did have a reason for the trip, but needed a cover story to hide the real reason. I suspect the real reason had to do with vector borne diseases and maybe biowarfare issues.
I further wonder why he would go to India as he stated in the letter. It could be for a vacation. Or it could have something to do with infectious diseases, etc.
I suspect that the wind carries radiation and heavy metal particle from our depleted uranium bombs (DU) to areas like India from the battlefields in Pakistan and Iraq.
If we are using vector borne infections for biowarfare, the vectors and/or birds could spread it to Inda. The potential health problems in India are massive.
Could McSweegan have gotten an assignment to go to Inda to assess the situation, provide them assistance, and/or to feed them disinformation?
He seems to be doing some things different and there has to be a reason for it.
posted
I just found a report about an outbreak of a vector(mosquito) borne virus in the Indian Ocean area. If no prions or other contaminants are found in a U.S. vaccine, the French will start human testing with it. www.the-scientist.com/news/home/41729
(McSweegan has also made a trip to France.)
Posts: 158 | From Ecuador | Registered: Apr 2006
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