Topic: Bartonella- An Overlooked Epidemic With Serious Consequences
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Please feel free to share. I broke it up to make it easier to read.... but if placed on a document and resized.... it can be a handy dandy one page hand-out.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
Bartonella- An Overlooked Epidemic With Serious Consequences
Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana, sometimes referred to as ``cat-scratch'' and ``trench'' fever respectively, are two types of intracellular, gram negative bacteria which can cause severe, chronic health issues and sudden death.
Possible signs and symptoms- Fatigue, dizziness, stiff legs, sweats, restlessness, myalgias, heart attacks, heart valve problems, endocarditis (mortality 25%), cardiomegaly, strokes, skin rashes, aseptic meningitis, encephalopathy, fever, panic attacks, liver or spleen abnormalities, abscesses, confusion, abdominal pain, hepatitis, seizures (mild to severe), numbness in hands, rage, depression, difficulty walking, facial numbness, urinary problems or arthritis.
Some patients experience headaches, lymphadenopathy, cognitive dysfunction, CNS lesions, red splotches or slightly raised red spots on skin, bone pain- especially in shins and along the rib cage, subcutaneous nodules, softening of bone, bone infections, radiculitis, transverse myelitis, polyneuropathy, slurred speech, respiratory complications, personality disorders, bipolar disorder, irregular pulse and an array of eye related problems such as conjunctivitis, neuroretinitis and a distortion or loss of vision.
Bartonella symptoms may wax and wane or appear to be in remission. If not treated properly in the early stages, Bartonella can become a disabling condition that can be expensive and difficult to treat.
Bartonella has been misdiagnosed or mistaken for vasculitis, breast cancer, hepatitis, Kaposi's sarcoma, splenic lymphoma and a variety of neurological and psychiatric illnesses.
People infected with Bartonella may also be coinfected with one or more of the 300 plus known Lyme strains, viruses and/or additional vector borne infectious diseases.
Bartonella organisms have been detected in ticks, fleas, cats, mice, rats, voles, pigs, dogs, ear mites, lice, flies, bobcats, elk, animal saliva, dust mites, mountain lions, deer, coyotes, fox and feces.
Research is needed to determine if there are additional carriers, transmitters and more unidentified species of Bartonella.
Physicians must be trained to look for Bartonella infections in their patients and accurate tests must be developed to detect all Bartonella species in both animals and humans.
Special note- Bartonella bacteremia has been detected in 89% beef cattle tested from Oklahoma and 17% of dairy cattle from California.
Recently, a study by the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University reported finding one or more species of bartonella in 82.4% of cattle they tested.
Treatment: There is no one-size-fits-all treatment protocol for Bartonella infections. Doxycycline, rifampin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, tetracycline, clarithromycin, azithromycin or combinations of antibiotics have been used with varying degrees of success. Retreatment is often necessary in long standing cases.
Lyme Disease Education and Support Groups of America- December 2008
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Thanks for posting this.
Augh, scary though.
I have Bartonella and treated it for a little over four months with Rifampin. While that helped a good bit, I still have symptoms of Bartonella.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged |
kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
quote:89% beef cattle tested from Oklahoma
Holy shoot. We went back to Oklahoma every summer for 20 years. We were eaten up by mosquitoes.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[shake]](graemlins/shake.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic