It looks like we may have some real scientists out in the "tentacle" of the CDC in Colorado.
Here is an article they are epublishing ahead of time. It is simply providing as "new" information that which many of us here have known for a decade or longer.
Lyme presents as Neuroborreliosis--check.
Bb is an intracellular pathogen--check.
Bb evades the immune system--check. (which therefore IMMEDIATELY comprimises any ANTIBODY based test for Lyme Disease)
The authors end their abstract with some humor, and that is the "suspicion" that a neuronal cell internally parasitized with Bb may indeed impair its functional ability! Well, Golly Jim, just maybe!
Nonetheless, I wonder if the "Brain Bugs" in the head of the beast in Atlanta are aware of these rebels...
We should e-mail the authors and thank them for their refreshing and honest research.
Invasion of human neuronal and glial cells by an infectious strain of Borrelia burgdorferi.
Livengood JA, Gilmore RD Jr.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases, 3150 Rampart Road, CSU Foothills Campus, Fort Collins, CO 80522, USA.
Human infection by Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agent for Lyme disease, can result in serious acute and late-term disorders including neuroborreliosis, a degenerative condition of the peripheral and central nervous systems.
To examine the mechanisms involved in the cellular pathogenesis of neuroborreliosis, we investigated the ability of B. burgdorferi to attach to and/or invade a panel of human neuroglial and cortical neuronal cells.
In all neural cells tested, we observed B. burgdorferi in association with the cell by confocal microscopy. Further analysis by differential immunofluorescent staining of external and internal organisms, and a gentamicin protection assay demonstrated an intracellular localization of B. burgdorferi.
A non-infectious strain of B. burgdorferi was attenuated in its ability to associate with these neural cells, suggesting that a specific borrelial factor related to cellular infectivity was responsible for the association. Cytopathic effects were not observed following infection of these cell lines with B. burgdorferi, and internalized spirochetes were found to be viable.
Invasion of neural cells by B. burgdorferi provides a putative mechanism for the organism to avoid the host's immune response while potentially causing functional damage to neural cells during infection of the CNS.
PMID: 17045505 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]