Oh, it's our immune systems that are the problem, not the organism. That clears up the whole thing!
UGGGG!
Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Mar 11. [Epub ahead of print] Anti-neural antibody reactivity in patients with a history of Lyme borreliosis and persistent symptoms.
Chandra A, Wormser GP, Klempner MS, Trevino RP, Crow MK, Latov N, Alaedini A. Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
Some Lyme disease patients report debilitating chronic symptoms of pain, fatigue, and cognitive deficits despite recommended courses of antibiotic treatment.
The mechanisms responsible for these symptoms, collectively referred to as post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLS) or chronic Lyme disease, remain unclear.
We investigated the presence of immune system abnormalities in PLS by assessing the levels of antibodies to neural proteins in patients and controls.
Serum samples from PLS patients, post-Lyme disease healthy individuals, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and normal healthy individuals were analyzed for anti-neural antibodies by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry.
Anti-neural antibody reactivity was found to be significantly higher in the PLS group than in the post-Lyme healthy (p0.01) and normal healthy (p0.01) groups.
The observed heightened antibody reactivity in PLS patients could not be attributed solely to the presence of cross-reactive anti-borrelia antibodies, as the borrelial seronegative patients also exhibited elevated anti-neural antibody levels.
Immunohistochemical analysis of PLS serum antibody activity demonstrated binding to cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
The results provide evidence for the existence of a differential immune system response in PLS, offering new clues about the etiopathogenesis of the disease that may prove useful in devising more effective treatment strategies.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
I hope it wasn't tax payers dollars they wasted.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Whoever's money it was, it was wasted.
His day will come! You can only do evil for so long before it comes back and gets you.
There are others that are doing research to try and help us. The good ones, the ones that really care about people.