LymeNet Flash: Exciting News about Chronic Lyme!!! Yeah Johns Hopkins!

This is topic Exciting News about Chronic Lyme!!! Yeah Johns Hopkins! in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.

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Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/11/persistent-lyme-disease-test

Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :

Wow! That's fantastic. I do believe persister cells are the big issue for chronic Lyme.

For those unfamiliar with persister cells and Lyme, I believe this article explains it:

Antibiotic Resistance and Persisters In Lyme disease
http://campother.blogspot.com/2014/07/antibiotic-resistance-and-persisters-in.html

Posted by CherylSue (Member # 13077) on :

Thanks for the info!

Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :

Anyone know a lyme patient who took IV daptomycin which is mentioned in the original study as effective against persister cells?

Posted by steve1906 (Member # 16206) on :

Also go here - lymedisease.org

http://lymedisease.org/news/?utm_source=Nov+5+update&utm_campaign=new+drugs%3F&utm_medium=email

Steve

Posted by lymeboy (Member # 24769) on :

"The most exciting part of the development of the test, Zhang says, is that his team has already used it to identify a series of antibiotics approved to treat other infections that show promise in the lab against the lingering Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, known as persisters. In a study published in July in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections, Zhang and colleagues used the new test – called the SYBR Green I/PI assay – to identify several antibiotics that showed promise against the persistent bacteria that appear immune to the current Lyme antibiotics."

Not to sound ingrateful, but...WHEN?????

Posted by dali (Member # 24458) on :

That is great news. Maybe we should start calling it "Persistent Lyme" instead of Chronic Lyme...same thing!
I truly hope we get this practical information very soon.

Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :

I want to be positive about this. I really do. Im in a ruff patch and i have been fighting so long. Gotten my hopes upso many times. I. Would be nice but. I am afraid too many are making too much money on us sick...so they will figure out a way to sabotage it

Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :

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They still don't look at the cystic form of borrelia, though, or the other forms - and biofilm. Until they really understand how borrelia is structured, how it works and changes from one form to another, etc., I fear they will not be as comprehensive as required.

I'm glad they do understand the persistence nature of it but it just seems they don't understand the complexity of its behavior or adaptability.

Now, just because they don't talk about that, I hope that may not mean they are not taking it all into account. But it would sure be nice to hear that they really get the whole picture and are not looking at this too simplistically.

I also would like some reassurance that they understand the breadth and reach of other tick borne infections that usually complicate the matter -- and that they must also be considered but that it's not going to be the same thing for each person with lyme.

No cookie cutter approach will ever work, I think. So I just hope they are building in some flexibility in their thinking and how whatever drug (or combinations) they look at will work with the full realities.

I want to know that they really understand this, fully and are not going to run away from the complexities involved.

And, while I'm adding to my wish list here, a major wish is that any new drug would be kind to the liver & kidneys.

Yet, with these reservations, I am delighted to see even this one step forward from a place (JH) that has done so much to derail the understanding of what neuroborreliosis and other chronic stealth tick borne infections can do to a person.

I must remember that not every person who works at a place is necessarily of same mind.

Curious, I am, about the funding for this study. Hope it's all clean & crisp to allow for the very best patient outcomes.
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[ 11-06-2014, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]

Posted by WPinVA (Member # 33581) on :

Wow! Anyone know which drugs were found to get those persisters?

Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :

Yes IV daptomycin was found in their previous study to be effective on persister cells. I read on another lyme board where a patient's LLMD was going to prescribe it for her.

I'm a little surprised there hasn't been someone posting on this Board about trying it.

Posted by Judie (Member # 38323) on :

I'm allergic to all antibiotics that end in -mycin.

This would not be a cure for me or others who can't tolerate antibiotics.

Hopefully it will at least help call attention to the fact that Lyme isn't gone after 2 weeks of doxycycline.

Posted by canefan17 (Member # 22149) on :

Bartonella please [Big Grin]

Posted by WPinVA (Member # 33581) on :

wow, that is not one I've heard of. and I thought I'd heard of them all at this point. ; )