What is the URL for the post about moms giving babies lyme?

I want to give my house representative a copy on Sunday!

THANK YOU!

L
 

Biology professor, Lida Mattman, author of Cell Wall Deficient Forms: Stealth Pathogens, has been able to recover live spirochetes of Bb from mosquitos, fleas, mites, semen, urine, blood, and spinal fluid. A factor contributing to making Bb so dangerous is that it can survive and spread without having a cell wall (cell wall-deficient CWD). Many valuable antibiotics kill bacteria by breaking down the cell wall. These antibiotics often prove ineffective against Bb.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_252/ai_n6110580
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/418440
www.LymeInPregnancy.org
www.GestationalLyme.org
www.CongenitalLyme.org

Gestational and Congenital Lyme Disease
Any infectious disease contracted during pregnancy has the potential to be transmitted to the fetus. Tessa D. Gardner, MD,[10] of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, who has recently written an extensive chapter on the subject,[11] discussed the rare conditions of gestational and congenital Lyme disease (borreliosis) and the best approaches (based on limited case reports) to diagnosis and treatment.
How rare are these conditions? According to published figures, 16,000-17,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year in the United States. Roughly 8000 cases are in women, and approximately 1200-3400 cases are in women of childbearing age (20-49 years old). Dr. Gardner did some back-of-the envelope estimates to get a sense of how many cases of gestational Lyme disease may be occurring. If you assume that one quarter of the women in the child-bearing age group are pregnant (a gross overestimate, by Dr. Gardner's admission), and that 10% are either untreated or inadequately treated, and that one fifth transmit the organism to the fetus or newborn, this calculates to approximately 40 cases of congenital Lyme disease a year in the United States. It would be unusual for any large city to have more than 1 or 2 cases a year, and it would be extremely rare for any physician to see more than a few cases in a lifetime.

Dr. Gardner has conducted an extensive literature review (through 1998) that turned up 263 cases.[10] She found that 25% resulted in adverse outcomes: 8% resulted in fetal death and 2% in neonatal death. Fifteen percent of the babies were liveborn but were ill or had an abnormality. The effect of antibiotic therapy was dramatic in these patients: with antibiotics, 85% of neonates were normal, while 15% had an adverse outcome. In striking contrast, without antibiotics, only 33% were normal, while 67% had an adverse outcome. The conclusion: Proper, prompt diagnosis and antibiotic therapy are vital for healthy neonates born with congenital Lyme disease.

However, it can be quite difficult to recognize such a rare disease. The differential diagnosis is extensive and includes sepsis/meningoencephalitis (bacterial or viral), other congenital infectious diseases (eg, syphilis, leptospirosis, relapsing fever, toxoplasmosis), congenital heart or bone disease, inherited or infectious immunodeficiency, sudden infant death syndrome, and more. A history suggestive of Lyme disease in the mother or positive serologic or other tests for B burgdorferi can suggest the diagnosis. Dr. Gardner has provided a list of clues to the various presentations of congenital Lyme disease (Table). One interesting radiologic clue is "celery stalking" -- lucent metaphyseal bands -- on the long bones of the neonate. These are occasionally seen in infants with gestational syphilis or viral infections. In 2 neonates Dr. Gardner has treated, the bands disappeared shortly after treatment.

Table. Signs and Symptoms of Congenital Lyme Borreliosis
Stage Mild Early Severe Early Late
Onset Usually first 2 weeks of life Usually first week of life Usually > 2 wks and < 2 yrs of age
Maternal gestational Lyme borreliosis Usually first or second trimester Usually first or second trimester Usually second or third trimester
Signs and symptoms Mild suspected sepsis or meningoencephalitis
Hyperbilirubinemia
Adenopathy
Rash
Intrauterine growth retardation
Miscellanous anomalies (eg, genitourinary [GU], skeletal, cardiac)
Severe suspected sepsis or meningoencephalitis
Respiratory distress
Perinatal death
Intrauterine growth retardation
Fever
Rash
Adenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly
Hyperbilirubinemia
Miscellaneous anomalies (eg, GU, skeletal, cardiac)
Subacute illness
Developmental delay/meningoencephalitis
Growth retardation/failure to thrive
Prematurity
Fever
Adenopathy
Rash
Hepatosplenomegaly
Miscellaneous anomalies (eg, GU, skeletal, cardiac)

Prematurity? < 4 weeks < 5 weeks --

The prognosis for gestational Lyme disease is good if diagnosed and treated adequately. The prognosis for neonates with early congenital Lyme disease depends on prompt diagnosis, especially in severe early cases. Similarly, the prognosis in late congenital Lyme depends not only on prompt diagnosis and treatment, but also on the extent of irreversible damage present at the time of diagnosis. Long-term follow-up is important for detecting possible recurrence of disease.

This summer, Dr. Gardner will be starting the North American Gestational and Congenital Lyme Disease Watch to evaluate the relationship of various factors (clinical and laboratory characteristics, antibiotic regimens) to outcomes for gestational Lyme disease, and to evaluate short- and long-term outcomes (infants, stillborns, miscarriages) of pregnancies complicated by Lyme disease and develop clinical and laboratory case definitions of these outcomes. Interested people (physicians and affected women) can enroll on the Internet once the sites are launched in July 2001: