One of the most concise explanations of LD and its effect on cells is Tom Grier's LD tutorial. Exerpts below, and the full text is at http://www.canlyme.com/tom.html It was written several years ago, I think but is still good.

Also -- babesia enters and destroys red blood cells.

Grier:

Many researchers have observed that the Lyme spirochete attaches to the human cells' tip first. It then wiggles and squirms until it enters the cell. What Dr. Klempner showed was that when the spirochete attached to the human host cell, it caused that cell to release digestive enzymes that would dissolve the cell, and allow the spirochete to go wherever it pleases.

This is very economical to the bacteria to use our own cell's enzymes against us, because it does not need to carry the genes and enzymes around when it travels. Dr. Klempner also showed that the spirochete could enter cells such as the human fibroblast cell (The skin cell that makes scar tissue.) and hide. Here the pathogen was protected from the immune system, and could thrive without assault.

More importantly, when these Bb-fibroblast cultures were incubated with 10 x the MIC for IV Rocephin, two thirds of the cultures still yielded live spirochetes after two weeks, and in later experiments for more than 30 days. If we can't kill it in a test tube at these high concentrations in four weeks, how can we hope to kill it in the human body? (22,48,79,80,)

This means: The infection can enter the tissue that is optimal for its survival, and it may evade the immune system and antibiotics by hiding inside certain types of cells.

Another interesting observation about this bacteria is how it interacts with our body's immune system; Dr. David Dorward of Rocky Mountain Labs made a video tape of how Borrelia burgdorferi acts when surrounded by B-cells. (The type of white blood cell that makes antibody.) The spirochete attached tip first, entered the B lymphocyte, multiplied and ruptured the cell.

It repeated this process for three days until the B-cells were able to come to an equilibrium. A matter of concern was that some of the spirochetes were able to strip away part of the B-cell's membrane, and wear it like a cloak. (Dorward, Hulinska 1994 LDF Conference Vancouver BC)

This means: If this spirochete is evolved enough to attack our B-lymphocytes, then it may also be evolved in other ways that we do not yet understand. It is for certain that its ability to kill B-lymphocytes evolved as part of a defense mechanism to evade its own destruction.

The observation that it can use the B-cell's own membrane as camouflage indicates that it may be able to go undetected by our immune system. The way our immune system is supposed to work is that it recognizes foreign invaders as being different from self, and attacks the infection.

Unfortunately, the immune system sometimes attacks our own cells. This is called autoimmune disease. If a foreign invader has a chemical structure similar to our own tissue antigens, our bodies sometimes make antibodies against our own tissues. In people with Lyme disease scientists have discovered auto-antibodies against our own tissues including nerve cells (axons), cardiolipid, myelin (also seen in MS), myelin basic protein (also seen in MS), and neurons (brain cells) (23,28,38-40,43,45,56,57,60,88)

...........

What happens when the infection gets to the brain? In the case of Lyme disease, every animal model to date shows that the Lyme spirochete can go from the site of the bite to the brain in just a few days. (41,60, abstract 644) While we know these bacteria can break down individual cell membranes and capillaries, its entrance into the brain is too pronounced for such a localized effect. When the Lyme bacteria enters the human body, we react by producing several immune regulatory substances known as cytokines and lymphokines.

Several of these act in concert to break down the blood brain barrier. (E.g. Il-6, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Il-1, Transforming Growth Factor-beta etc.) In addition to affecting the blood brain barrier, these cytokines can make us feel ill, and give us fevers. (54,60,) (JID 1996:173, Jan)