At any rate, has anyone heard of pulsing
Rifampin, and could you/have you pulsed
Ceftin?

it said levaquin, doxy, ceftin and rifampin could be used for bart..weird.never heard that before...but I don't know dr. b either...so who knows..maybe he's had good success with it di..

Lisa

So, Lis, did you really see Doxy and Ceftin?

Doxy and Cipro and Rifampin are all on the list along with 25 more.
http://www.pubmed.com

PMID: 12543668
PMID: 10428946
PMID: 8585713

For full articles, do you need to subscribe?

Culture and antibiotic susceptibility of Bartonella quintana in human erythrocytes.

Rolain JM, Maurin M, Mallet MN, Parzy D, Raoult D.

Unite des Rickettsies CNRS UMR-A 6020, IFR 48 Faculte de Medecine, Universite de la Mediterranee, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.

Bartonella quintana, the agent of trench fever, has recently been implicated in various diseases, in particular, bacteremia and endocarditis in homeless people. The host cell of Bartonella spp. is believed to be the erythrocyte, and in the present study we demonstrate that B. quintana can be cultured in vitro in human erythrocytes. The bacteria were found to be intraerythrocytic by laser confocal microscopy with Bartonella species-specific monoclonal antibodies. Infections with B. quintana decreased the life span of erythrocytes in culture from 8.6 to 4.8 days. In the culture system we found that most of the antibiotics that we tested (doxycycline, fluoroquinolone compounds, and beta-lactams) were not bactericidal. Gentamicin was bactericidal at 4 micro g/ml, as was rifampin, but to a lesser extent. At this concentration, gentamicin has been shown to enter erythrocytes slowly and to reach a peak level of 0.26 micro g/ml after 24 h. At 0.26 micro g/ml, however, we found that gentamicin was not able to kill extracellular B. quintana, even after 96 h of incubation. We hypothesize that erythrocytes may be a reservoir for B. quintana and that the bactericidal activity of gentamicin that we observed occurs mainly when the bacteria emerge from the erythrocytes and are found extracellularly. It would appear that gentamicin should be administered for at least 5 days to cure patients infected with B. quintana.

In vitro susceptibilities of four Bartonella bacilliformis strains to 30 antibiotic compounds.

Sobraques M, Maurin M, Birtles RJ, Raoult D.

Unite des Rickettsies, CNRS UPRES A 6020, Faculte de Medecine, Universite de la Mediterranee, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.

We have evaluated for the first time in vitro antibiotic susceptibilities of four human strains of Bartonella bacilliformis, the agent of Carrion's disease. Our results show that B. bacilliformis, like other Bartonella species, is highly susceptible to antibiotics, including most beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, chloramphenicol, rifampin, macrolides, tetracyclines, cotrimoxazole, and fluoroquinolones.

MICs of 28 antibiotic compounds for 14 Bartonella (formerly Rochalimaea) isolates.

Maurin M, Gasquet S, Ducco C, Raoult D.

Unite des Rickettsies, Faculte de Medecine, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique EP J0054, Marseille, France.

We assessed in vitro the antibiotic susceptibilities of 14 Bartonella isolates of the species B. quintana, B. vinsonii, B. henselae, and B. elizabethae. Columbia agar base supplemented with 5% horse blood was used as the antibiotic assay medium. Bacterial growth could be evaluated within 5 days after incubation of the plates at 37 degrees C in a 5% carbon dioxide atmosphere. The MICs at which 90% of isolates are inhibited (MIC90s) were 0.06 microgram/ml for penicillin G and amoxicillin and 0.25 microgram/ml for ticarcillin and cefotaxime. The MIC90s of oxacillin and cephalothin were 4 and 16 micrograms/ml, respectively. The MIC90s ranged from 1 to 4 micrograms/ml for aminoglycosides. Erythromycin, doxycycline, and rifampin displayed MIC90s of 0.12, 0.12, and 0.25 microgram/ml, respectively. MIC90s were 1 and 5 micrograms/ml for trimethoprim-and sulfamethoxazole, respectively, 64 micrograms/ml for fosfomycin, and 16 micrograms/ml for colistin and vancomycin. The study confirms the high levels of in vitro susceptibility of Bartonella agents to antibiotics.

See if you can click on this link:
http://www.hopetoheallyme.com/Documents/handouts.htm

Then look for the handout link for THE Dr. B. then click on the link for his power point presentation.

Click through to the Antibiotic Therapy page. There it is noted for Bart: Levaquin, Doxy, Ceftin, Rifampin.

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Tabby

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I think.

Once we increased the dosis for 1 month to 300 mgs twice a day - also pulsing. No problem for us. At least we didn't feel more flulike than normal.

BUT, I did, before I knew any better. BUT, then again- I have no complaints. Rifampin worked like a charm for me.

I pulsed ceftin two weeks on, one off. At this point, I was nearing remission and treating myself anyway.