Could a slimy biofilm be halting proper Lyme diagnosis and treatment? Imagine your teeth covered with a green goo so thick it’s impossible to clean off. Or trying to wash your dishes despite a greasy film that soap can’t penetrate. In a breakthrough discovery, researchers now believe something like this may be why those afflicted with Lyme have such a hard time healing. The CDC estimates there are 300,000 people in the U.S. diagnosed with Lyme disease annually. (Those in the Lyme community say that there are a lot more sufferers than that).

In the human body, this protective coating is called a biofilm, a group of microorganisms whose cells stick or adhere to each other on a surface, a ball of slime that can protect a parasitic infection at the core. In the case of Lyme disease, slimy, mucous-like biofilms protect the spirochete, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted through ticks that causes Lyme disease and torment its victims with a bevy of enigmatic symptoms including fatigue, joint pain, sleep deprivation, fevers, sweats, chills, depression, headaches, neuropathic, and heart-related issues.

The Lyme biofilm is especially troublesome. A new study at the University of New Haven suggests that Borrelia spirochetes generate a particularly virulent biofilm over several weeks, months, or even years that makes the bacteria up to 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than other types of bacteria.

Citing new research from the Moriarity Lab at the University of Toronto, microbiology professor Holly Ahern says it appears as though the Borrelia bacteria enters the blood, crawls along blood vessels, finds a place to breach and then exits the bloodstream. The bacteria then binds to collagen rich (gelatinous) tissues that predominate in the nervous system linings, the heart linings, and the joints.

“Once established in these locations, the bacteria switches from being motile (moving) to stationary cells that build a biofilm,” says Ahern. “Once the biofilm is established it is extremely hard to kill the bacteria within — not only because there are many bacteria in thick layers but because a proportion of the cells are genetically hardwired to shut down metabolism and exist as dormant persister cells, which are ‘tolerant’ to antibiotics.”

Ahern says tolerance is different than resistance, as the persister cells are simply unaffected by the antibiotics without doing anything to “resist” the actions of these drugs.

Personal Encounter Drives Research

Ahern has more than just a scientific interest in the puzzling nature of Lyme disease. In 2012, her young daughter Kaleigh was bitten by a tick. While no serious symptoms developed immediately, Kaleigh did at times feel mentally hazy and just not quite right physically. Still she made it through high school and even became a champion swimmer in college. Then it hit her. Hard. She was 18 years old.

“I literally watched her go from being an All-American one day to crumbling into a progressive debilitating illness the next,” says Ahern.

Ahern’s dedication to help her daughter led her on a wellness journey that includes establishing a New York-based advocacy organization Lyme Action Network and becoming a science adviser at Project Lyme, a national organization dedicated to education and awareness of tick-borne diseases.

Food For Thought: Do Antibiotics Feed The Disease?

One of the disturbing discoveries Ahern and other researchers have made is that antibiotics may actually be making the Borrelia biofilm stronger. The conventional treatment for treating Lyme is with antibiotics Doxycycline or Amoxicillin for a few weeks orally or in more severe cases, intravenously. If Lyme is caught early enough, this has been an effective treatment.

“But the prevailing idea that three to four weeks of antibiotics will eliminate the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria may not be true in many cases,” says Dr. Adam Breiner, the medical director of The NeuroEdge Brain Performance Center. “For these patients, the bacterium has evaded the antimicrobial therapies and has caused immune and inflammatory changes in various tissues and organs, leading to chronic symptoms.”

A biofilm is a protective mechanism that cells turn on when they sense they’re under stress, so there’s significantly more biofilm formation when cells are treated with antimicrobial agents including antibiotics. Numerous studies have shown this for nearly all antibiotics. For example, researchers from the University of Southern California and the Oak Crest Institute of Science have discovered a link between antibiotics and bacterial biofilm formation leading to chronic lung, sinus, and ear infections. This study illustrates how bacterial biofilms can actually thrive, rather than decrease, when treated with antibiotics.

“Once the biofilm forms, it becomes stronger with each treatment of antibiotics,” says Paul Webster, senior staff scientist at USC.

And there’s another thing. It appears as though if the initial round of antibiotics do not kill the Lyme bacteria, the biofilms can spread along with the Borrelia spirochetes they are protecting. It’s as though the presence of antibiotics signals additional danger to the bacteria, which wait until the coast is clear (a break in the antibiotics) then revert back to their non-stationary form to establish new biofilms and colonize new tissues. Since antibiotics can’t be continuously given to a patient, there really isn’t anything to stop these bacteria cells from spreading the disease.

Biofilm Plays Havoc With Testing?

A false negative is a test result that indicates a person does not have a disease or condition when the person actually does have it. This is a problem with Lyme disease. Because of misdiagnosis, patients with Lyme disease are frequently misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia, ALS, CFS, multiple sclerosis, and different psychiatric diseases. Biofilms may contribute to this issue also. A biofilm is capable of protecting Borrelia from the immune system, the human body’s antibody generator. The Western Blot and Elisa Test use antibodies as an indication for Lyme Disease. If no antibodies are created, tests will yield negative results despite patients having full blown Lyme disease.

“There are many reasons for the high rate of false negative blood tests, and the fact that the bacteria are living in biofilms outside of the blood and protected from immune system cells is one of them,” says Ahern.

Ahern points out that microbiologist and immunologist Dr. Nicole Baumgarth has shown that Borrelia can also invade the lymph nodes and rearrange “germinal centers” where critical immune cell indoctrination occurs, contributing to misdiagnosis. Noted Lyme disease researcher Dr. Eva Sapi of the University of New Haven has also published visible evidence of Borrelia biofilms in human lymphocytomas (infected skin tissues), which could also throw off a Lyme diagnosis.

Metabolomics’ Cut To The Chase

Metabolomics is a novel branch of medicine that takes the guesswork out of diagnosis and is the leading definitive test for helping pinpointing autoimmune and chronic diseases through blood and urine samples. Technically, metabolomics is the study of metabolites, very small molecules produced by chemical reactions in our cells. Through new technologies, it’s now possible to analyze the 5,000 different metabolites and determine the condition of each and their variance from what is normal.

“The measurement of metabolites is one of the most accurate tests available for the tracking and detection of specific dietary, environmental, and metabolic causes concerning insoluble health problems,” says Dr. Dimitris Tsoukalas, a metabolomics pioneer and author of How To Live 150 Years In Health.

While metabolomics does not diagnose disease, “Metabolomics addresses function and dysfunction,” adds Tsoukalas.

What that means is a metabolomics analysis goes to the root functionality of what lies behind the disease rather than look at categorization of symptoms. Needless to say, since Lyme disease is so difficult to diagnose, a metabolomic test could be useful to give a sense of the overall picture.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a board-certified infectious disease physician at the University of Pittsburgh, agrees:

Metabolomic approaches are increasingly being shown to be useful in detecting the specific signatures of certain infectious diseases. As the capacity for metabolomics-based diagnostics increases, it has the potential to play a role in diagnosing many infectious diseases with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity. A significant proof-of-concept research study was published in 2015 showing that such an approach is feasible for diagnosis of early Lyme infection where current testing may lack sensitivity.

Nick Angelis, a certified registered nurse anesthetist in the Pensacola, Florida area, also sees the value of metabolomic analysis for improved Lyme diagnosis.

“I am not an expert, but similar science is already used for other applications,” says Angelis. “For example, in astronomy, celestial bodies are discovered indirectly by observing gravitational pulls. Rather than finding the spirochetes themselves, we can complete the picture by finding metabolites and other evidence of their presence.”

Conventional Therapies: Not Getting It Done

There are currently no approved treatments for biofilm-related infections, including Lyme disease. There are alternative approaches that may offer some degree of relief from Lyme disease symptoms and possibly even battle protective biofilms.

Breiner recommends trying a combination of modalities with the focus being on improving your overall immune system and helping detoxify the body.

“This is accomplished using low sugar anti-inflammatory diets, targeted nutraceuticals, immune-supporting, and antimicrobial herbs, as well as homeopathic remedies,” Breiner says.

According to Breiner, many Lyme patients have had good results by combining adjusted healthier diets with adjunctive therapies such as hyperbaric oxygen, far infrared sauna, intravenous nutrients, acupuncture, and radio frequency therapies that target microorganisms associated with Lyme.

Dr. Patrick Fratellone is an integrative physician and cardiologist, a conventionally trained medical doctor. He is also an herbalist and beekeeper who has gradually come to appreciate the non-pharmaceutical benefits of alternative health modalities. For some Lyme patients, he believes the Cowden Protocol, which features many herbs, can help. Two herbs in particular he recommends are samento (similar to cat’s claw) which he says has antiviral and antibacterial properties, and banderol, which has anti-inflammatory, antiprotozoal, and antibacterial characteristics.

“Studies have been done to demonstrate the benefit of adding samento and banderol to doxycycline,” says Fratellone. “The Cowden Protocol is intense, but I have used it with great success.”

Angelis recommends probiotics for gut health along with microbe killing supplements such as wormwood and oil of oregano.

“Generally speaking, anything that improves the microbiome (the complex ecosystem of germs living inside of us) will make it harder for Lyme disease to proliferate,” says Angelis.

Molecular hydrogen, an antioxidant supplement with proven health benefits, has cell modulating properties that may help Lyme sufferers through its anti-inflammatory effects.

A Winning Duo: Silver And CBD

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are two types of cannabinoids (chemical compounds) found naturally in the resin of the marijuana plant, Cannabis sativa. Both offer health benefits, but CBD does not leave you “stoned” like THC.

Clinical Herbalist Elizabeth Moriarty says CBD is valuable as a component of a complete formula that serves to treat many of the most challenging symptoms of Lyme disease, including depression and anxiety; general pain and inflammation; musculoskeletal pain and inflammation very specifically; and cognitive/mental fog.

“Arguably, a viable cure will necessarily embody a full protocol that allows both penetration of the biofilm and offers antimicrobial agents that avoid triggering a shape-shifting response in the Lyme bacteria,” says Moriarty. “For example, evidence suggests that teasel root is one of the plant medicines that helps facilitate an environment that Lyme does not regard as hostile, thereby allowing the body’s immune system access to the bacteria once the biofilm is breached.”

Dr. Ernie Murakami, founder of The Dr. E Murakami Centre for Lyme Research, a naturopathic facility located in British Columbia, Canada, believes that he has found a potential cure for Lyme disease among other illnesses with the use of CBD.

Murakami concludes:

“Other anecdotal cases of cannabidiol treating chronic infections resistant to the standard antibiotics convinced me that there was an antibiotic effect with cannabidiol.” His findings are currently being conducted in the United States.

A 2013 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology analyzed multiple CBD studies that had been performed to date and found that the compound reduces symptoms of the disease.

CBD oil in combination with colloidal silver could bring optimal results. Silver is a natural and general purpose anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and antiviral product. It works because it kills with an electrical charge rather than a chemical one, so pathogens cannot develop any resistance to it. As such, it’s a natural cure for Lyme disease.

According to a report in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), silver is a novel strategy for the prevention and treatment of biofilm related infections like Lyme disease. Silver nanoparticles have extremely large surface areas that can interact with microorganisms better than antibiotics. Silver’s nanoparticles can penetrate inside biofilm protected bacteria and react with proteins and DNA, which interrupts the respiratory chain and cell division. Result – bacterial cell death.

Ahern’s Daughter

After three rounds of standard antibiotic therapy in which the symptoms lessened and then came roaring back, Ahern took her daughter Kaleigh to an alternative medicine physician a colleague recommended.

“We started treating her with pulsed electric fields from a rife machine,” says Ahern. “After 10 months or so, the major symptoms resolved, meaning she could stay awake, walk, see, think, and feel again.”

However, Kaleigh still had Lyme-related issues such as residual pain, headaches, occasional numbness and tingling. These mostly disappeared after Ahern switched her daughter to an anti-inflammatory diet with other supplements.

“In my opinion, the diet and supplements helped repair the damage the antibiotics did to her microbiome,” Ahern says.

Today Kaleigh still experiences some symptoms but is able to control them with the help of a naturopathic doctor who assists in keeping the chronic inflammation under control.

Says Ahern:

“Kaleigh is working to become a nurse practitioner because she wants something good to come from what she went through, and she wants to help other people with Lyme and other chronic diseases.”

Thomas Ropp Longtime journalist Thomas Ropp is an environmental advocate and proponent of living healthier. After spending most of his life in Arizona, he relocated to a Costa Rican rainforest ten years ago and helped with reforestation projects to expand the habitat of the endangered mono titi monkey. He has dual residency in the United States and Costa Rica.



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