Lyme bug stronger than antibiotics in animals and test tubes. Now study people.
[CanLyme note:Â This article supports the Canadian patient’s request of federal and provincial governments to stop blatantly endorsing the Infectious Disease Society of America and the United States Center for Disease Control. They refuse open discussion and evaluation of their policy while condemning tens of thousands to a lifetime of hell, or sadly, in too many cases needless death.]
November 2nd, 2017
The words “sleeper cell” may not conjure thoughts of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. But for thousands of people worldwide, this powerful single cell is as destructive as a covert terror group – and far more common.
The “sleeper cell” term was used in a recent science journal article that described the considerable ability of the Lyme disease pathogen to change shapes, develop protective films, and otherwise survive assault by antibiotics, only to strike again when least expected. The organism, which infects more than 300,000 Americans annually and some 200,000 in western Europe, has repeatedly demonstrated “tolerance to otherwise lethal doses of antimicrobials,” the article said.
Lyme disease is one of the most controversial diagnoses in medicine, with debate centering on why some 10 to 20 percent of patients remain ill after treatment. In offering a possible explanation for that, the sleeper cell article, published last month in Environmental Microbiology journal, challenges mainstream contentions that the infection is almost always eliminated by short courses of antibiotics. Lyme patient advocates see the article as a potential watershed moment in Lyme thought. Here’s why: