Chronic Lyme disease – does it exist?
“Her symptoms started quickly: neck pain, extreme fatigue and intermittent fever and chills. The woman had been healthy until then, and since she enjoyed gardening and landscaping at her rural Maryland home, she wondered if a tick bite might have given her Lyme disease although she had not noticed the telltale bull’s-eye skin lesion.
Her doctor told her it was likely just a virus. The next day, she felt worse and went to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with mononucleosis.
The woman, a nurse in her 40s, returned to the emergency room a few weeks later with breathing trouble and low blood pressure. Doctors tested her for Lyme disease and found …”
Dr. Aucott has made a YouTube video in which he elaborates further his belief that persistent CLD exists but he is unsure about how it causes pain and suffering. I think we may be coming to a better understanding of the possible mechanisms because of our understanding of the many defensive strategies of Bb including its ability to form biofilm which is chronic disease by definition and is difficult for antibiotics and cells of the immune system to penetrate. Further to this the immune system can detect the existence of the invader but can’t adapt quickly enough to the constantly changing of the guard and shield ability of the VLsE gene. The result is a depleted immune system and collateral inflammation of neighbouring tissues. IDSA/ AMMI Canada members have not changed their direction because this has not been proven in people. To do so with humans would be highly invasive and unethical.
Ref: What does Lyme disease do to your body? Seeker [Dr. Raphael Stricker] YouTube 19-04-23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtBb_pBZUaQ
Changing of the guard: How the Lyme disease spirochete subverts the host immune response, Chaconas G, et al., J Boil Chem 295 [2], 301-313; 20-01-10: doi: 10.1074/jbc.REV119.008583
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6956529/
Vls Antigenic Variation Systems of Lyme Disease Borrelia: Eluding Host Immunity through both Random, Segmental Gene Conversion and Framework Heterogeneity, Norris SJ, Microbiol Spectr 2, 2014: doi: 10.1128/microbiolspec.MDNA1123-0038-
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480602/