HARD SCIENCE ON LYME: Trials and tribulations of getting Borrelia biofilms acccepted for publication
In this guest blog, pathologist Alan MacDonald describes the struggle to publish the discovery of Borrelia biofilms and what the existence of these biofilms means for chronicity and treatment.
By Alan MacDonald, MD
In the original release of UNDER OUR SKIN [UOS] my parting remarks are about the exciting future of biofilms of Borrelia – the Next Big Thing. At the time of filming, we already had the proof in hand, but we had to get our paper published. We had to get it past an editor in chief of a journal with good academic standing in the world of medical publishing. We knew that we would not succeed with the Journal of Infectious Diseases or Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease or with the newsletter to the membership of the IDSA.
The most important milestone happened in November 2012 with the long-awaited publication of the PLOS ONE article on In Vitro Biofilms of Borrelia Burgdorferi.
It took six years of tedious and gut-wrenching work to get the article into a prestigious journal, PLOS ONE. The acceptance for the article to be published was, like some births, not an easy delivery. The original manuscript reviews required mandatory revisions – non-negotiable revisions. The most onerous of these was the directive by the editorial staff to remove any and all language from the manuscript which connected the significance of biofilms of Borrelia to human medicine, human disease, and to Lyme disease specifically. They also required us to remove any and all language relating to attitudes toward the proper treatment of Lyme disease and related Borrelia infections. We acceded to these demands.
Why would PhD reviewers be at all interested in MD-type concerns? Here the existing politics provide an answer.
None of the three reviewers was an IDSA-aligned person. All of the reviewers, as far as we could determine, were European microbiologists with special life experience in biofilm biology of other non-Borrelia microbes.
The sticky wicket about biofilms is that biofilms of the infectious type are ALWAYS a marker of CHRONIC INFECTION.
Chronic Lyme borreliosis was then and in 2013 still is a much disputed entity.
Allowing biofilms of Borrelia to attain academic respectability through publication of the Sapi et al In Vitro Borrelia biofilm article, would provide the conceptual link by a microscopic structure {biofilm of Borrelia community}and overturn all of the objections to the impossibility of chronic borreliosis as a validated entity.
Nobel Prize Laureate Izzy Singer used to tell the story of when he was a young child in school. “I would come home and each day my mother would not ask me, ‘Izzy, what did you learn in school today,’ but rather, ‘Izzy, did you ask a good question?’”
So, did we ask a good question?
Yes!
And so, the next “good question” was, “Are there Borrelia biofilms in living organisms or are Borrelia biofilms just a test tube curiosity?”
Two weeks after the PLOS ONE publication of the Sapi biofilm In vitro paper, the Sapi Group at the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT, made the announcement that indeed, Borrelia biofilms were detected under the microscope in a human skin biopsy from a European patient with cutaneous borreliosis.
Sapi’s group also started to look into the tick gut, to see if Borrelia biofilms are there in the living tick, as a measure to maintain the Borrelia through a period of starvation, before it bites its next human victim. This work has also been paradigm-shifting.
Now to look ahead to the paradigm shifts yet to come.
MacDonald has announced that the plaques of Alzheimer’s disease are biofilm communities. That is about as chronic and disease-associated and disease-producing in the human body as any biofilm professional could ever want to have on a resumé.
How do we attack and remove biofilms? That is another tough question.
Biofilms are fortress-like communities which are from inception designed to survive all manner of attack, including high-dose, long-term antibiotic therapies through IV lines surgically sewn into the veins of sick patients who require such therapy. So antibiotic therapy is not a panacea for eliminating biofilms of any microbe.
Just before Dr. Bill Costerton passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2012, he recorded a video interview on YouTube. In that interview he discussed many things about biofilm biology. Costerton, as the author of many peer-reviewed articles on biofilms of many species of microbes, was ideally situated to editorialize about all things biofilm.
One of the topics which he introduced at the end of the video was the concept that ultrasound energy , correctly administered to test tube biofilm communities actually breaks up the protective matrix and opens up the heretofore protected bacteria to the action of antibiotics, which can then get to the bugs and kill them.
So there is more than a “vague new direction” for killing biofilm infections. Costerton has built us an eight-lane highway.
More about this later.
In UOS I made the promise that biofilms would be the Next Great Thing. That promise has been kept, and more great things will accrue to Lyme borreliosis patients because of basement laboratory investigations.
PS: This week the Lancet Infectious Disease Journal 2013: 13:(8) :719-724 has a manuscript discussing Streptococcus gallolyticus and cancer. Strep Gallolyticus is a biofilm former which is highly associated with setting up its communities on the surface of malignant and premalignant tumors in the human colon. Some of these biofilm communities send off showers of the Strep gallo biofilm community into the bloodstream where some of these microbial “emboli” infect the human cardiac valves causing bacterial endocarditis of the Strep gallo type (formerly Strep bovis endocarditis).
Endocarditis is, and always has been, a biofilm infection of the human heart valves.
So a timely “so new” in the world of infectious disease, brought to you by biofilm [always chronic] infections.
Think about it…
That is very interesting! I have chronic Lyme and I have followed many suggestions that physicians think may break up bio films. But I have been skeptical that they could have any action outside the digestive tract. Given that my sx are largely neurological it seems likely that we need other tactics. I am intrigued by the ultrasound idea. Is there anything else out there on this?
I take “98alive” to dislove the BioFilm.
By Prof Max Reynolds
Took 2 a day 1x morning & 1 x night for two weeks. I had a temp 38.5 for two weeks – headache – tired – 100’s of little lumps up through my skin – Dead Bacterica leaving my body –
I only take one every day now with my Doxy – Gone from night to day – I am well – out of bed – living my life again. Brisbane Australia
I TOO HAVE CHRONIC LYME. I AM GOING TO TRY CATS CLAW AND WATER SOLUBLE COPPER AND WATER SOLUBLE SILVER TO RID MY BODY OF LYME ONCE AND FOR ALL. IF THAT FAILS I MIGHT GET A RIFE MACHINE TO ELECTRICALLY KILL THE LYME. DONT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO TRY.
Ultrasound busting of biofilms has to date just been demonstrated in the
test tube.
Ultrasound variables are:
1. Frequency of the Ultrasound
2. Intensity [Strength] of the Ultrasound energy {ie superficial versus deep
tissue penetration}
3. Duration of Treatment.
Kidney Stones are now broken up by Appropriate external energies
delivered to the area of the Stone. [ Percutaneous Litho-tripsy}
Perhaps this might be a starting point for further research
on biofilm disruption by Ultrasound energy or by appropriate applications
of Direct Current of specific strength and frequency
Do a PubMed Search to learn more about biofilms and Ultrasound treatment
in the Test tube.
Best,
Alan MacDonald, MD
August 3, 2013
Dr. MacDonald, what do you think about attacking biofilm with Rife Machines or Ondamed? Have you looked into this?
Thank you.
Gary Barrett
I have stage 3 borrelia and ACA now for many years – growing up in the Black Forest of Germany was my first exposure….. I was well enough most of my life and then either a second exposure to borrelia here on the west coast, and or a constuctioin accident allowed it to go postal…. when my diagnosis (blood) confirmed it – I bought a rife machine – GB4000 which uses audio and the deeper radio frequencies… my first and second exposure to the radio frequencies put me into the emerg – first with Bell’s Palsey and then with pericarditis….. the same grinding heart pain I experiences as a child….. I admit that I was careless in my trials exposing myself for up to 7 minutes instead of the recommended three…. it was very clear to me that rife frequency treatment provoked a very powerful immune response…. but my question is – did I do it right? Was I breaking up biofilm and killing bugs or just shaking them up so they shed blebs or fragments seeded into my bloodstream? I am really interested in trying rife again but nervous….. Dr. Alan McDonald’s findings are very very interesting – I may give rife another go.
Dr. MacDonald, First, thank you for your relentless pursuit to publish the truth. I have late stage, chronic Lyme and also am interested in the same question Gary just asked you about using Rife Machines any insight into this? Also, it seems to me that light frequencies and colors are something that should be explored as it can and does penetrate into the body.
Thank you. Dayna
Thank you very interesting and informative. It was a very good question!
Shauna
Dr. MacDonald,
I would love direct visualization (maybe as many as possible) to better grasp the biofilm concept. Can you provide pictures or links to sites with in vivo and in vitro photos/videos of Bb biofilms? Why/how is it difficult to show Bb biofilms in vivo?
thank you; please excuse my ignorance if the answers are readily available!
Go to Costerton’s website to view biofilm videos.
Dr MacDonald,
I have been intrested in your work since I found out over a year ago I have Lyme. I am a 37yr old pharmacist. I told my husband thats the person I need to talk with. I have believed from day one Chronic Lyme can not be “cured” with Antibiotics alone! We need to find a way to attack the biofilm. My history with this illness is long and complex as most are. However, it is believed I went over 30 years living with Lyme not knowing what it was. I thought getting a diagnosis would help make me better. I was very naive about Lyme back then. I would love to find a way to be involved in a study testing ultrasound or any other type of therapy! If you are aware of any please email me at kaatownsend@yahoo.com. If you have anyone you know intrested in a patient who was infected around 1980 in MA and lived until Aug 2012 not knowing please feel free to give them my email. I had multiple antibiotic treatments over the years for conditions i associate with lyme that I believe kept it at bay. I belive my history and experince could help. Thanks,
Kim
Dear Dr. MacDonald,
Thank you for this info on how difficult it is to publish these results. I am a scientist myself and it is clear that your field is under a ridiculously large scrutiny when it comes to having ones results accepted for publication. Like Kim above, I have also suffered from Lyme infection since the early 1980. It was not until last spring that I realized that what I have is likely to be Lyme or similar. Through self diagnosis I had treated it as protozoan infection and using Rife and herbs; which probably kept me alive. I would be very interested in hearing what you think about the Rife, or the Coil machine (which may be better) and/or if the ultrasound technique has been developed to a stage where it would be accessible to us the common patients.
I have no hands on knowledge on Rife machines
For all
Please search PubMed National Library of Medicine
For published articles on Ultrasound and biofilms
Or
direct Current and Biofilms
neither of thes modalities seems to be a stand alone cure
but
In parallel with electromagnetic energy
Of appropriate
Frequency and power to penetrate human tissue to
Reach the sites of infection
aNTBIOTICS
May work more effectively
The details must be worked out with clinical trials
Alan MacDonald MD
aug 11 2013
Electromagnetic radiation induction into biological DNA is proven to cause single and double strand breaks, causes cellular apoptosis, calcium ion leakage, and cellular mutations. I’ve studied over 100,000 pages of data related to electromagnetic radiation exposures on biological cells. Machines like the Rife machine are medical quackery in it’s lowest form. Reject the notion that man-made electronic fields have any redeeming qualities whatsoever. DNA acts as a fractal antenna system. The human body is not a toy. Do the research.
Do you have lymes?
I agree with Lee Ann Marshall’s retort to your posting. Do YOU have Lyme ?
I was infected at age 18 in 1978. 30 yrs undiagnosed. Incurably ill now at age 58. Bedridden with no hope.
Lyme sufferers are SO desperate for help and relief they will try anything that may help. For some Rife machines seem to have helped.
Forgot to mention that it also often causes total heat intolerance, massive sweating, and falling of blood platelets. Please, docs, don’t continue to list these things on death reports as mysterious blood disorders, cancers, lung diseases, etc.
The base cause of these things is Lyme and its a slow-killing, painful torturous disease even before patients have to deal with the mockery and ridicule and the “need to get drive this patient out of my office quick”attitude by physicians.
Doctors who dare speak out on it to defend Lyme patients are the leading experts in the fields of medicine. It’s a pity that such doctors are so discriminated against and always will be, just as many of the world’s most famous scientists are, and have always been.
Well said!
Oh, don’t see the 1st message I posted. I tested positive twice on Cdn Elisa tests for burgdorferi, Afzellii, and Garinnii. I then tested positive only once on the Western blot for Afzellii (igG only). I then received 2 weeks of Doxycycline and tested positive again on IgG only at IGENEX, yet no one will admit I have Lyme despite breast cancer, (no BCA1 or BCA2 genes) severe and advanced disk generation, muscles that easily tear, (although that could be from too much gadolinium possibly for the regularly needed MRIs as the pituitary tumour continues to grow for years on end) ear pain, eye problems, falling blood platelets, petechia, sore liver, sore kidneys, swollen underarms year round, scarred lungs for no reason, multiple skin changes, often serious loss of cognition (at least at some point during its course) and more.
Many people with Lyme coinfections also have damaged P53 genes which prevent apoptosis (prevent cancer shrinkage). I understand that while the Chinese are working with gene therapy in this regard, Canadians are not yet into this.
Lyme is an extremely deadly disease — not a mere disease caused by psychological problems as less educated doctors have tried to promote. Many Lyme victims suffer so badly they will eventually end up being permanently disabled and this costs the system tremendous amounts of money.
Lyme needs to be taken seriously by the medical community who still, for the most part, has extremely archaic attitudes toward an often deadly and severely painful and disabling disease. This is an ÏNFECTIOUS” disease folks. Do you know what that means?
“Lyme is an extremely deadly disease — not a mere disease caused by psychological problems as less educated doctors have tried to promote. Many Lyme victims suffer so badly they will eventually end up being permanently disabled and this costs the system tremendous amounts of money.”
It is a complexe disease, sometimes different diseases. The psychological problems are caused by the overreaction of the immune system and the pathogen invasion of the brain tissue, Borrelia can enter in the brain tissue, causing damages and destruction of brain cells….it can cause MS, Alzhaimer, diminished cognitive complex, Borrelia can invade the skin, heart, eyes, joints causing related diseases, generalised inflammation and tissue destruction, the destruction is caused by the bacteria and the hyperactive immune system, trying to kill Borrelia. The problem is that Borrelia can evade the immune response and can hide in distant places where the immune response is not possible or not efficient enough. Borrelia can up or down regulate genes, thus outsmarting the inner immune response. If caught early it can be cured with Penicillin. But even Advanced borrelia can be cured with the right abx mix, high-dose vitamin C and iodine.
New Lecture MacDonald ( IV) – What did the blood Test Show?
What did the Blood test Show? looking for Lyme borreliosis in all of its forms IN THE BLOOD.
Pitfalls and Problems with Newer Information.
A New video for patients and for physicians.
Alan B. MacDonald, MD, fCAP fASCP
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ojq_2-HlNg
August 31 , 2012
See also on You tube : Lectures MacDonald on Newer and Neglected topics in
Lyme borrelisois: Search terms on Youtube “lyme MacDonald”
There are many individuals who suffer from psychiatric symptoms locked in wards due to under treated conditions or not treated at all!
Sorry to say my son suffers from the borrelia infection late stage chronic condition
he hospitalized in a locked ward in Jan 2010 with psychosis diagnosed as schizophrenia
no medical work-ups were done other than medical clearance for admission (wt matter frontal lobe)
that did not make a difference
…my persistence lead to western blot testing positive in April
infectious disease specialist in…Mass
discontinued the IV after 6 weeks and started orals for 2 years
he has relapsed after getting a tetanus shot this March…anorexia?? don’t know….
explosive anger is a condition, psychosis, OCD,
akathisia is so bad it is unbearable to see him suffer
like this…
for all those who can afford the self pay treatments you are fortunate….. and for those of us waiting for the local professions to seek the advise of professions who can make a difference
we pray and hope for a change to allow for
CURABLE TREATMENTS FOR ALL
prayers are needed so someone can present a treatment protocol
he is refusing treatment of antipsychotics
My son had the same problem. We thought he was bipolar. He had great depression and major rage attacks. He spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Now back at home with rife treatment, the rage is gone. Rife works!
Please immediately check out website doctoryourself (dot) com. Many REAL doctors used high dose Niacin and Ascorbic Acid (Vit C) therapy for schizo symptoms.. I got ill after a tetanus vac in 1996 & was DX with fibromyalgia. Didn’t know it was Lyme until 2005 with Bowen Lab micro test. Anyway I just recently discovered mega-dose vitamin therapy via Andrew Saul (via Mercola site). I swear most MD’s know less than ‘we the people’ do – except for emergencies and ‘needed’ surgeries. Follow the advice of Dr. Hoffer, MD protocol on doc yourself site. I just started the mega C protocol today by taking 2500 mg per hour. I’m already up to 25,000 mg today & still haven’t hit bowel tolerance.
Dr. McDonald,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your life-saving work! I was recently diagnosed but have been suffering for a long time. Do you happen to know if anyone as looked into whether oscillating vibration plate machines might help in the eradication of spirochetes?
Dr. MacDonald,
We at Livionex have developed a methodology that works very well at breaking up biofilms very rapidly. We have just started marketing a dental gel that is extremely effective at breaking up and dissipating the biofilm that iis “dental plaque.” It is quite possible that our methodology could work to dissipate the biofilm that you observe. I would be glad to talk to you about our methodology. The methodology is non specific to the bacteria that make up the biofilm.
I congratulate you on your persistence and on your unique insight into Lyme Disease
I would be very interested in knowing your methodology for breaking up the biofilm. My daughter may have Lymes. She is going to Mayo for a diagnosis in January, 2014. We don’t want to waste money on a treatment that won’t work.
Wilma Carlson
Mayo clinic is not a great place to start. They’re playing catch up right now with known LLMD’s.
I concur about mayo clinic – waste of time and money if your looking for lyme as the cause. They will run every test known to man so I guess you’ll be able to rule out everything else until they tell you it’s all in your head!
Dr. MacDonald – thank you for your relentless pursuit of an answer for Lyme disease and its involvement in a cyst and neurologic form. Do you currently work with a team of people that will continue your work well into the future? If there are those of us who wish to donate our brains after we pass so this team can continue to study chronic Lyme and its effects on the nervous system and brain, how can we arrange that? I’d like to do what I can to help science move forward in this area since clearly it takes decades to make progress. I have many neurologic symptoms, including phrenic nerve paralysis, so my Lyme disease has had devastating effects. More of us need to volunteer to submit tissue so those that are experts can study the effects that this horrific disease has on our bodies.
Thank you,
Katalin
I am using a laser device with multi radiance technology and targeting embedded biofilms in vascular areas causing CCSVI.
So far so good. It’s helping but its slow because the laser treatment is so powerful. Only respond to treating these veins and not anywhere else on the body do I feel a herx like reaction.
Trial and error and lymphatic laser treatments led me to try this as well as research by Dr M and those he sites above.
Where can one get this technology is there a protocol for this? What is your opinion on rife breaking up biofilms. How can you tell if this procedure is breaking down biofilms. What else could break them up. I would greatly appreciate any information. I research this disease night and day I passed lyme to my 4 children and I am desperate to break down biofilms. Also how do you know if you have ccsv1. Many thanks Sat
Check out the Bob Beck protocol and Sota instruments. My 8 yr old son got lyme at 22 months. Went undiagnosed unil recently. We are doing this protocol. Met a man abd his son who got better using it after getting no where, except sicker with antibiotics.
Have you heard of using acupuncture and Chinese herbs for breaking the biofilms? That is what my doctor is recommending. Is this a real treatment option or a waste of time and money?
Hello Dr. Macdonald,
I am confused by the last few minutes of the film Under Our Skin saying you have lost your memory of your research ? Is this so ? Praying it is not.
My father had Lyme disease with the bullseye .. a couple years later diagnosed with ALS… 6 year battle lost. I studied everything I could find. I am wondering if some of the off beat treatments people were using years ago really helped break up the biofilm ? Hyperbaric Chamber was one… if someone experienced a Herx reaction to a HB chamber… that would explain a bit , no ?
Best to you,
Thank you for all you are doing.
Dena: The sequel to Under Our Skin tells more about Dr. MacDonald’s story.
Well depending on how deep the ultrasound can enter the body there is an idea I had. I have heard Apharsesis being used for Lyme disease patients in Germany, it’s a device where the blood is filtered and parts of the blood are let back into the body.
If one could combine the apharesis device with the blood being first filtered by the apharesis sponge, then being treated by ultrasound outside of the body and somehow treated so that the borrelia dies, is filtered again and let back into the body.
I am not an expert and I am just thinking about possibilities to do this to help patients. Maybe this creates a sort of “osmotic” effect to “soak” out bacteria from the tissues into the blood. Maybe something like this would not be able to eliminate the bacterial infection altogether, but probably decrease the bacterial load and improve the quality of life of the patient and it might be easier to step in with additional treatments like antibiotics and natural antibiotics and biofilm busters.
My mother is 86yrs old and has been suffering with Lyme disease for past year. The Lyme symptoms seemed to have started a couple days after undergoing a procedure called CARDIOVERSION.this procedure used 120 volts of electricity to correct her irregular heartbeat or “a fib”. Many persons in above blogs have take about rife and ulta sound and electro magnetic fields to bust Lyme bio films. Could 1120volts of electricity to chest break down bio films????
Prior to cardio version she had irregular heartbeat , joint stiffness,and fatigue. These systems were mostly attributed to heart disease , but maybe she also had Lyme disease when she went in
There have been cases where surgical procedures seem to have reawakened a Lyme disease infection that had been dormant in the body. We recommend your mother be evaluated by a Lyme-literate physician.
This is what happened to me. Stared out with a MRSA abscess in the right armpit engulfing the lymph node. After my surgery all heck broke loose. 6 trips to Mayo. 1 1/2 of physical therapy before getting the western blot to confirm my chronic lyme disease. My lyme Dr in Indiana has me taking a ton of Meds and vitamins. Have done 17 vitamin c/ glutithione IVs. No progress. Tried this new ozone therapy last week and it made me so sick. I do not think I will try that again. Not sure about that process of taking blood out of body and adding O3 and hydrogen peroxide then putting it back into your vein. Just found this site. Good info here. Sorry for short sentences as I am using my phone to type.
Laurel,
What you’ve been diagnosed with are classic look-alikes to chronic Lyme’s. Have your doctor order the very reliable IgeneX Lyme’s test. Perhaps the IV antibiotic treatment would help your symptoms.
I remember reading about one of the bloggers having hundreds of bumps on skin after breaking down bio films. I was wondering what films looked like. My mother is having round rough bumps appearing? Is typical of Lyme die loft?
Thank you. Llora
I just watched “Under My Skin” and saw Dr. McDonald’s breakthrough on Lyme disease biofilms. Now it’s 2015 and no progress has been made to help the many sufferers of Chronic Lyme Disease? I was so angry to see many of the “REAL” doctors that were curing people with Lyme had their licenses revoked and their lives ruined by the State Medical Boards. I don’t have Lyme but I have had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia for 18 years – there’s no medical help for my suffering either. I cried after watching this documentary because doctors are influenced by Big Pharma and so many people are suffering for no good reason other than doctors GREED!
I first read about biofilms in a newsletter from http://twofrogshealingcenter.com/. It talked about lumbrokinase being used to destroy the biofilm. I must warn that for me, it made me temporarily sicker and my doc had me to work my way up starting from one pill a week. Use with caution.
I just want to add to the conversation re busting biofilms. Several years ago while using a Doug Coil ‘rife’ machine,, I used a bartonella frequency on my abdomen for 2-3 minutes and got the biggest herx of my life and almost sent me to the ER. I had a fever of 102, chills, boring abdominal pain and ileus — my gut stopped moving. Needless to say, I don’t think that’s a sustainable way to get at the biofilm. I got myself better using castor oils packs on the abdomen, and time. It would have been hard to describe to the ER doc what had just happened!
Essential Oil – only pure, Bergamont will cut through biofilms.
So where does one go to find a competent dermatologist (if that is even the right person to go to) to remove the skin tags and get them analyzed? ?I have noticed multiple skin growths and lumpy patches, and often wondered if they were related to Lyme- if they are harboring Lyme in my body? Of course, I only get the BLANK stare from the doctors, and then later upon reviewing my medical records read the derogatory comments…It seems to me though, that if the skin growths are hiding biofilm forms of Lyme, removing them would help clear Lyme from ones body.