The Bartonella Plague Ignored: A Common Reason Lyme Treatment Fails

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The Bartonella Plague Ignored:

A Common Reason Lyme Treatment Fails

_http://www.publichealthalert.org/Articles/jamesschaller/The%20Bartonella%20Pl

ague%20Ignored.html_

(http://www.publichealthalert.org/Articles/jamesschaller/The%20Bartonella%20Plag\

ue%20Ignored.html)

In a previous article, Ignore Bartonella and Die, in the August 2007 issue

of the Public Health Alert, I introduced readers to the amazing and emerging

stealth bacteria, Bartonella, that has many species that infect humans and a

vast numbers of vectors-far more than Lyme spirochetes or Babesia protozoa or

Ehrlichia bacteria. In my upcoming book, The 16 ways Lyme Disease Treatment

Fails, this infection is one of the reasons for Lyme treatment failure. Please

understand that Bartonella is not one of the many listed infections which

are occasionally in deer ticks and which is of unclear risk. I feel this is a

blind spot that an oil tanker could float through, and which is both a very

routine and dangerous infection which causes fatigue, virtually every

psychiatric and neurological problem imaginable, and can silently hurt every

organ. It

is one reason I will dedicate 1-2 years to write a textbook on Bartonella

diagnosis, body damage and treatments.

First, the routine testing done at routine labs and even some specialty labs

misses this infection routinely. There are just so many species that some

labs are giving up looking for Bartonella at the species level, and are going to

try PCR at the larger genus level. It is amusing to read that 40-60% of USA

cats carry this infection, when this is based on junk lab testing. The

numbers are much higher in my opinion. In my first article we showed one new

patent

pending blood smear stain that captures many, but not all, Bartonella human

cases. If the numbers are low, it can be missed. Other cases of Bartonella

can be found by many other means, for example, by finding abnormally high

levels of VEGF in a mold-free environment. But remember VEGF can go down in the

presence of indoor mold (per US Patent 6528489 and other data) found in 30% of

USA structures and this can hide Bartonella because it secretes VEGF.

Second, it is important to realize that Bartonella is not rare. It is all

over the world and only those living in the polar ice caps are immune to the

risk of infection. I personally believe based on newer and more aggressive

testing that it is more common than Lyme disease. Many are falsely diagnosed

with

Babesia because they are tired and fatigued, and yet this is a highly common

symptom of Bartonella reported in vast numbers of studies. It is a major

contributing infection to chronic fatigue and Fibromyalgia symptom clusters.

Third, Bartonella causes about 20-30 problems with each body organ. And this

is merely what we know about, at this time, before a real mastery of this

organism exists. Why such damage? Perhaps because it is outside or inside Red

Blood Cells, but it also enters the lining of all blood vessels in all tissues

and when in this location, it can cause a wide range of destructive actions.

All tissues eventually have ultra tiny blood vessels called capillaries

which are so small Red Blood Cells have to sometimes squeeze through to get

oxygen to the deepest cells. It also causes nodules in many types of tissues

like

the liver, spleen and skin.

If you read some simplistic articles on Bartonella they treat it like a

cold, and falsely assume you need enlarged lymph nodes and a purple, blue or

red

blood vessel rash or flat rash, and a papule to have Bartonella or **Cat

Scratch Fever**. Of course Bartonella is most commonly found without these

things. Even the so called Bartonella rashes, caused by VEGF making and opening

capillaries, are usually listed as having 3-4 forms when we have found over 30

forms, including occasionally open sores with debris. But most people who have

any rashes miss them because it takes years to learn how to see them because

they often mix in with other common skin vascular findings.

Fourth, you should appreciate that it is unlikely you will ever be cured of

Lyme in the presence of Bartonella. Why? Bartonella is a massive immune

suppressing bacteria. It can float attached to Red Blood Cells in vast numbers

and

not even cause a cold or fever. Just imagine, bacteria are floating in your

blood and you might not have any fever at all! If you had Staph or Strep in

your blood at these levels you would likely be dead in 48 hours unless you were

pumped full of antibiotics in an ICU. So how is it this huge elephant floats

in vast numbers and causes no severe fever and no disastrous signs of deadly

sepsis-infected blood throughout the body with massive inflammation. It is

because it has ways of shutting down the immune system. It violates many rules

of bacteria behavior and this is one reason it has been so seriously missed

until recent years.

Here are some advanced specifics on the power of surface Bartonella

chemicals to turn off immunity and immune defense inflammation. In one article,

one

species on Bartonella had some of its chemicals released with human immune

fighting monocytes-no production of proinflammatory cytokines occurred.

Interestingly, this LPS Bartonella chemical is a potent antagonist of Toll-like

receptor 4 (TLR4), as it inhibited both RNA transcription and the release of

tumor

necrosis factor alpha, interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta), and IL-6 by another

common bacteria's LPS in human monocytes. These are some other tests worth

considering in Bartonella testing. This article concludes by saying that

Bartonella LPS is so powerful that it is being looked at as a treatment for

autoimmune

diseases. (Popa C, Abdollahi-Roodsaz S, Joosten LA, et al. Bartonella

quintana lipopolysaccharide is a natural antagonist of Toll-like receptor 4.

Infect Immun. 2007 Oct;75(10):4831-7).

In conclusion, make sure if you are being treated for **Lyme disease,** that

the other critical issues of treatment are not ignored such as: Bartonella,

Babesia, Lyme biotoxins, Bartonella suppressive endotoxins, mold biotoxins,

and Lyme biofilms are something that are not being ignored. In our highly

visual book, The 16 ways Lyme Disease Treatment Fails, out in 8 weeks, we will

discuss all of these and other reasons for treatment failure and suggest some

ways to kill Bartonella. Current traditional and progressive treatments are

very poor and given at doses that are too low for too short a time. It is one

reason for such large numbers of relapse in supposedly Bartonella **cured**

patients. Also, one usually needs to pulse a treatment with some days off each

month for reasons we will explain in future articles.

 

******

Dr. Schaller is the author of 23 books in five languages and 26

peer-reviewed journal publications in such places as the Journal of the

American Medical

Society, Medscape (WebMD's academic top Internet journal, the Journal of

Clinical Neurosciences, and top Pediatric journals around the world. He is a

full-time researcher who largely self-funds studies in over 10 areas of

medicine. He is the author of two successful books on mold toxins, the co-author

of a

third and is also a certified mold remediator and certified mold

investigator. He is also the author of the leading up-to-date books on Babesia,

Artemisia/Artemisinin and Suboxone for pain and addiction. He is the inventor of

a

functional blood cancer cure that is a standard worldwide, and has a patent

pending on a bio-identical, natural and powerful antidepressant. He treats

patients from all over the world with non-patient consults by phone or as

patients

after being seen once in person.