hacked by p@3t_b@y for turks

Contact: Duty Press Officer
press@sgm.ac.uk
Society for General Microbiology
Public release date: 24-Nov-2008

Bacteria that can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in humans. Research published in the December issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the bacteria.

Since the early 1990s, more than 20 species of Bartonella bacteria have been discovered. They are considered to be emerging zoonotic pathogens, because they can cause serious illness in humans worldwide from heart disease to infection of the spleen and nervous system.

“A new species called Bartonella rochalimae was recently discovered in a patient with an enlarged spleen who had travelled to South America,” said Professor Chao-Chin Chang from the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. “This event raised concern that it could be a newly emerged zoonotic pathogen. Therefore, we decided to investigate further to understand if rodents living close to human environment could carry this bacteria.”

Scientists have found that rodents carry several pathogenic species of Bartonella, such as B. elizabethae, which can cause endocarditis and B. grahamii, which was found to cause neuroretinitis in humans. Although scientists are unsure about the main route of transmission, these infections are most likely to be spread by fleas. Ctenophthalmus nobilis, a flea that lives on bank voles, was shown to transmit different species of Bartonella bacteria. These pathogens have also been found in fleas that live on gerbils, cotton rats and brown rats.

“We analysed bacteria found in Rattus norvegicus in Taiwan. The brown rat is also the most common rat in Europe,” said Professor Chang. “By analysing the DNA of the bacteria, we discovered a strain that is most closely related to B. rochalimae, which has been isolated recently from a human infection in the United States”.

The researchers took samples from 58 rodents, including 53 brown rats, 2 mice (Mus musculus) and 3 black rats (Rattus rattus). 6 of the rodents were found to be carrying Bartonella bacteria; 5 of these were brown rats. Four of the rodents were carrying B. elizabethae, which can cause heart disease in humans, and one of the black rats was found to be harbouring B. tribocorum. However, the scientists noticed one strain that had not been identified in rodents previously. The strain was finally shown to be close to B. rochalimae.

“Because of the small sample size used in this study, we cannot say for sure that the common brown rat is spreading B. rochalimae,” said Professor Chang. “However, several different Bartonella bacteria are surely transmitted by rodents. These results raise concerns about the existence of other reservoirs and vectors for this emerging infection. This certainly warrants further investigation.”

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/sfgm-sd2112108.php

By Kevin Naze - Green Bay Press-Gazette
22/11/08

Herd estimated at 1.5 million for today’s opener

Having the patience to wait out a whitetail in its own backyard is probably the surest way of filling a tag each fall.
But with low temperatures expected to be in the single digits in the north and in the teens in much of Northeastern Wisconsin this morning, the waiting game will be a cold one for those without a heated blind.

The nine-day gun deer season opens today, with the Department of Natural Resources estimating the pre-hunt fall herd at 1.5 million to 1.7 million in Wisconsin.

Depending on last-minute license sales, it’s likely that close to 650,000 blaze orange-clad hunters are afield throughout the state this morning.

Those in northern Wisconsin will be asked to donate adult deer heads as part of the state’s chronic wasting disease monitoring. The deadly deer disease, which does not affect humans, has not been found in wild deer outside of southwestern Wisconsin.

Samples from roadkills and early season hunts have already been taken in 18 northern counties, including Langlade, Oneida, Vilas, Forest and Florence. Many counties are close to meeting a 500-head quota.

Also today, a research team led by University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist Susan Paskewitz will conduct a hunt of its own.

At more than a dozen deer registration stations — including in Crivitz, Shawano, Shiocton and Sturgeon Bay — the scientists will be looking for deer ticks on the carcasses that are brought in as part of an effort to battle Lyme disease.

About 1,800 cases of the disease were reported last year, a substantial increase from earlier in the decade. Most troubling is that the bulk of the new cases are coming from areas that never had a Lyme disease problem before.

The state’s last deer tick survey was performed in 1994 and showed most of the ticks in the northwest part of the state. Paskewitz expects the results to look quite different this year.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081122/GPG0101/811220610/1978

JEFF CUMMINGS/METRO EDMONTON
November 21, 2008 05:06

It only appeared to be a cold at first during the Christmas holidays in 2004, but Ed Sperling’s symptoms later caused him to miss an entire year of school and doctors in Alberta were unable to properly treat him, say his parents.

The 19-year-old, who is now studying at the University of Alberta, was diagnosed with Lyme Disease, a rare bacterial infection that causes nervous system disorders if it’s not properly treated.

His parents believe he contracted the disease when he was 15 in California, where the family lived before moving back to Edmonton.

Sperling, however, was not diagnosed by doctors in Alberta because the criteria to diagnose patients with the disease are “unrealistically stringent” since the illness is not common here, said Sperling’s father, Felix.

Since Alberta doctors did not treat Sterling in time with antibiotics, he fell into a catatonic state, his parents said. They frantically sent a sample of his blood for a diagnosis to doctors in California.

“I would freeze, and I would have a total lack of appetite,” said Sperling who admitted to being told by people that he was faking his illness.

“I was totally disabled, so I couldn’t walk to school.”

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft, who represents the Sperlings in Edmonton-Riverview, called on the Tory government yesterday to work with the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation to begin a formal public review of Lyme disease in Alberta.

“I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who are not filling those critera (for a diagnosis) and they are getting very, very ill,” Felix said.

Taft introduced the family in session yesterday and introduced a private member’s statement about the disease.
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/local/article/144212

Public release date: 21-Nov-2008

Contact: Keith Mckeown
kmckeown@scripps.edu
858-784-8134
Scripps Research Institute

Findings may provide basis for new drug development

LA JOLLA, CA, November 20, 2008—Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have discovered the key chemical that signals Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, to become lethal. This finding opens up new avenues of exploration for the development of treatments for bacterial infections.

The study was published in the November 21 edition of the journal PLoS Pathogens.

The Scripps Research scientists identified bicarbonate, a chemical found in all body fluids and organs that plays a major role in maintaining pH balance in cells, as providing the signal for Bacillus anthracis to unleash virulence factors. Without the presence of the bicarbonate transporter in the bloodstream, the scientists found, the bacteria do not become virulent.

Scientists have known for some time that bicarbonate is implicated in many diseases, but controversy has existed about whether bicarbonate, carbon dioxide, or some combination of these two molecules are responsible for triggering bacterial pathogenesis. This study confirms, for the first time, that it is indeed bicarbonate, rather than carbon dioxide, that signals the gram-positive B. anthracis to become virulent. This finding also is significant because other pathogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus pyogenes, Escherichia coli, Borrelia burgdorferi, and Vibrio cholera have bicarbonate transport pathways similar to B. anthracis and thus are likely to have similar virulence triggering mechanisms.

Gram-positive bacteria are the major culprits driving the increase of community and hospital acquired bacterial infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 10 percent of all patients, or about 2 million people, contract hospital acquired infections each year. These bacteria are often resistant to multiple antibiotics, making the problem a growing public health concern and the need for new antibacterial treatment more urgent. Now, the bicarbonate transporter pathway may be investigated as a potential new target for drug intervention.

“How a bacterium recognizes signals in the host that trigger pathogenesis mechanisms, and the nature of the mechanisms necessary to develop pathogenesis, remain poorly understood,” said Scripps Research Associate Professor Marta Perego, Ph.D., who conducted the study with Scripps Research postdoctoral fellow Adam Wilson, Ph.D., and colleagues. “We have identified an essential component for the induction of virulence gene expression in response to host bicarbonate levels and have used this finding to learn more about the extracellular and intracellular signals controlling virulence.”

Theory Confirmed

Perego’s latest discovery builds on her lab’s expertise in the study of bacterial virulence signaling and in the regulatory networks responsible for pathogenicity in other gram-positive bacteria. Her interest in bicarbonate transport pathways as bacteria virulence signaling mechanisms grew out of an early observation that growth of B. anthracis in carbon dioxide and sodium bicarbonate strongly induced toxin production in the laboratory setting. The mechanism behind this observation, however, was never uncovered.

“It was observed that the best medium for toxin production was one that people believed mimicked conditions found in the blood of a human or animal host, where anthrax bacteria would find both carbon dioxide and bicarbonate. But we’ve never known which of these two molecules was the more important for bacterial pathogenesis, and whether this belief was correct,” Perego said. “Now, we know that it is bicarbonate and that the growth in the presence of bicarbonate really mimics the host growth conditions.”

In their current study, the Perego lab identified a previously unknown ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC-transporter)—which is identified by the gene number BAS2714-12—that was shown to be essential to transporting bicarbonate. As a group, ABC-transporters use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to transport various substrates across cellular membranes. In this case, when the genes that code for the BAS2714-12 ABC transporter were deleted, the rate of bicarbonate uptake inside the cell greatly decreased, induction of toxin gene expression did not occur, and virulence in an animal model of infection was abolished. Elimination of carbon dioxide production within the bacterial cell had no effect on toxin production, suggesting that CO2 activity is not essential to virulence factor induction and that bicarbonate, not CO2, is the signal essential for virulence induction.

“In light of these findings, investigation of bicarbonate regulation and transport should be of much greater significance to a large number of pathogenic organisms,” Perego said.
###

In addition to Perego and Wilson, the other authors of “The bicarbonate transporter is essential for Bacillus anthracis lethality” were Magali Soyer and James Hoch, Ph.D., head of the Division of Cellular Biology and Professor in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the Stein Beneficial Trust.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world’s largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations, at the forefront of basic biomedical science that seeks to comprehend the most fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally recognized for its discoveries in immunology, molecular and cellular biology, chemistry, neurosciences, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and infectious diseases, and synthetic vaccine development. Established in its current configuration in 1961, it employs approximately 3,000 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, scientific and other technicians, doctoral degree graduate students, and administrative and technical support personnel. Scripps Research is headquartered in La Jolla, California. It also includes Scripps Florida, whose researchers focus on basic biomedical science, drug discovery, and technology development. Scripps Florida is currently in the process of moving from temporary facilities to its permanent campus in Jupiter, Florida. Dedication ceremonies for the new campus will be held in February 2009.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-11/sri-srs112108.php

1: Med Hypotheses. 2008 Nov 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Cameron DJ.
First Medical Associates, 175 Main Street, Mt. Kisco, New York 10549, United States.

BACKGROUND:

Persistent Lyme Disease Symptoms (PLDS) have included fatigue, headaches, poor concentration and memory, lightheadedness, joint pain, and mood disturbances. Evidence-based guidelines committees disagree over the severity of PLDS. The 2004 International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) concluded that PLDS are severe. The 2006 Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) guidelines committee concluded that PLDS are nothing more than the “aches and pains of daily living” and an ad hoc International Lyme group concluded that PLDS are “symptoms common in persons who have never had Lyme disease.” HYPOTHESIS: Clinical trials validate the severity of persistent Lyme disease symptoms. EVALUATION OF THE HYPOTHESIS: There are 22 standardized instruments used to measure the severity of PLDS among the four published National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials (RCTs). VALIDATING THE HYPOTHESIS: All four NIH sponsored RCTs validate the severity of PLDS. PLDS are as severe as symptoms seen in other serious chronic illnesses, and result in a quality of life lower than for the general population as determined by 22 standardized measures of QOL, including fatigue, pain, role function, psychopathology, and cognition. None of the four RCTs support the IDSA hypothesis that PLDS are nothing more than “the aches and pains of daily living” nor the ad hoc International Lyme group conclusion that PLDS are “symptoms common in persons who have never had Lyme disease.” IMPLICATIONS OF THE HYPOTHESIS: If the QOL of life for these patients is as poor as for patients with other serious chronic diseases, their symptoms need to be addressed by their doctors. Studies differ as to the precise cause of PLDS, the most effective treatments, and whether a cure is possible. But the fact that there is disagreement is not a license for physicians to ignore or turn away patients complaining of PLDS, or to dismiss their symptoms as purely psychosomatic. For physicians, the goal or purpose of treating PLDS should be the same as their purpose in treating other chronic illnesses that result in a poor QOL: vigorous pursuit of a cure, and where a cure proves impossible, amelioration of patients’ symptoms and suffering. Even if this hypothesis fails to be apply to more than a fraction of the total Lyme disease population, this still represents a significant number of patients, and these findings could address a neglected aspect of caring for patients with Lyme disease.

PMID: 19013025 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19013025?dopt=AbstractPlus

Jennifer M Anderson , Daniel E Sonenshine  and Jesus G Valenzuela

BMC Genomics 2008, 9:552doi:10.1186/1471-2164-9-552
Published: 20 November 2008

Abstract (provisional)
Background

Ticks are obligate blood feeders. The midgut is the first major region of the body where blood and microbes ingested with the blood meal come in contact with the tick’s internal tissues. Little is known about protein expression in the digestive tract of ticks. In this study, for analysis of global gene expression during tick attachment and feeding, we generated and sequenced 1,679 random transcripts (ESTs) from cDNA libraries from the midguts of female ticks at varying stages of feeding.

Results

Sequence analysis of the 1,679 ESTs resulted in the identification of 835 distinct transcripts, from these, a total of 82 transcripts were identified as proteins putatively directly involved in blood meal digestion, including enzymes involved in oxidative stress reduction/antimicrobial activity/detoxification, peptidase inhibitors, protein digestion (cysteine-, aspartic-, serine-, and metallo- peptidases), cell, protein and lipid binding including mucins and iron/heme metabolism and transport. A lectin-like protein with a high match to lectins in other tick species, allergen-like proteins and surface antigens important in pathogen recognition and/or antimicrobial activity were also found. Furthermore, midguts collected from the 6-day-fed ticks expressed twice as many transcripts involved in bloodmeal processing as midguts from unfed/2-day-fed ticks.

Conclusion
This tissue-specific transcriptome analysis provides an opportunity to examine the global expression of transcripts in the tick midgut and to compare the gut response to host attachment versus blood feeding and digestion. In contrast to those in salivary glands of other Ixodid ticks, most proteins in the D. variabilis midgut cDNA library were intracellular. Of the total ESTs associated with a function, an unusually large number of transcripts were associated with peptidases, cell, lipid and protein binding, and oxidative stress or detoxification. Presumably, this is consistent with their role in intracellular processing of the blood meal and response to microbial infections. The presence of many proteins with similar functions is consistent with the hypothesis that gene duplication contributed to the successful adaptation of ticks to hematophagy. Furthermore, these transcripts may be useful to scientists investigating the role of the tick midgut in blood-meal digestion, antimicrobial activity or the transmission of tick-borne pathogens.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/552

News-Medical.Net
Published: Tuesday, 18-Nov-2008

It appears that for the first time human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), an emerging tick-borne infectious disease found in the U.S. and Europe, has been identified in China and apparently was transmitted from person to person, according to a study in the November 19 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

HGA was recognized in the United States in 1990 and in Europe in 1997, with the annual number of infections reported in the U.S. steadily increasing. Data suggests that infection rates in endemic areas are as high as 15 percent to 36 percent, implying that the diagnosis is often missed or that infection is mild or asymptomatic, according to background information in the article. “Because epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological information about HGA is limited, the disease is likely underrecognized and underreported worldwide,” the authors write.

Lijuan Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Institute of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC, Beijing, and colleagues conducted a study to determine the origin and transmission of the apparent first cases of HGA acquired in China, as well as the first finding of human-to-human transmission. A cluster of cases among health care workers and family members following exposure to a patient with disease symptoms consistent with HGA prompted the investigation. Subsequent questioning of the patient’s family revealed that she was bitten by a tick 12 days before onset of fever.

After exposure to the index patient (initial person with symptoms), whose fatal illness was characterized by fever and hemorrhage at a primary care hospital and regional tertiary care hospital’s isolation ward, secondary cases (health care workers and family members) with fever who were suspected of being exposed were tested for antibodies against the bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Potential sources of exposure were investigated.

In a regional hospital of Anhui Province, China, between November 9 and 17, 2006, a cluster of nine patients with fever and other symptoms were diagnosed with HGA. No patients had tick bites. All nine patients had contact with the index patient within 12 hours of her death from suspected fatal HGA while she experienced extensive hemorrhage and underwent endotracheal intubation (the placement of a flexible plastic tube into the trachea for the purpose of ventilating the lungs). The patients indicated they were unlikely to have used gloves or wash after contact with the index patient.

Among the 28 individuals who reported close contact (20 inches or less) with the index patient during the final 12 hours of her life, nine were infected. The index patient was exposed to 20 contacts for more than 2 hours, and nine were infected. All nine infected patients reported contact with blood and seven had contact with respiratory secretions. Those persons with skin exposure to blood or respiratory secretions, or those with pre-existing skin lesions or injuries followed by exposure to blood were significantly more likely to be infected.

“The most remarkable aspect of these cases was that transmission was very unlikely to be tick-borne, but was closely associated with blood or respiratory secretion exposure from an index patient who died of a [sudden and severe] illness with hemorrhage,” the authors write.

“Although it is likely that routine blood and body fluid precautions will protect against such future events, strict adherence to protective protocols is mandatory even if communicability is deemed unlikely. The lessons of this study remain relevant to the daily hospital and health care unit operations to prevent any additional [hospital] outbreaks of HGA. Moreover, as China advances into its future, it must also now become prepared to deal with the increasing threat that tick-borne rickettsial pathogens [parasitic bacteria that live in anthropods (as ticks and mites) and can cause disease if transmitted to human beings] have been already brought to the United States and Europe.”

Editorial: Nosocomial Transmission of Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis?

 Peter J. Krause, M.D., of the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., and Gary P. Wormser, M.D., of New York Medical College, Valhalla, N.Y., write that these findings provide a reminder regarding safety precautions against disease transmission.

“What is the significance of the investigation by Zhang et al? It may represent the first report of human-to-human transmission of A phagocytophilum and the first report of human HGA infection in China. This report certainly serves to reinforce the importance of adopting standard blood and body fluid precautions for all patients and especially for those with HGA; these precautions are the accepted standard of care in the United States. The report also should stimulate further investigation of the existence of A phagocytophilum in the region of China where this outbreak originated. In addition, it is essential to emphasize that fulfilling the case definition of HGA used for epidemiological surveillance in the United States does not provide diagnostic certainty, unless the diagnosis was established by the microbiological gold standard of culturing the microorganism. Therefore, the findings of the study by Zhang et al, while interesting and provocative, should be regarded as preliminary.”

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=43148

Licensing body’s criticism of MD will make others fearful to treat disease, he says

By Kathy Tomlinson - CBC News

Tuesday November 18th 2008

A physician sought out by patients for his particular approach to treating Lyme disease is speaking out about a College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. investigation into his views and practices with regard to the disease.

Documents from the investigation show the licensing body encouraged him to retire after calling him a “zealot” during a review that began in 2005.

“It was a very frightening experience for the last three years,” said Dr. Ernie Murakami. “I’ve helped a lot of people, saved their lives. I’ve taken a lot of people who are extremely ill and made them better, and yet they were investigating me.”

Lyme disease is caused by a bite from an infected tick. It is a bacterial infection that, without antibiotic treatment, can cause serious, chronic, multi-symptom illness.

Murakami used an intensive form of antibiotic treatment to cure the disease that was more long-term than the usual 30-day dose used by most practitioners.

He has been accused by some of his colleagues and those who track the disease of overestimating the incidence of Lyme disease in B.C. and possibly misdiagnosing patients as a result.

“I have to state that they [the College] found nothing wrong with my Lyme patients,” Murakami said.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. refused to comment on the case, citing confidentiality.

Murakami said he agreed to retire early in 2008 after months of scrutiny, because the pressure from the College was affecting his health.

200 patients sent abroad for treatment, doctor says

 Murakami’s retirement forced dozens of patients, some who had tested positive for Lyme disease in Canada and many who hadn’t, to turn to the U.S. to get the type of treatment Murakami offered, he said, because there was no B.C. doctor to take over his practice.

“I was consequently forced to send about 200 patients across the border to California and Washington, some to New York and some to Europe,” said Murakami.

In written testimonials, several of Murakami’s patients say they believe testing and treatment for Lyme disease in Canada is substandard.

“I feel sorry for those people [who have to go abroad], and I do whatever I can for them — to get them directed,” Murakami said. “I get choked up, and I want to continue, but I can’t. I have to face the consequences of being a pioneer in this field.”

Murakami is in his 70s and was a general practitioner in Hope, B.C., for decades. He holds a degree in bacteriology and taught at the University of British Columbia.

He said he became interested in Lyme disease several years ago after noticing many similarities with the symptoms and long-term effects of syphilis.

Dozens of letters from B.C. patients and doctors show Murakami built up a significant following by giving patients long-term antibiotic treatments not prescribed by most clinicians.

Many of his patients, he said, had been ill for a long time and had either not been diagnosed with Lyme or had tested positive but had insufficient treatment.

“There are two factions in the medical world,” said Murakami. “Some [doctors] believe only a very short term of treatment — 30 days — is all you need. … Yet there’s another group that feels many cases require longer periods of time. That’s what I believe, and I have evidence for that.”

Murakami lacked objectivity, review finds

 Minutes from a May 2005 meeting of the Medical Performance Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., which reviewed Murakami’s practice, referred to the doctor as a “zealot.”

“It was the opinion of the committee that Dr. Murakami lacked critical thinking and objectivity in his management and approach to Lyme disease. Dr. Murakami appeared to be a zealot,” the minutes said.

“Dr. Murakami told the committee that, if he could not find another organic diagnosis for patients presenting with what was, in his opinion, third-stage Lyme disease, then he offered them treatment for Lyme disease. The committee was very concerned with that.”

In spite of his detractors, Murakami said he firmly believes Lyme disease is endemic in B.C. He predicts time will prove him right but fears the College investigation into his practice has made other B.C. doctors more reluctant than ever to prescribe long-term antibiotics.

“It really worries me that the doctors are now going to say, ‘Nope, you’re not going to be treated. You don’t have Lyme disease. Goodbye.’ And it’s going to mean a lot of suffering,” he said.

Dr. Muhammed Morshed of the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said the scientific data compiled on Lyme disease province-wide simply does not support Murakami’s findings. He said he’s tested 10,000 ticks over 10 years, more than have been tested in any other province, and has consistently found less than one per cent carry the disease.

“Your facts have to be based on some sort of data,” said Morshed. “We have actually generated a huge amount of information on Lyme disease. Nothing suggests that the incidence is high in B.C.”

Murakami cited several treatment success stories, though, including a B.C. nurse who he said saw 30 doctors before she came to him. Before long-term antibiotic treatment, Murakami said, she was mentally and physically incapacitated and could not be left alone.

A few months afterward, he said, she was well enough to have her first baby.

“She was at my final retirement party, and this little girl — she is now three and a half — she said, ‘Thanks for saving my mother’s life,’” said Murakami.

“I’ve taken 21 people out of permanent wheelchairs,” he added.

Documents show the College investigation was sparked by the death of a 20-year-old woman in Kelowna General Hospital. The woman was not Murakami’s patient but her family doctor suspected she had Lyme disease and consulted with Murakami over the telephone.

Her doctor then referred her for antibiotic treatment. She had a severe allergic reaction. A nurse at the hospital then mistakenly gave her a dose of adrenaline, intravenously, which caused cardiac arrest.

“I had nothing to do with that,” said Murakami of the case. “My involvement was just saying that it was suspicious for Lyme disease. It was a nursing error.”

Patient ‘heartbroken’ by doctor’s retirement

Its just criminal that Dr. Murakami was forced into retirement,” said Sheri Souch, a formerly fit and healthy teacher from Kaledon, B.C., who is now paying $3,000 every two months for Lyme disease treatment prescribed in the U.S.

Souch said that prior to beginning treatment, she was bedridden, couldn’t think straight and had constant joint pain.

“I would go to my [B.C.] specialists and say, ‘Look, I think I might have Lyme disease.’ ‘Oh, no,’ they would say. ‘Nope.’ With some of them, I would get laughed out of the office.”

Souch said she turned to the U.S. after speaking with Murakami, who she said finally pinpointed what was wrong. She said her health has improved dramatically. She can look after her children again and hopes to return to work soon.

“I would be skeptical, too, but I’ve lived it,” she said. “Why on earth would I be paying out of pocket $3,000 every two months for something that is not working?”

Souch broke down in tears when talking about Murakami.

“I was so incredibly heartbroken that he couldn’t help me, because he was retiring,” she said tearfully. “I begged. I said, “Please, tell me somebody else who can help me.’ And he said ‘You have to go to the States’.”

Patients like Souch are no doubt very ill, Morshed said, but must have another ailment.

“They definitely do have some sickness, but … do those people have Lyme, or do they have something else we don’t know about yet?” asked Morshed.

“Antibiotics cure hundreds and hundreds of diseases with infectious causes.”

Morshed and Murakami agree on one thing: that Lyme disease will increase in Canada as climate change allows ticks to thrive during the winter months, a time when they usually die off.

“With the warming effect of the world, they are now active all the time, ” Murakami said.

Despite his forced retirement, Murakami said he will continue lecturing to doctor and patient groups. His hope now, he says, is to unite Canadian doctors to work together on Lyme disease for the sake of patients.

“Let’s get together,” he said. “We [doctors] have gotten together before for major diseases. Let’s do it again.”

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/17/bc-doctorretired.html 

NEW YORK, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ 

Last chance to buy tickets for Turn the Corner Foundation’s, http://www.turnthecorner.org, annual gala, a fundraiser to help fight Lyme disease. The big event, Unmask a Cure, will be held tonight, Thursday, November 13, 2008 at Gotham Hall in New York City. Celebrities and prominent physicians involved in research and clinical treatment of Lyme disease are expected to attend. Awards will presented to individuals who have been instrumental in the last year in raising awareness and fostering innovative treatment for people suffering from the Lyme and other complex tick-borne diseases.

This year’s event will include a performance by Emmy Award-winning comedy writer, Alan Zweibel. Unmask a Cure follows the release of Alan Zweibel’s fourth book, a collection of his short stories and essay, Clothing Optional. Zweibel’s daughter, Lindsay Zweibel, will be receiving a Courage Award at the event for her battle and perseverance against Lyme disease.

Turn the Corner will present the Vision of Hope Award to Andy Abrahams Wilson, Producer/Director of Under Our Skin, a film that investigates the shocking human, medical and political dimensions of Lyme disease, for his efforts to raise awareness for chronic Lyme disease. Leading Lyme-literate physician, Bernard D. Raxlen, MD will receive the Humanitarian Award for his dedication to treating patients with tick-borne diseases, including Lyme.

“TTC is doing important work for the Lyme community, and has been a great force behind Under Our Skin,” said Andy Abrahams Wilson “Thanks to our joint efforts, the mainstream medical establishment can no longer ignore or marginalize chronic Lyme disease and its sufferers.”

Lyme disease is quickly becoming a national epidemic that is growing at a faster rate than AIDS. It is a multi-system disease that mirrors many different illnesses, which makes it difficult to diagnosis. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and experts agree that since the criteria for diagnosing Lyme is not definite, the 24,000 reported cases is more likely ten times higher.

Funds raised from this year’s gala will support further outreach and awareness of the physical, emotional and social effects of Lyme disease. This includes the groundbreaking Physicians Training Program, run by Turn the Corner and the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, which provides medical practitioners the opportunity to study with a Lyme-literate health care professional to recognize and treat Lyme disease successfully.

To find out how you can become a sponsor of the gala, purchase tickets, or make a donation, please visit: http://www.turnthecorner.org/events_photo_unmask2008.htm.

Sponsors for the Third Annual Unmask a Cure include*: Damon Giglio Foundation, Open Eye Pictures, Citi Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), David & Cindy Reichen baum, Patrick & Christine Beach, Marquis Jet, Fransis R. May, Miller Tabak, Starker Family Foundation, Yoga Kids, New York Private Bank & Trust, New York Tick Control, Quadrum Capital. *List in formation

Turn the Corner

Turn the Corner Foundation (TTC) is a national, nonprofit organization founded by Westchester residents Staci & Rich Grodin in 2002 to fight Lyme disease. It seeks to foster knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and raise awareness in the general public. TTC addresses the medical, psychosocial, emotional, and educational concerns relating to Lyme and provides support to the medical community and individuals who are afflicted, so that they may have access to state-of-the-art procedures and treatments. http://www.turnthecorner.org/

UNDER OUR SKIN

UNDER OUR SKIN is a powerful and often terrifying look not only at the science and politics of the disease, but also the personal stories of those whose lives have been affected and nearly destroyed. From a few brave doctors who risk their medical licenses, to patients who once led active lives but now can barely walk, the film uncovers a hidden world that will astound viewers. While exposing a broken health care and medical research system, the film also gives voice to those who believe that instead of a crisis, Lyme is simply a “disease du jour,” over diagnosed and contributing to another crisis: the looming resistance of microbes and ineffectiveness of antibiotics. As suspenseful and hair-raising as any Hollywood thriller, UNDER OUR SKIN is sure to get under yours. http://www.underourskin.com/

http://www.examiner.com/p-261095~Turn_the_Corner_Honors_Andy_Abrahams_Wilson__Director_of_Under_Our_Skin__for_His_Dedication_in_the_Fight_Against_Lyme_Disease.html

devon.editorial@archant.co.uk
11 November 2008

EAST Devon MP Hugo Swire has raised awareness of Lyme disease in the House of Commons in a bid to highlight the condition.

Mr Swire championed the cause because of a constituent from Sidmouth who suffers from the disease.

The seminar entitled ‘Evidence for change’ was inspired by Mrs Stella Huyshe-Shires, who contracted the disease in 1999 but was not diagnosed until 2002 and then only because she insisted on a blood test and a referral to a neurologist.

Hugo Swire MP said: “Lyme disease is like an alien - the bacteria tries to take over your body. It is very serious and can make you permanently disabled. We need to be more aware of its dangers and more open to its diagnosis and more determined in its treatment.

“No vaccine against Lyme disease is currently available, so tick awareness, appropriate clothing in tick infested areas, and early removal of attached ticks remain the most important prevention measures.

“Patients say that the range of their symptoms is not recognised and that despite continuing symptoms some are denied antibiotic treatment beyond a 28 day course because of the use of these guidelines. This is clearly unacceptable.

“We need to raise awareness of this disease and clinicians need to better co-ordinate diagnosis and treatment as all were agreed that early treatment is vital.

“The United Kingdom should immediately develop its own guidelines rather than continue to rely on The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.”

Lyme borreliosis is an infection caused by spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, which is carried by some types of ticks which live on sheep, deer, badgers and other warmblooded animals in forested, heathland and moorland areas.

Infected ticks can transmit the organisms during blood feeds, when they may be attached to the skin for several days if left undisturbed.

The most common problem associated with the infection is a rash spreading from the site of a tick bite, but other more serious problems can occur. These include a viral-like meningitis, facial palsy, other nerve damage or arthritis.

http://www.exmouthherald.co.uk/exmouthherald/news/story.aspx?brand=EXJOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsexh&itemid=DEED11%20Nov%202008%2013%3A05%3A16%3A570