/ Spirochetes / Lyme

[Guest guest]

Hi

Yes I agree with everything you've said.

Once you go searching for possible causes for Cfs through the net or

other resources you find many illnesses

with similar symptoms to Cfs most of which include fatigue, muscle

aches etc, etc.

I think your probably right that there are different causes in

different people, but

there is a possibility that it is one illness with variations. If

this was the case

there would probably be some patients with different illnesses

thrown in the pot as well.

>There are many instances of multiple family members being afflicted

with

Lyme, but that doesn't mean they caught it from each other.

Thats interesting.

Have you read Dr Glass's paper about Cfs animal ownership. 97% of

Cfs patients

have animals compared with 57% in the general population. He

believes that the

illness is passed to people via their pets.

Perhaps there is a vector involved. I was bitten by a tick( amoung

other things)

here in NZ around the time I first became ill and remember a

strange rash from

the bite. I used to help my dad mild the cows and at certain times

of the

season the ticks udders were covered in ticks. Sometimes we would

have to

scrape them off to put the milking machines on. According to

authorities in New Zealand we dont

have lyme disease here, but ticks can harbour all sorts of nasty

bugs and probably

unknown ones.

There is a new test for lyme done by BBI labs. They have several

lyme tests but the

new one tests for antigens that do not change. This means it is far

more accurate

than the old tests. They claim it doesnt give false positives

for people who have been vacinated and that it tests positive for

all known types

of Borrellia B. If this test turns out to be as good as they claim

it may solve alot of

problems for Cfs patients who really have lyme, but dont test +ve

with the old unreliable

tests.

There is another illness called Mastocytosis which I found fitted

many Cfs symptoms but

not all of course. I still feel there is a similarity in whats going

on with this illness and Cfs.

There may also be cfs patients who do in fact have undiagnosed

Mastocytosis.

I will post on it later . I have read of a couple of people on

another list who have in fact

been diagnosed with it .

Thanks for your input.

Cheryl

Cheryl wrote:

<<Possibly A Vector Borne Spirochete

Cfs does not seem to pass from person to person easily. This does

not

rule out a contageous disease though. Lyme disease is caused a

spirochete bacteria which is passed by tick bites

from certain types of ticks it is not caught casually. It is also

not

likely to be passed from person to person even from mother to baby

is

rare

though does happen.

There are many instances of multiple family members being afflicted

with

Lyme, but that doesn't mean they caught it from each other.

However,

some points to keep in mind, are that Lyme is pathetically

underfunded

and researched just like CFS, and since the diagnostics for Lyme are

shody, who knows how these people arrived at the conclusion that

they

all have lyme. Also, co-infections are sid to be often present with

lyme (none well researched) so maybe they're more contagious.

There's

also the Vector issue. First it was only one or two ticks that

could

pass lyme. Now others say more species can pass it. So, what about

mosquitos and fleas?

Rumor has it that Igenex labs has found viable spirochetes in

semen

of infected person(s).

<<< I wouldnt be surprised to see cfs turn out to be a new

spirochete

bacterium..... This possibility really needs to be researched but no

one

seems to be doing it.

Cheryl

I wouldn't be surprised if some turned out to be caused by a " new "

spirochete and have no doubt that a lot of CFS cases involve (are

basically caused by) Lyme. We heard from a biology researcher who

studies lyme here in N. California, that there is a very common

other

spirochete in ticks here who's pathogenesis to humans is unknown. I

know I saw something about a spirochete being involved with M.S.,

but

can't remember where.

I'm now of the multi-causal school of ME/CFS. I also think that

it

is likely that biological terrain and genetics is important. The

schools of " the germ theory " and " the biological terrain theory "

are, I

think inseparable. To think that either one is gospel is

wrongheaded.

Obviously germs can cause disease. Obviously only in susceptible

people. But all people can't be immune or susceptible. I tend to

think

that Lyme is a very " hard to beat " organism, whereas maybe Q-fever

is

easier for a lot of people to beat into submission and keep there.

Anyway, a long way of saying I basically agree with you, but think

that

other factors, and other germs are likely important.

E.

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