Good news just in for Lyme disease research! The Bay Area Lyme Foundation received a $6.5 Million grant from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. This amount is the largest private donation ever given to Lyme disease research. It equals 1/4 the amount of funding currently allotted to Lyme by the NIH. However, this grant will work towards chronic Lyme, whereas the NIH singularly studies the disease in its acute form. 100% of the gift will support Bay Area Lyme’s efforts towards improving diagnostic and treatment methods of Lyme disease through research and innovation. While this is an amazing gift, our battle is far from over with regard to the CDC. Dr. Beth Bell, CDC’s Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, has confirmed that the CDC will continue preferential treatment of outmoded IDSA Lyme guidelines (which deny the existence of chronic Lyme), despite citizen requests to utilize the up-to-date IOM, GRADE compliant, and NGC-approved ILADS guidelines. The IDSA guidelines do not pass these tests. While disconcerting, the most important fact to note here is that Dr. Bell is also a member of the IDSA. A conflict of interest could not be more clear. Read the press release here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cdc-refuses-to-end-preferential-treatment-of-idsa-lyme-guidelines-in-response-to-citizen-petition-300192998.html How do we look at these IDSA/CDC connections when there are endless accounts of those who have perished due to the cascade effects of the institutionalized implementation of these faulty, out-of-date IDSA guidelines? Where is the accountability? “On October 2, 2014, a Nashville jury held a pediatric clinic and local hospital accountable for the wrongful death of 22-month-old Ryder Laurent. Ryder died on June 10, 2009, as a result of complications from ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne illness.” If Ryder’s doctors had better knowledge or familiarity of tick-borne diseases, they would have saved this young boy’s life with an easy to administer and relatively inexpensive antibiotic. Read more: http://marketersmedia.com/nashville-jury-awards-5-million-in-death-from-tick-infection/65912 The Mayday Project, responsible for some powerful, aggressive Lyme patient advocacy of late, has created a separate petition to this end. Sign it here: https://www.change.org/p/centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-end-preferential-treatment-of-the-idsa-guidelines-for-lyme-disease-185cc150-e267-4a7d-955e-8e1ab959a37c In other news, Dr. Alan MacDonald (highlighted at the 2015 ILADS conference in October) continues to make strides in Alzheimer’s and Neuroborreliosis research. In his latest studies, Dr. MacDonald has found two strains of Lyme Borrelia (miyamotoi and burgdorferi) in each of 5 brain samples from the Harvard Brain Bank. Borrelia DNA was detected in all of the Alzheimer’s plaques, perfect spirochetes found in solid brain tissue, and granular bodies in dying nerve cells. Borrelia was discovered in 100 out of 100 samples from these 5 brains. His conclusion is that Borrelia causes Alzheimer's. He is currently crowdfunding for research dollars and has been posting research in updates here: https://www.gofundme.com/z3v2a2k As always, follow Lyme Stats for easy to understand, shareable Lyme facts and tidbits, each from verified sources: Web: http://www.lymestats.org Instagram: http://instagram.com/lymestats Twitter: http://twitter.com/lymestats Tumblr: http://lymestats.tumblr.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/lymestats Thank you again for signing this important petition. Continue to spread the word about it, get others to sign and share. Let your friends and family know how much this issue means to you. And send a note along to your Congress men/women. If you don’t know who represents you, find out here: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/take-action/know-your-representative With much love this holiday season, Alison and the Lyme Stats family XO