The letter below is a follow-up to the first inquiry sent on Dec 4th posted as an update here:
PETITION UPDATE
Public Comment at the last TBDWG Meeting of 2018
https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/23713966
Today's letter:
--------- Original Message ----------
From: Carl Tuttle <runagain@comcast.net>
To: Brett.Giroir@hhs.gov, Alex.Azar@HHS.GOV, tickbornedisease@hhs.gov
Cc: (64 undisclosed recipients)
Date: December 6, 2018 at 8:02 AM
Subject: Re: CDC Track Record for Lyme Disease
Dec 6, 2028
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Attn: ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health
Dear Dr. Giroir,
Let me remind you that as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services you have responsibility for investigating claims of wrongdoing within agencies under the direct control and supervision of HHS.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has colluded with Dr. Gary Wormser of New York Medical College in downplaying the severity of a disease that is destroying lives, ending careers while leaving the patient in financial ruin by focusing on the acute stage of disease after early treatment and this was accomplished using taxpayer dollars.
The CDC did not act on evidence of persistent infection after aggressive antibiotic treatment which indicated that we were dealing with an antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug. Bacterial culture as you know is the gold standard for identifying active/chronic infection.
Evidence suggests that the motivation behind these actions to downplay the severity of Lyme while suppressing laboratory evidence of chronic Lyme point to the development of vaccines as outlined in the two emails below after a recent article in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society was published promoting the propaganda.
Not acting immediately on the evidence that we have an antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug has produced an incurable runaway plague where the patient is left to fend for themselves.
I await your response to these serious allegations and as you can see I have carbon copied the Tick Borne Disease Working Group and legislators involved in legislation surrounding Lyme disease as these individuals recognize the failure of the CDC and are listening to public outcry.
For example: Quote from Senator Richard Blumenthal in 2011
"Today for me culminates more than a decade of work and probably a decade more, because I've seen firsthand the devastating, absolutely unacceptable damage done by Lyme disease to individual human beings, Connecticut children and residents whose lives have been changed forever as a result of Lyme disease”
Source: http://ctmirror.org/2011/07/18/blumenthal-takes-lyme-disease-fight-senate/
-Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH
1. Letter to Dr. Stanley Plotkin:
--------- Original Message ----------
From: Carl Tuttle <runagain@comcast.net>
To: stanley.plotkin@vaxconsult.com
Cc: chris.smith@mail.house.gov, collin.peterson@mail.house.gov, ddutko@hanszenlaporte.com, evpdean@upenn.edu, zaoutis@email.chop.edu, JPIDS.EditorialOffice@oup.com
Date: September 19, 2018 at 9:48 AM
Subject: Lemons and Lyme by Stanley A. Plotkin
Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
P L O T K I N C O L U M N
Lemons and Lyme
13 September 2018
Stanley A. Plotkin
Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Doylestown
Excerpt:
“It is odd that there is a lobby against the development and deployment of a vaccine against the disease by people who think they are suffering from Lyme infection in a chronic form, the existence of which remains doubtful. They believe that the first vaccine against Lyme disease caused chronic arthritis.”
Sept 19, 2018
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
3400 Civic Center Boulevard
Building 421, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Dr. Plotkin,
“It is odd” that the two principal investigators of the previous Lyme vaccines, Allen Steere for SmithKlineBeecham's LymeRix and Gary Wormser for Connaught's vaccine (which never made it to market) have been named in a racketeering lawsuit. (See attached court document)
It is believed that Lyme disease was pigeonholed into its current status by the two principal investigators of the previous Lyme disease vaccines as these investigators conceptualized a disease that would enable vaccine development.
A preventive vaccine for Lyme disease would not satisfy the FDA if a chronic persistent infection and seronegative disease exist. The lead author of the one-size-fits-all IDSA Lyme treatment guideline (which matches the conceptualized disease) was the principal investigator of Connaught's Lyme vaccine, Dr. Gary Wormser. This is a flagrant conflict of interest. Have we been dealing with an antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug purposely concealed to promote vaccine development?
Forty one years ago Allen Steere knew that antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease were not working:
Lyme arthritis: an epidemic of oligoarticular arthritis in children and adults in three connecticut communities. (1977)
Steere AC, Malawista SE, Snydman DR, Shope RE, Andiman WA, Ross MR, Steele FM.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/836338
Excerpt:
“The best treatment for this illness is not clear. Some physicians have reported that penicillin or tetracycline results in disappearance of the skin lesion (41,42), but others find antibiotics ineffective. Four of the patients with expanding skin lesions received penicillin but still developed arthritis.”
_______________________
A PubMed.gov search will find hundreds of papers reporting persistent Borrelia infection.
I would like to point out the following 1995 case study from Stony Brook Lyme clinic. I understand the patient received thirteen spinal taps, multiple courses of IV and oral meds, and relapsed after each one, proven by CSF antigens and/or PCR. The only way this patient (said to be a physician) remained in remission was to keep her on open ended clarithromycin- was on it for 22 months by the time of publication.
Seronegative Chronic Relapsing Neuroborreliosis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7796837
Lawrence C.a · Lipton R.B.b · Lowy F.D.c · Coyle P.K.d
aDepartment of Medicine, Department of Neurology, and Division of Infectious Diseases, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Department of Neurology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, NY., USA
Eur Neurol 1995; 35:113–117 (DOI:10.1159/000117104)
Abstract
We report an unusual patient with evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection who experienced repeated neurologic relapses despite aggressive antibiotic therapy. Each course of therapy was associated with a Jarisch-Herxheimer-like reaction. Although the patient never had detectable free antibodies to B. burgdorferi in serum or spinal fluid, the CSF was positive on multiple occasions for complexed anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies, B. burgdorferi nucleic acids and free antigen.
________________________
The following pilot study recently identified chronic Lyme disease in twelve patients from Canada. All of these patients were culture positive for infection (genital secretions, skin and blood) even after multiple years on antibiotics so there was no relief from current antimicrobials. Some of these patients had taken as many as eleven different types of antibiotics.
Persistent Borrelia Infection in Patients with Ongoing Symptoms of Lyme Disease
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/6/2/33
Dr. Plotkin, your commentary published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society is little more than perpetuation of a thirty year racketeering scheme to suppress evidence of persistent infection for the purpose of vaccine development. An astute fifth grader with access to PubMed could uncover this blatantly obvious charade.
Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH
Attachment: Lyme Disease RICO Lawsuit Court Document
Cc: Theoklis Zaoutis, MD, MSCE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Julie Weber-Roark MANAGING EDITOR
Attorney Daniel Dutko of Hanszen Laporte
The Honorable Chris Smith and Collin Peterson
2. Letter to the editor of the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society:
--------- Original Message ----------
From: Carl Tuttle <runagain@comcast.net>
To: zaoutis@email.chop.edu
Cc: stanley.plotkin@vaxconsult.com, chris.smith@mail.house.gov, collin.peterson@mail.house.gov, ddutko@hanszenlaporte.com, evpdean@upenn.edu, JPIDS.EditorialOffice@oup.com, paul.spearman@cchmc.org
Date: September 22, 2018 at 8:32 AM
Subject: Fwd: Lemons and Lyme by Stanley A. Plotkin
Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
13 September 2018 P L O T K I N C O L U M N
Lemons and Lyme
https://academic.oup.com/jpids/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jpids/piy083/5094865?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Stanley A. Plotkin
Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, Doylestown
Excerpt:
“It is odd that there is a lobby against the development and deployment of a vaccine against the disease by people who think they are suffering from Lyme infection in a chronic form, the existence of which remains doubtful. They believe that the first vaccine against Lyme disease caused chronic arthritis.”
Sept 22, 2018
The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society
Oxford University Press
2001 Evans Road
Cary, NC 27513
ATTN: Theoklis Zaoutis, MD, MSCE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Dear Dr. Zaoutis,
In reference to Dr. Plotkin’s statement above, please see the following excerpt from the attached REPORT ON LYMErix prepared for the 2001 Advisary Committee Meeting:
“The people who have contacted us were, prior to vaccination with LYMErix, healthy, active and energetic. Indeed, the very reason they sought the LYMErix vaccine was their desire to preserve their healthy, active lifestyle. However, what they experienced was a dramatic degradation of their health and quality of life. As will be described below, these previously healthy individuals are now afflicted with painful, at times debilitating arthritic symptoms, including joint pain and swelling, as well as extremely severe Lyme-disease-like symptoms which have persisted to this day.”
Below is the link to the Final Judgement and Approval of the class action against SmithKline Beecham as a settlement was awarded to these individuals.
JUDGEMENT, FINAL ORDER AND DECREE GRANTING FINAL APPROVAL OF THE CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT:
In addition please see the following study reporting adverse neurological complications:
Int J Risk Saf Med. 2011;23(2):89-96. doi: 10.3233/JRS-2011-0527.
Neurological complications of vaccination with outer surface protein A (OspA).
Marks DH1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21673416
Abstract
A wide range of neurological complications have been reported via the medical literature and the VAERS system after vaccination with recombinant outer surface protein A (OspA) of Borrelia. To explore this issue, 24 patients reporting neurological adverse events (AE) after vaccination with Lymerix, out of a group of 94 patients reporting adverse events after Lymerix vaccination, were examined for causation. Five reports of cerebral ischemia, two transient Ischemic attacks, five demyelinating events, two optic neuritis, two reports of transverse myelitis, and one non-specific demyelinating condition are evaluated in this paper. Caution is raised on not actively looking for neurologic AE, and for not considering causation when the incidence rate is too low to raise a calculable difference to natural occurence.
_________________________________
Dr. Zaoutis, to my knowledge there was no follow-up research to determine why this class of patient suffered the reaction they experienced. Is there a genetic predisposition that could give a similar reaction to the next OspA vaccine?
It would appear that Plotkin has used your journal as a pulpit to broadcast his propaganda. The peer-review process in this case was unsuccessful in determining suitability for publication.
Respectfully Submitted,
Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH
Cc: Julie Weber-Roark MANAGING EDITOR
Attorney Daniel Dutko of Hanszen Laporte
The Honorable Chris Smith and Collin Peterson
Paul Spearman, MD, FPIDS: President, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society