Today's letter to the corresponding author......

---------- Original Message ----------
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: tickbornedisease@hhs.gov, rt2249@cumc.columbia.edu, wil2001@columbia.edu
Cc: (97 Undisclosed recipients)
Date: April 9, 2020 at 11:19 AM
Subject: Identification of immunoreactive linear epitopes of Borrelia miyamotoi

Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases

Identification of immunoreactive linear epitopes of Borrelia miyamotoi
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877959X1930353X

Rafal Tokarz, Teresa Tagliafierro, Adrian Caciula, Nischay Mishra,b, Riddhi Thakkar, Lokendra V. Chauhan, Stephen Sameroff, Shannon Delaney, Gary P. Wormser, Adriana Marques, W. Ian Lipkin,

A B S T R A C T

Borrelia miyamotoi is an emerging tick-borne spirochete transmitted by ixodid ticks. Current serologic assays for B. miyamotoi are impacted by genetic similarities to other Borrelia and limited understanding of optimal antigenic targets. In this study, we employed the TBD-Serochip, a peptide array platform, to identify new linear targets for serologic detection of B. miyamotoi.

April 9, 2020

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health 
722 West 168th St.
NY, NY 10032
Attn: Rafal Tokarz, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology

Dear Prof Tokarz,

In reference to the detection of tick-borne disease, please take a moment if you will to review the following list of publications using direct detection methods for identifying ongoing spirochetal infection. I will summarize the purpose of this correspondence at the end of this list:

1. Seronegative Chronic Relapsing Neuroborreliosis.  (Stony Brook Lyme clinic)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7796837

"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."

2. Cardiac Tropism of Borrelia burgdorferi: An Autopsy Study of Sudden Cardiac Death Associated with Lyme Carditis. (March 2016)
http://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(16)00099-7/abstrac

“Fatal Lyme carditis caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi rarely is identified. Here, we describe the pathologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular findings of five case patients.”

3. CDC Case Study #2: A case report of a 17-year old male with fatal Lyme carditis
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1054880715000253

Borrelia burgdorferi was identified via special stains, immunohistochemistry, and polymerase chain reaction. The findings support B. burgdorferi as the causative agent for his fulminant carditis and that the patient suffered fatal Lyme carditis.

4. Granulomatous hepatitis associated with chronic Borrelia burgdorferi infection: a case report
http://www.labome.org/research/Granulomatous-hepatitis-associated-with-chronic-Borrelia-burgdorferi-infection-a-case-report.html

The patient had active, systemic Borrelia burgdorferi infection and consequent Lyme hepatitis, despite antibiotic therapy. Spirochetes were identified as Borrelia burgdorferi by molecular testing with specific DNA probes.

5. Culture evidence of Lyme disease in antibiotic treated patients living in the Southeast.
http://danielcameronmd.com/culture-evidence-of-lyme-disease-in-antibiotic-treated-patients-living-in-the-southeast/

Rudenko and colleagues reported culture confirmation of chronic Lyme disease in 24 patients in North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. All had undergone previous antibiotic treatment

6. DNA sequencing diagnosis of off-season spirochetemia with low bacterial density in Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi infections.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24968274

Faulty/misleading antibody tests landed a sixteen year old male in a psychiatric ward when his lab results did not meet the CDC’s strict criteria for positive results. His Western blot had only four of the required five IgG bands. Subsequent DNA sequencing identified a spirochetemia in this patient’s blood so his psychiatric issues were a result of neurologic Lyme disease misdiagnosed by antiquated/misleading serology. This patient was previously treated with antibiotics.

7. The Long-Term Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferiAntigens and DNA in the Tissues of a Patient with Lyme Disease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6963883/

Autopsy tissue sections of the brain, heart, kidney, and liver were analyzed by histological and immunohistochemical methods (IHC), confocal microscopy, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and whole-genome sequencing (WGS)/metagenomics. We found significant pathological changes, including borrelial spirochetal clusters, in all of the organs using IHC combined with confocal microscopy.

8. Persistent Borrelia Infection in Patients with Ongoing Symptoms of Lyme Disease
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/6/2/33

“This 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.”

________________________

Note: For the sake of time this is just a short list of the hundreds of publications identifying persistent Borrelia infection.

What is the purpose of this email?

Direct detection methods, specifically DNA testing has the ability to identify persistent infection whereas serology cannot be used to gauge treatment failure or success. Not to mention that humans do not produce antibodies against Borrelia for 4-6 weeks after a tick bite. By the time serology tests are positive, the spirochetes have already invaded various deep tissues, like those in syphilis, and are hard to eradicate with antibiotics.

Serology has allowed the 30-year dogma to persevere [1] whereas direct detection methods are exposing the exact opposite.

We are dealing with a life-altering/life-threatening infection with faulty/misleading antibody tests, inadequate treatment, no medical training and absolutely no disease control whatsoever; a public health disaster.

It is time to utilize 21st century technology for the purpose of rapid detection and efficacy of treatment.

If DNA testing is accepted for the 21st century pandemic (COVID-19) [2] ; why not for the 20th century plague (Lyme disease) that has been allowed to proliferate unchecked?

Respectfully Submitted,

Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

Cc: The tick-Borne Disease Working Group

References

1. Lyme Disease Is Hard to Catch And Easy to Halt, Study Finds
New York Times By GINA KOLATA Published: June 13, 2001

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/13/us/lyme-disease-is-hard-to-catch-and-easy-to-halt-study-finds.html

2. The Science Behind the Test for the COVID-19 Virus

https://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/2020/03/27/the-science-behind-the-test-for-the-covid-19-virus/