Ongoing email sent to the TBDWG regarding evidence of chronic Lyme suppressed by the CDC for decades.

--------- Original Message ----------
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: "Dennis.Dixon1@nih.hhs.gov" <Dennis.Dixon1@nih.hhs.gov>, "SSood@nshs.edu" <SSood@nshs.edu>
Cc: All members of the TBDWG
Date: 03/07/2022 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: The Chronic Lyme Debate

To: The Tick-Borne Disease Working Group

Attn: Dennis M. Dixon, Ph.D., Federal Representative

Dear Dr. Dixon,

In an email dated Feb 25th I sent a positive culture report (as an attachment) to all members of the TBDWG. The positive culture results performed at the Centers for Disease Control’s Fort Collins, CO Laboratory was from the cerebral spinal fluid of Lyme patient Vicki Logan who received extensive long-term antibiotics (oral and IV). The patient died after the insurer refused additional IV antibiotic therapy.

In Oct of 2019 a follow-up study of Logan’s autopsy tissues validates the earlier Fort Collins results identifying B. burgdorferi as an antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug. Unlike the Klempner antibiotic trials, this was not an NIH funded study.

I want to point out two concerns here:

1. Most all of the evidence for chronic infection is coming from private funding sources not the NIH. Isn't the refusal to recognize this evidence representative of a deliberate controlling of the narrative?

2. Vicki Logan’s 1991 positive culture test performed by the Centers for Disease Control should have set off a red flag but was ignored for decades while the focus remained on discrediting the sick and disabled Lyme patient population along with those clinicians who were trying to help these patients. (Similar to early COVID-19 treatments)

Dr. Dixon, isn’t it time you and the rest of our Public Health Officials stop denying chronic Lyme disease?

Vicki Logan’s 2019 autopsy tissue study:

The Long-Term Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi Antigens and DNA in the Tissues of a Patient with Lyme Disease
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31614557/  (Oct 11, 2019)

Eva Sapi , Rumanah S. Kasliwala, Hebo Ismail, Jason P. Torres, Michael Oldakowski, Sarah Markland, Gauri Gaur, Anthony Melillo, Klaus Eisendle, Kenneth B. Liegner, Jenny Libien and James E. Goldman

Abstract

Whether Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, can persist for long periods in the human body has been a controversial question. The objective of this study was to see if we could find B. burgdorferi in a Lyme disease patient after a long clinical course and after long-term antibiotic treatment. Therefore, we investigated the potential presence of B. burgdorferi antigens and DNA in human autopsy tissues from a well-documented serum-, PCR-, and culture-positive Lyme disease patient, a 53-year-old female from northern Westchester County in the lower Hudson Valley Region of New York State, who had received extensive antibiotic treatments during extensive antibiotic treatments over the course of her 16-year-long illness. We also asked what form the organism might take, with special interest in the recently found antibiotic-resistant aggregate form, biofilm. We also examined the host tissues for the presence of inflammatory markers such as CD3+ T lymphocytes. 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. The aggregates contained a well-established biofilm marker, alginate, on their surfaces, suggesting they are true biofilm. We found B. burgdorferi DNA by FISH, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and an independent verification by WGS/metagenomics, which resulted in the detection of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto specific DNA sequences. IHC analyses showed significant numbers of infiltrating CD3+ T lymphocytes present next to B. burgdorferi biofilms. In summary, we provide several lines of evidence that suggest that B. burgdorferi can persist in the human body, not only in the spirochetal but also in the antibiotic-resistant biofilm form, even after long-term antibiotic treatment. The presence of infiltrating lymphocytes in the vicinity of B. burgdorferi biofilms suggests that the organism in biofilm form might trigger chronic inflammation.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Lyme disease; antibiotic resistance; biofilms; persisters; spirochete.

Conclusions

In summary, this study provides several lines of evidence that Borrelia can persist in the human body not only in the spirochetal but also in the antibiotic-resistant biofilm form, even after long-term antibiotic treatment. The presence of infiltrating lymphocytes in the vicinity of B. burgdorferi biofilms suggests that the biofilm might trigger chronic inflammatory responses.

____________________________________________

Vicki Logan’s Positive Culture report from the CDC (my personal Dropbox storage area)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vthfdpn7gv8bne2/Logan%20CDC%20Fort%20Collins%20Positive%20CSF%20%20Culture%20Report.JPG?dl=0

Respectfully submitted,

Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH