Edward B. Breitschwerdt on Bartonella

Results – Of comparative medical importance, Bartonella spp. are transmitted by several arthropod vectors,
including fleas, keds, lice, sand flies, ticks and, potentially, mites and spiders. Prior to 1990, there was only one named Bartonella species (B. bacilliformis), whereas there are now over 36, of which 17 have been associated with an expanding spectrum of animal and human diseases.

Recent advances in diagnostic techniques have facilitated documentation of chronic bloodstream and dermatological infections with Bartonella spp. in healthy and sick animals, in human blood donors, and in immunocompetent and immunocompromised human patients.

The field of Bartonella research remains in its infancy and is rich in questions, for which patient relevant answers are badly needed. Directed Bartonella research could substantially reduce a spectrum of chronic and debilitating animal and human diseases, and thereby reduce suffering throughout the world.

Conclusion – A One Health approach to this emerging infectious disease is clearly needed to define disease
manifestations, to establish the comparative infectious disease pathogenesis of this stealth pathogen, to validate effective treatment regimens and to prevent zoonotic disease transmission.

Thank you for sharing

The Red Cross doesn't test for Babesia, they use a question in the donor's pre-donation check-in. They don't even ask about bart or lyme. I, too, donated -several times- before I was diagnosed with babs. There is no telling if my blood has infected anyone else. It won't happen again.

Traveler-- how did you get rid of all of your initial infections? Seems like I same all of the same that you had. Would love to know what worked for you. Thx!

For my Lyme, I used Chronic Tonic (recipe from Misty Meadows) but my herbalist had me make my own: www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3244272
The CT doesn't seem to work for a lot of people, but for those that it does work for, it seems to work well. This may be due to genetic differences in either the people using it, or the different strains of Borrelia that we carry. Without better testing to identify the specific strains - and all of them - we may never know.

And, actually, quite a few people are finding the Chronic Tonic product from Misty Meadows helpful too. Here is a link to a forum search I just did for threads on the Chronic Tonic (CT):
/goo.gl/cFfqHF

Added in Houttuynia to address Bartonella: www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=2887463

You can go to the link that shows up in my signature line (below) to see the general time line of what I did.
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=2977364

Babesia was another story, and you can see that I can't read my practitioner's handwriting well enough to be able to know for sure what all was used in the thread above.

Of course, it took a TON of detoxing and balancing out my body functions as well.

This video has some great info and raises a lot of good points. It's good to see there are very smart clinicians at least attempting to look into bart extensively. However even with 20 years experience looking into this pathogen Dr. B is very inconclusive. He is very quick to point out what does not work in terms of treatment but offers little to no treatment suggestions, besides some presumptive treatments he published in vet journals.

He is a veterinarian by trade and he developed a bart test for cats and dogs and got so many requests for human testing that he started his own testing lab for people. He keeps repeating himself that 'more research needs to be done', but he is the leading bart researcher in the country, so no one else is going to research this so instead of saying we need more research, he should be conducting more research.

I also don't really like the fact that he recommends his own testing company, Galaxy, for the most accurate tests. He recommends repeated testing at over 800 a pop using his own patented culture/pcr method and as the leading bart researcher this just kinda stinks of a conflict of interest. Sure I can understand that he saw that testing was inadequate so he made his own test, but its the same test he charges 300 for cats and dogs and more than twice that for people. Apparently his father passed away from suspected bart and if this was the case you would think he would offer more affordable testing options for people suffering.

He is very careful in what he says and tries to adhere to established science as much as he can. He obviously doesnt want to come off as an experimental quack. He works in conjunction with Dr. Mozayeni who is 'galaxy's chief clinician' so they have an established business practice together and of course galaxy does all the testing for mozayeni.

Mozayeni also seems very scientific in his approach. He is very much antibiotic oriented and this is the protocol he outlines but he does mention off hand that natural treatments could also be helpful. He seems to think that an unconventional ABX approach is needed and talks about how common approaches don't seem to be effective. So he trusts science and antibiotics, but believes that most people just arent doing the proper antibiotics or the right doses. He also talks about the importance of supporting adrenals and thyroid. He thinks that bart is more common than is thought and says many of his patients who were diagnosed with Lyme actually have bart, some have both he says, but he doesnt address borellia really at all in this speech. He thinks that bart is the primary and lyme is the coinfection.

His protocol is given but I think he is being a little bit vague on purpose when he describes it so as not to give it away for free but heres what he says:

Clarithromycin for 4-6 weeks
Then he adds Rifampin or Rifabutin starting at 600 mgs a day, then after another 6-8 weeks DOUBLES Rifampin / Rifabutin dose to 1200 mgs and continues this for about 6 months, but he is vague about the treatment length and says that 'We really do not know what the optimal treatment time is.'

He certainly seems very confident and matter of fact in his approach, and in a field where so many of us are being treated presumptively for things we don't test positive for with trial and error methods, you can look at his approach as a good or a bad thing.

He is very theoretical, and although his approach does make sense from a scientific perspective I would really like to hear more from the patient perspective on this. I wonder how many people have really gotten better using rif/biaxin. I know of many people who have tried rifampin with varying success, so what he is doing really isnt that revolutionary. He just wants to be sure of what he is treating instead of flying blind like most llmd's are forced to do because of inadequate testing.