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... one more question: Co-infections

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Posted 5/4/2009 12:44 AM (GMT 0)
So co-infections w/ ehrlicwhatever, babs, bart, Rocky Mt, etc are common.  Yet all the debate seems to surround chronic lyme only. So many of you have been tested after years and found to have Rocky Mt, etc.  So doesn't that mean these diseases can also be chronic and be causing your chronic symptoms?  So why am I not finding Dr debates over those chronic infections? ie; Do infections like Rocky Mt and Babs, etc continue on for years w/o treatment?  Finally, are you able to make any sense of my questions?
Posted 5/4/2009 1:11 AM (GMT 0)
Hi LymeUnknown -
co - infections are common, but no absolute must. The ticks catch those range of diseases while drinking blood..... as everybody would try to not get this load of bacteria into the own body, this happens when they bite you. I think some of those infections may continue for years, yes. It seems they even do when people are on some abx treatment which does not directely target those infections; some of them are tough. I do not know why there are not many docs arguing around if co - infections can become chronic. I think Lyme just got more attention.
greetings, dorit.
Posted 5/4/2009 5:22 AM (GMT 0)
Co-infections are a relatively new area of interest. Not a lot is known about them yet. Lyme is the fastest spreading vector-borne in illness in the U.S. When you add in all of the people who aren't being diagnosed properly, the number of people who actually have Lyme is staggering. That's why it gets more attention. Co-infections are becoming more wide-spread as well. Just like Lyme, babesia used to only occur in the Northeast. Now, it's being seen much further south. As the diseases spread, they'll get more attention too.
Posted 5/4/2009 2:49 PM (GMT 0)
The bacteria causing lyme was discovered in 1981 right here 12 miles from my home at Rocky Mt. Labs in Hamilton MT. I think the bartonella like organism carried by ticks was not found until much later, closer to 2000, so it is a new comer and not as much is known about it. Bartonella is very difficult to get rid of so it can diffinitly become chronic. It is also very difficult to get rid of lyme with out first getting rid of bart so the two help produce a chronically ill patient.
Some tick born pathogens are easier to eradicate than others.
Lyme was just the town where people were getting sick after being bitten by deer ticks so it was labeled with the disease. But what people actually had was a combination of pathogens, not just borellia so if you have lyme disease, in my opinion, you can (and probably do) have multiple organisms infecting your body, but the argument is about borellia and does exclude all the co-infections which is stupid. I guess if they can get an acceptance that one of these is chronic it will be easier to argue the others are too.
Posted 5/4/2009 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
yeah, if you notice in "Under Our Skin" Dr. Wormser clarifies (pretty loudly) that he does not believe chronic LD patients have a continually existing 'BORRELLIA' infection....... he doesn't even adddress co-infections.... what a CYA butthole....

sorry, my cussing is coming out!
Posted 5/5/2009 1:32 AM (GMT 0)
All of this is good information and I appreciate it! totally makes sense! Also, I realize that the babs and bart seem to be newer and chronic. But I'd never heard of Rocky Mt being a chronic disease. Maybe it's just particularly ornery when combined w/ Lyme?
Posted 5/5/2009 5:05 AM (GMT 0)
when i was a teen in Tn. i almost lost 2 friends to rocky Mt. tick fever. 1 was in the hospital for a month and back then lymes had never been heard of. so my question is how is it they can cure 1 and not the other. i also have never heard of anyone with RMTF who didnt get well after treatment.
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