Lyme-Induced Autism Conference Focuses on Biofilm and Toxicity
by Mary Budinger
* Peeking into the secret world of biofilm and shifting through common
environmental toxins may hold the keys to understanding the current epidemic
of chronic disease.*
That was the theme at the third annual Lyme-Induced Autism (LIA)
Conference held last month in Scottsdale, AZ. The event serves as a think tank
for
practitioners and parents on the forefront of the epidemic.
Biofilm - The Hot Topic
The quest to understand biofilm is changing the paradigm of blood
pathology. The conventional wisdom is that blood is sterile because nothing can
be
cultured from it, but clearly, we have pathogens floating around in blood.
" Blood is not sterile. We have to drop that idea, " said Dr. Jeff Wulfman of
Vermont. " Forty percent of blood samples contain cell wall deficient
bacteria. What are the other factors in blood? We are only beginning to
understand. "
Biofilm is also in the blood, as well as the gut and on the teeth. Biofilm
is a self-made protective environment in which microbial populations hide
from the body's immune system and anti-microbial therapies. Biofilm allows
the bugs to evade surveillance of the immune system and our best attempt to
throw antibiotics at them. Biofilm communities can be 1000 times more
resistant to antibiotics than free-floating bacteria. Ever tried and failed to
knock out candida with the anti-candida diet? Well, candida too hides in
the biofilm where it helps the bad guys by stimulating inflammation. The
National Institutes of Health estimates that nearly 80 percent of chronic
microbial infections are due to biofilm colonies.
Teasing out elements hidden in blood is what Dr. Stephen Fry and his
colleagues do at Fry Labs in Scottsdale, Arizona. **I don't think Borrelia is
the main problem in Lyme disease,** Dr. Fry explained. **We only have one
picture of it in the thousands of slides that have gone through our lab. There
is something else that stains like bacteria, and looks like bacteria, in
people who are sick. Many of the people we see have evidence of biofilm.
There is more than one pathogen in biofilm communities, but the microorganism
we are mapping now may be the main concern.**
Dr. Fry finds that the sicker a person is, the more there will be biofilm
communities in the blood sample. **Six years ago, I established Fry
Laboratories to begin to identify the DNA of a particular pathogen we see in the
biofilm. We looked at the blood from various patients under the microscope
and found signs of this particular microorganism in many samples from
patients ill with chronic Lyme disease. So far, we have found some unique genes
that make up this microorganism; no other entity on earth is known to possess
them.**
Dr. Fry thinks the day is not far off when we may recognize a single
microorganism which hides itself in biofilm, and is responsible for symptoms of
Lyme disease, its co-infections, and many other expressions of chronic
disease. **As our work progresses, we will be able to further identify the
genetic makeup of this pathogen and then develop a reliable test for it,** he
said. **It may be that we can develop a simple protocol to knock it out.**
But if one bug is the cause of Lyme disease, autism, and so much other
chronic disease, why do patients get so many different diagnoses and symptoms?
** In the biofilm community, there is a soup where many pathogens hide,**
Dr. Fry said. ** For example, just about everybody over the age of 35 will
test positive for Epstein-Barr virus, but people usually are not sick from
it. Not every bug in the biofilm soup is causing symptoms. We think we*ve
found that one is. And the symptoms may vary based upon a person*s genetics,
environment, and pathogen genotype.**
Dr. Fry's take on biofilms is novel. ** I could be barking up the wrong
tree, but maybe not. Remember that we used to think stomach ulcers were
caused by too much acid production. Then Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren
turned medical dogma on its head by proving that a bacterium was the cause.
The pair identified the bacterium H. pylori and proved how it causes
inflammation, then ulcers. Maybe in 10 years we will be smart enough to know
that
the *auto* in *autoimmune* actually means pathogen and the whole concept of
autoimmunity will change. Chronic inflammation is chronic infection. In
autoimmune disease, my model is that there is a chronic infection that cannot
be eliminated, thus the immune system is always switched on. The self
antibodies are due to apoptosis and death of host cells with host immune
response.**
Biofilms are also of great interest to Dr. Anju Usman of Illinois. **All
of our tough cases, the non responders - they show biofilms when we run
their blood at Fry's lab,** she explained. **Scientists are finding biofilms in
polluted areas of our body - the teeth, mouth, adenoids, sinuses, and
intestinal tract. The immune system recognizes a bug by proteins on its outer
membrane. What happens when the bugs don*t produce outer membrane proteins?
Well, these bugs don't.** Biofilms act as a unique cloaking device.
Dr. Usman is focused on dismantling the biofilm. **Let*s look at what
happened when experts tackled the superbug, MRSA. One of the most effective
drugs against MRSA is vancomycin. But they couldn*t knock it out because there
was a biofilm. However, when they combined the drug with EDTA, then the
chelating agent pulled out the calcium, magnesium, and iron - all elements of
biofilm - and dismantled the film.**
That raises the question of what supplements and nutrients may
inadvertently feed the biofilm. ** When trying to kill bugs, if you take
calcium, you
may not be making headway,** Usman said. **Calcium, iron, and magnesium
block our efforts to dismantle the biofilm.**
Dr. Usman uses EDTA to open up the biofilm. EDTA, ethylenediaminetetr
aacetic acid, is a chelating agent used to lower one*s body burden of heavy
metals. Another important resource is iron chelating compounds. **Outer
membrane proteins** are easy for drugs to see, but they are not expressed when
iron is present. **Our bodies make proteins, transferrin and lactoferrin,
which mop up iron and block the ability of biofilm to form,** she said.
**But pathogenic bacteria secrete iron chelators to snatch up iron and thus
compete with the transferrin and lactoferrin for what they need to survive.**
To break down biofilm, Dr. Usman also uses enzymes such as serrapeptase,
derived from silk worms, and nattokinase which penetrates the GI tract and
gets into the blood where it breaks down fibrin. Biofilm requires formation
of fibrin. Probiotics and synbiotics - a combination of pre- and
pro-biotics - crowd out bad bacteria, and also help disrupt biofilm along the
mucus
membrane.
**When the film opens up, we do not know what is under there, and the
immune system may not know what is under there, so you might get sick,** Usman
said. **And it is not always about killing the bugs. It is more important
to change the gastrointestinal environment so the bugs don't grow.**
Secrets of the Inner Gut Terrain
Unquestionably, changes are taking place in the invisible interior of our
bodies.