Unraveling The Mystery Of Misdiagnosis

by Marjorie Tietjen

Lyme Disease is the fastest spreading vector borne disease in the world. It is becoming obvious that the ticks and other insects that may spread the Lyme bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi, Bb) and other infections, know no boundaries. The ticks that carry Lyme disease and numerous co-infections, are very hardy and their area of habitat is not just limited to New England. Ticks are able to withstand varied climatic conditions.

Numerous patients are being told that the ticks that spread Lyme disease just do not live in their state and as a result doctors are saying there is very little chance that the patient's problems could be due to Lyme disease. Many times the coinfections are not even discussed. However, these seem to play just as important of a role in causing disease as Bb. Some researchers feel that perhaps the many different co-infections, such as babesia, erlichia, bartonella, mycoplasma, certain viruses, etc, may work in synergy with each other to cause the complex disease we call chronic Lyme.

So, despite the denial that Lyme does not exist in certain states, there have been confirmed reports of Lyme disease in just about every state, including Texas. There are no tick border patrols. The incidence of autoimmune diseases and other chronic conditions seems to be escalating in proportion to the infection/coinfection epidemic.

Vast numbers of people with Lyme and other co-infections are being misdiagnosed with nonspecific labels such as Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.), ALS, Alzheimer's disease, Fibromyalgia, Parkinson's, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and many others. All of these disease labels only describe the symptoms, not the cause. Most of these disease labels have no known definitive tests, causes or cures, only symptomatic treatments.

Despite the very inaccurate testing, thousands of patients with these labels are being found to test positive for Lyme and the co-infections. Everyone seems to have a unique combination of pathogens. This may account for all the different presentations of the disease complex called Lyme disease.

Currently there is no test in use that can totally rule out Lyme disease. So.... it would seem prudent.... especially with the degenerative diseases, to initiate an adequate trial of a single antibiotic ...or in some cases a combination of different antibiotics, which would also address the co-infections or different forms of the Lyme spirochete.

This brings me to my next topic....Pleomorphism.

It is felt, by a growing number of researchers, that one of the reasons for the inaccuracy of testing for Lyme and co-infections, is due to pleomorphism. Pleomorphic organisms are those that change form according to the internal environmental conditions they are faced with. We will use Borrelia burgdorferi as an example.

When researching or testing for Lyme, most researchers and lab technicians are trying to identify the corkscrew or spiral shape of the organism, or they are trying to measure the body's immune reaction to this form of the microbe. The tests are looking for certain proteins that are specific to the spiral shape of the organism.

The problem with this is that when the spirochete morphs into the cyst or L form, there are now different proteins associated with this new form of the organism that the old tests cannot identify. This would lead to the conclusion that the current testing is missing a whole segment of this microbe's population in the patient's body.

Dr. Stephen Phillips, who has been researching Lyme disease for the past 15 years, shared some of his research with doctors, patients and advocates at a Connecticut conference in 2005. Many doctors feel that spinal taps are the gold standard for diagnosing central nervous system Lyme disease. Phillips tells us that pleomorphism enters into this situation.

Phillips said that in one study that when the spiral form of Bb was injected into the spinal fluid, there was 100% conversion of Bb from the spiral form to the cystic form. This cyst form of the Lyme microbe is being found in the spinal fluid of M.S. patients.

Phillips strongly suggests that Bb may be one of the causes of M.S. He stated that every feature that you see associated with M.S. could also be found in Lyme disease. Two of the most striking shared diagnostic signs for Lyme and M.S are brain and cervical cord lesions.

I think the main idea we need to come away with, concerning pleomorphism, is that perhaps we should be probing for the L or cyst forms of Lyme in many of our rapidly emerging diseases.

Another example of a possible crossover or link to Lyme is with Alzheimer's disease. Judith Miklossy, a Swiss researcher, conducted a study that was published in Neuro Report vol. 4, no. 7 of July 1993. It focused on autopsies of 14 Alzheimer's brains. It was entitled.... Alzheimer’s Disease - A Spirochetosis?

The study found that spirochetes were found in the blood, cerebral spinal fluid and brains of 14 Alzheimer's patients during autopsy. Thirteen age matched control cases were without spirochetes. To summarize, the observations suggested that perhaps several strains of spirochetes, including Bb, are responsible for Alzheimer's disease. One would think that researching the role of antibiotics in the treatment of Alzheimer's would be of primary importance.

Here is a partial list of reasons for misdiagnosis:

1. Inaccurate testing

2. Pleomorphism

3. Doctor's ignorance of the overall symptom complex of these tick, and possibly other insect borne infections. According to the CDC, Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis (based on patient's history and symptoms). Lyme Disease is not just a muscular skeletal disease. It can affect every system of the body and presents with a classic overall symptom complex. Individuals vary in the symptoms they exhibit but the overall picture is most often unmistakable.

4. Co-infections and different strains of spirochetes not being tested for

I would like to share with you several important links: Dr. Bransfield's Reason's for Seronegativity (the reasons why you can test negative and still have Lyme disease. http://www.mentalhealthandillness.com/seronegativelymedisease.html.

Articles and Studies that back up the fact that Lyme disease can be a persistent infection. http://www.lymeinfo.net/medical/LDPersist.pdf

In order to end this epidemic of misdiagnosis we need to identify and treat the basic causes of these diseases and conditions. The medical community seems to think that treating inflammation is treating the cause. We want to know, what is causing the inflammation? .