Antibiotic Treatment for Lyme Persisters.

[Remy]

Here is new research on antibiotics that may be useful for treating Lyme "persisters" and biofilm disease.

Front Microbiol. 2016 Feb 10;7:62.
Eradication of Biofilm-Like Microcolony Structures of Borrelia burgdorferi by Daunomycin and Daptomycin but not Mitomycin C in Combination with Doxycycline and Cefuroxime.

Feng J1, Weitner M1, Shi W1, Zhang S1, Zhang Y1.

Abstract

Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and Europe. While the majority of Lyme disease patients can resolve their symptoms if treated promptly, 10-20% of patients suffer from prolonged symptoms called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Although the cause for PTLDS is unclear, one possibility is the presence of bacterial persisters not effectively cleared by the current Lyme antibiotics. Recent studies identified several drug candidates including daptomycin, daunomycin, doxorubicin, and mitomycin C that had good activity against B. burgdorferi persisters. However, their relative activities against B. burgdorferi persisters have not been evaluated under the same conditions. In this study, we tested the anti-persister activities of these drugs against both 7-day and 15-day old stationary phase cultures ofB. burgdorferi individually as well as in combination with Lyme antibiotics doxycycline and cefuroxime (Ceftin). Our findings demonstrate daunomycin and daptomycin were more active than mitomycin C in single drug comparison at 10 and 20 μM, as well as in drug combinations with doxycycline and cefuroxime. In addition, daunomycin was more active than doxorubicin which correlated with their ability to stain and accumulate in B. burgdorferi. The two drug combination of doxycycline and cefuroxime was unable to eradicate biofilm-like microcolonies of B. burgdorferi persisters. However, the addition of either daunomycin or daptomycin to the doxycycline + cefuroxime combination completely eradicated the biofilm-like structures and produced no visible bacterial regrowth after 7 and 21 days, while the addition of doxorubicin was unable to prevent regrowth at either 7 or 21 day subculture. Mitomycin C in combination with doxycycline and cefuroxime caused no regrowth at 7 days but visible spirochetal regrowth occurred after 21 day subculture. Furthermore, we found that cefuroxime (Ceftin), the third commonly used and most active antibiotic to treat Lyme disease, could replace cefoperazone (a drug no longer available in the US) in the daptomycin + doxycycline combination with complete eradication of the biofilm-like structures as shown by lack of any regrowth in subcultures. Our findings may have implications for improved treatment of Lyme disease.

This is follow up research to earlier studies that suggest that in a certain number of people, Lyme bacteria evade antibiotic treatment and persist in the body, forming biofilms, that then become even more resistant to treatment. Therefore, using different antibiotic combinations may help to provide better treatment for those that suffer from Lyme persisters.

However, some researchers don't necessarily believe that persisters are an issue in Lyme.

This article in Scientific American discusses persisters and their potential role in Lyme disease.

Persisters are not antibiotic-resistant mutants; they are genetically identical to their vulnerable counterparts. Instead they are bacteria that have gone into a dormant state, ceasing the types of cellular activities that antibiotics typically thwart. Previous research has shown that when persisters of other bacterial species are removed from a bath of antibiotics, they begin to grow again. This fact prompted Lewis and his colleagues to try treating B. burgdorferi with antibiotics in pulsed doses—administering the drugs, stopping and then administering them again—to see if they could kill the persisters once they began to regrow. It worked, which suggests that if persisters are responsible for lasting infections in people, treating patients on and off with antibiotics could help. Lewis and his colleagues, as well as the Johns Hopkins scientists, are also exploring other treatment options, such as different drugs and drug combinations.
Not everyone agrees that persister cells play a role in Lyme's lingering symptoms. “There's been no evidence that this persister phenomenon has any relevance for animals or humans,” says Gary Wormser, chief of the division of infectious diseases at New York Medical College. First, he says, lab studies of B. burgdorferi cannot account for the potential effects of the body's immune system, which might be able to eliminate persisters once the brunt of the infection has cleared. Second, labs have yet to grow B. burgdorferi isolated from people treated with antibiotics, and that raises questions about whether the persisters are even viable and capable of making someone sick.

 

[Issie]

I've found some very effective biofilm busters. I rotate serapeptase and lumberkinanse. I also found some essential oils that I rotate on a daily basis by Nutrition Supreme. Also EDTA is supposed to help without creating a mast cell release. (I haven't tried it).

Timing of enzymes is essential with enzymes and either antibiotic and/or herbs use. You have to use them separately and give enzymes time to break down biofilms so antibiotics and herbals will work. I use my enzymes at night and all the other things in the mornings. It's working for me.

I'm also finding Curcurmin for herx pain and using coconut charcoal and D Earth to be essential for binding and toxin release.

I think my Chronic Lyme and possibly Protomyzoa Rehumatica go back to my childhood. And now with more recent mold exposure on top of an already existing type of mold/fungus has had me on a new journey. I'm starting to feel improvement.

Issie