http://vimeo.com/95647143
LYME DISEASE: A SILENT EPIDEMIC, PRODUCED BY FRANCE 5 PUBLIC NETWORK AND GRAND ANGLE. DIRECTED BY CHANTAL PERRIN.
We are in the middle of a worldwide epidemic of Lyme and associated tick-borne diseases. Chantal Perrin is a documentary filmmaker from France who traveled across the globe to track Lyme disease in the US, France, parts of Europe and Africa. In this revealing documentary being released today throughout Europe, she tells the story of how people across the world are getting sick, and how our health care systems continue to deny the existence of this growing medical threat, leading to widespread suffering and disability.
We are very honored that Chantal Perrin will host the NorVect conference on vector-borne diseases together with Cathy Rubin.
Dr. Richard Horowitz, who also will be speaking at the NorVect conference, has this to say about the movie:
“I have patients with Lyme and associated tick-borne disorders who come to see me from Canada, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, England, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, as they are unable to get effective care in their country. I am featured in this film and interviewed in both my medical practice in the United States, as well as in France where I am lecturing to doctors and patients on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and associated co-infections, discussing how to use the MSIDS model to treat chronic persistent disease. Dr Rick Ostfeld from the Cary Institute, and Dr Eva Sapi from the University of New Haven are also interviewed in this film, as are physicians and researchers from across the world.
This film highlights the politics of Lyme disease, the unreliability of testing, the rapidly spreading and multisystemic nature of tick-borne illness, and how worldwide research is being hampered by socio-political economic challenges. The film makes it clear that patients are suffering as the scientific community battles about the etiology and treatment of this disease, and that “we rapidly need to come to a clear scientific consensus, not a consensus of denial”.
Please feel free to share this film with your family and friends. It is an important work with a story that desperately needs to be told.”
Artikkel i Huffington Post: The Global Search for Education:
“The starting point for all research must be to look at the tick itself to understand which bacteria and viruses are in the ticks, especially in endemic areas. It’s important we examine this because most patients suffer from multiple infections.”
– Dr. Armin Schwarzbach
As renowned scientists and clinicians from all over the world head to the international Norvect Conference at the Grand Hotel in Oslo next Monday, there are important questions on the table, including: Why are a growing number of Lyme disease patients around the world unable to recover from their illness despite extensive antibiotics therapy?
C. M. Rubin is the founder of CMRubinWorld, an online publishing company focused on education, entertainment and lifestyle, and the co-founder of Henmead Enterprises, Inc., a publishing and strategic consulting company.
Rubin’s 30 years of experience as an author, journalist, editor, executive, and entrepreneur in the fields of publishing, film, television, video, health and education have fostered her expertise in identifying and evaluating national and global trends in key economic sectors and industries, including the impact of innovation and technology.
Rubin is the author of three best-selling books and two widely read online series for which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award. Her award winning Huffington Post blog, “The Global Search for Education,” brings together distinguished thought leaders from around the world to explore the key education issues faced by most nations.
Her acclaimed “Ticks” series within “The Global Search for Education” is followed by medical professionals and patients all over the world.
Kan borreliose utvikle seg til en langvarig kronisk infeksjon etter 2 – 4 ukers behandling med antibiotika, eller er symptomene pasienten opplever etter ferdigbehandlet infeksjon kun senskader i vev og immunsystem? Spliden i fagmiljøet springer ut fra to medisinske tilnærminger med opphav i USA.
IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America)
- Amerikansk organisasjon grunnlagt i 1963.
- Fokus: Infeksjoner generelt.
- Center of Disease Control (CDC) henviser til IDSA retningslinjer for diagnose og behandling av borreliose.
- IDSA hevnder at kronisk borreliose ikke eksisterer. Sykdom som vedvarer utover 2-4 ukers antibiotikabehandling anses som senskader.
- Diagnose: Klinisk manifestasjon + to positive tester (ELISA + Western Blot).
- Behandling: Monoterapi (én antibiotika) i normalt 10 – 14 dager (maks 28 dager).
ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society)
- Internasjonal multidisiplinær “non profit” organisasjon, grunnlagt 1999.
- Fokus: Kun borreliose og co-infeksjoner.
- Jobber på verdensbasis for å øke kunnskapen om diagnostikk og behandling. Fokus på opplæring. Årlig konferanse der leger og forskere fra hele verden møtes og deler oppdatert kunnskap og forskning om vektorbårne sykdommer.
- Diagnose: ILADS legger vekt på kliniske vurderinger sammen med testing. En negativ test avgjør ikke om man igangsetter behandling, da nåværende tester har for lav sensitivitet.
- Behandling: Ofte kombinasjonsbehandling av flere typer antibiotika og immunmodulerende medisiner (behandler også co-infeksjoner). Langvarig behandling.
Nye tall fra CDC viser at 57% av USAs leger behandler etter ILADS-modellen. Flere amerikanske stater har innført lovverk som verner leger som ønsker å behandle utover gjeldene retningslinjer, og f.eks. med langvarig antibiotika. Paul Mead, sjef for epidemiologi og borreliose-overvåking ved CDC, har uttalt følgende: “These findings confirm that health care providers are not rigidly following the IDSA guidlines and underscore the need for more education of providers regarding best treatment practices” (Pfeiffer, 2013).
De norske retningslinjene følger IDSAs syn om at det ikke er en vedvarende infeksjon og behandlingen avsluttes tidlig med det argument at langvarig antibiotika er farlig og resistensskapende. Mye av problematikken bunner i diagnostikken som på et generelt grunnlag er utilstrekkelig.
Den 26. og 27. mai 2014 arrangerer NorVect en internasjonal flåttkonferanse på Grand Hotel i Oslo, hvor verdens fremste eksperter på området kommer for å dele sin kunnskap. Organisasjonen anser dialog og kunnskapsdeling på tvers av fagmiljøer og landegrenser som nøkkelen til å skape større forståelse om sykdommene flåtten bærer med seg. NorVect ønsker å inspirere det medisinske fagmiljøet til å være nysgjerrige, åpne og nyskapende, selve drivkraften til all ny vitenskap.
Les mer om NorVect, konferansen og foredragsholderne her: www.norvect.no
Foto: NorVect
Arrangerer internasjonal konferanse på Grand Hotel i Oslo, 26.-27. mai 2014.
WHO dedikerte verdens helsedag 7. april 2014 til vektorbårne sykdommer, under slagordet SMALL BITE: BIG THREAT. Den 26.-27. mai samles flere av verdens fremste leger og forskere på vektorbårne sykdommer (bl.a. borreliose) i Oslo for å dele sin kunnskap.
For full oversikt over foredragsholderne, gå til: http://norvect.no/conference-2014/
Konferansen er et resultat av dialogmøte tidligere helseminister Jonas Gahr Støre inviterte til i juni 2013. Til tross for uenighet mellom pasientorganisasjoner, fagfolk, syke og pårørende, var det én ting alle var enige om: Det er behov for mer kunnskap. Helsedepartementet og Helsedirektoratet vil følge opp, med planer om en bredere erfaringskonferanse til høsten, skrev Støre på sin Facebookvegg. NorVect har fulgt opp dette ønsket.
NorVect er en ren pasientinitiert interesseorganisasjon og med private lån baner de vei i en debatt der myndighetene skulle ha vist handlingskraft og vilje.
– Vi arrangerer en internasjonal konferanse med det formål å øke forskningsfokuset og kunnskapen om vektorbårne sykdommer som f.eks. borreliose, bartonella og babesia. Vi vil bidra til dialog og erfaringsutveksling innen fagmiljøet, og på tvers av landegrenser. Vi ønsker at fagmiljøet utviser åpenhet, nysgjerrighet og nytenking om hva som foregår utenfor Norges grenser, og håper dette er et skritt på veien i å hjelpe det stadig økende antall mennesker som blir rammet av flåttbårne sykdommer, sier grunnleggerne av NorVect, The Nordic Network for Vector-borne Diseases, i 2013.
Foto: NorVect/Malin Davidsson
For mer informasjon om NorVect og konferansen: www.norvect.no
“Share Your Knowledge” – “Develop New Insights” – “Show Your Compassion”
“Pathogenicity and treatment of Bartonella infections”
By Emmanouil Angelakis, Didier Raoult
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, May 9th 2014.
Abstract
Bartonella spp. are responsible for emerging and re-emerging diseases around the world. The majority of human infections are caused by Bartonella henselae, Bartonella quintana and Bartonella bacilliformis, although other Bartonella spp. have also been associated with clinical manifestations in humans. The severity of Bartonella infection correlates with the patient’s immune status. Clinical manifestations can range from benign and self-limited to severe and life-threatening disease. Clinical conditions associated with Bartonella spp. include local lymphadenopathy, bacteraemia, endocarditis, and tissue colonisation resulting in bacillary angiomatosis and peliosis hepatis. Without treatment, Bartonella infection can cause high mortality. To date, no single treatment is effective for all Bartonella-associated diseases. In the absence of systematic reviews, treatment decisions for Bartonella infections are based on case reports that test a limited number of patients. Antibiotics do not significantly affect the cure rate in patients with Bartonella lymphadenopathy. Patients with Bartonella spp. bacteraemia should be treated with gentamicin and doxycycline, but chloramphenicol has been proposed for the treatment of B. bacilliformis bacteraemia. Gentamicin in combination with doxycycline is considered the best treatment regimen for endocarditis, and erythromycin is the first-line antibiotic therapy for the treatment of angioproliferative lesions. Rifampicin or streptomycin can be used to treat verruga peruana. In this review, we present recent data and recommendations related to the treatment of Bartonella infections based on the pathogenicity of Bartonella spp.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857914001186
NorVect in the Huffington Post!
Huffington post interviewed NorVect founders about the conference, lyme disease and treatments, or the lack there of.
Students and patients receive a 40% discount on the tickets for the conference. NOK 750 for one day or NOK 1500 for two days. Thanks to our sponsors, we are able to give this reduction. Last chance to sign up is Wednesday May 21st.
You can pay with credit card, Pay Pal and bank transfer.
Don’t miss the opportunity to experience some of the most renowned researchers and clinicians speak about vector-borne diseases at the Grand Hotel in Oslo May 26th and May 27th.
The program: http://norvect.no/conference-2014/program/
