LRA Golf Tournament
October 10, 2013
Stanwich Club, Greenwich Detail
Lyme Research Alliance, Inc.
(formerly Time For Lyme, Inc.)
LRA AWARDS SIX NEW RESEARCH GRANTS
The LRA Board has announced six new grants worth almost $500,000 to researchers pursuing novel and promising directions in Lyme disease research.
The six researchers were selected following a rigorous process using guidelines established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Each proposal was evaluated by Grant Review Committee members of LRA’s Scientific Advisory Board and met the same scientific standards that the NIH applies to its own research grant review process. The resulting 2013-2014 grant awards represent projects judged to have exceptional prospects of delivering measurable advances.
LRA’s scientific agenda encompasses two areas critical to all those affected by Lyme disease: the discovery of a reliable, effective and accessible diagnostic test; and the development of effective treatments for long-term or “chronic” Lyme disease. Five of the six grants released this week reflect LRA’s two-fold scientific agenda:
This word of encouragement from Dr. Brian Fallon, Director of the Columbia University Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Research Center kicked off the second annual Race Against Lyme 5k Walk/Run on April 28. A day of picture-perfect weather brought out nearly 300 runners, walkers and friends to Cove Island Park on a Sunday morning for LRA’s second annual “Race Against Lyme,” raising $27,000. The event--which drew participants from several other states including Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts--was timed to help kick off Connecticut’s Lyme Disease Awareness Month.
A newly published study that is a good reminder for the Lyme community and critical information for every clinician, documents incidence of the EM rash presenting an atypical appearance beyond the classic bull’s-eye. The paper notes: “The best diagnostic sign in patients with early Lyme disease is a skin lesion, erythema migrans (EM). However this sign may not occur or be recognized in 30% of cases. Furthermore, the EM rash may not display a classic bull’s-eye (ring-within-a-ring) appearance, a fact that may be underappreciated by many physicians. In summary, clinicians should consider Lyme disease in the differential diagnosis of patients who have a rash that may not be classic EM and who have been in areas where Lyme disease occurs.”
Yolanda Foster, one of the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” brought herself to tears Saturday night during a moving and powerful speech at Lyme Research Alliance’s “Time for Lyme” Gala, as she eloquently recounted how Lyme disease led her to “some of the darkest days of my life.”
REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS” YOLANDA FOSTER SAYS LYME DISEASE LED TO “SOME OF THE DARKEST DAYS OF MY LIFE”
Foster told the audience at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich, where she received LRA’s Star Light Award, that Lyme disease had so severely affected her before she was finally diagnosed and treated, that she went from being “the tough cookie that I am” to “a shell of the woman I used to be.”
We are aware of a proposed “Worldwide Protest on Lyme Disease”. The stated purpose of the protest is to draw attention to the many issues surrounding Lyme disease, including treatment, reporting, and research funding.
Within the Tri-State area, an event is scheduled to happen on May 10th and 11th at New York City’s Union Square where concerned individuals and representatives of Lyme-related organizations are provided an opportunity to participate.
As individuals impacted by Lyme, the Board of LRA welcomes attention for increased awareness of the global impact of Lyme, the recognition of the severe impact of tick borne diseases, education within the healthcare sector, the need for increased funding into diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tick borne diseases.
Our organization the Lyme Research Alliance is not formally involved with the Protest. While commending the individuals and organizations involved in the events of May 10 and 11th, LRA continues to adhere to its mission. Underscoring the needs outlined above, LRA funds and directs innovative research into the better diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. The goal is to develop a reliable diagnosis and an effective treatment for all levels of Lyme disease. We applaud the efforts of others in the spirit of advocacy and community grassroots activism but believe that we can best advance that goal by diligently focusing on our mission. Thank you for your continued support through funding research and for your support of those impacted by Lyme disease and other tick borne diseases.
LYME RESEARCH ALLIANCE NAMES NEW SCIENTIFIC BOARD AND KEY COMMITTEE
Lyme Research Alliance announces expanded advisory boards to amplify research edge against
Lyme disease.
MEET LYME RESEARCH ALLIANCE'S PERSON OF THE MONTH:
Investigative Reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer
Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her series about Lyme and tick-borne diseases, “No Small Thing,” the most comprehensive treatment of the subject ever undertaken by a newspaper, Mary Beth says she hadn’t realized that Lyme disease was “such a controversial can of worms.”
Shortly after Poughkeepsie Journal (NY) investigative reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer returned from vacation this month, she spent more than three hours downloading emails from Lyme sufferers who had written in support of her nomination by her newspaper for a Pulitzer Prize.
“It was so gratifying for me to realize how many people were helped by my work,” Pfeiffer said after reading the countless emails of support from around the nation.
At the annual meeting of the American Society and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Yale University researchers recently presented work on babesiosis, a malaria-like disease spread by a parasite that attacks red blood cells. The deer tick, which also spreads Lyme disease, is the most common vector for the babesiosis parasite, Babesia microti.
Connecticut and the Hudson Valley are ground-zero for the emerging babesiosis threat; and now the alarming finding is that when Lyme and babesisosis are co-transmitted through a tick bite, the resulting babesiosis infection is more severe.
"….Lyme disease is somehow intensifying transmission of babesiosis," Yale researcher Peter Krause said.
Exciting progress announced this quarter by two Lyme Research Alliance grantees confirms that significant strides are being made in the science of understanding and combating Lyme disease, once again underscoring the critical role played by privately-funded research in this field which continues to receive relatively low levels of Federal funding.
STUDY REPORTS FLAWS IN DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF LYME DISEASE Statistical analysis questions evidence discouraging retreatment.
Most doctors treat Lyme disease with antibiotics for two to four weeks after diagnosis, but if symptoms persist after that, medical guidelines recommend against antibiotic retreatment. That recommendation may not be warranted.
An interdisciplinary research team has found that squirrels in the St. Louis, Missouri area, especially the Eastern gray squirrel, may play a larger role in transmitting pathogens to ticks than previously recognized. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, using a sophisticated DNA assay, found the Eastern gray squirrel is “an important bloodmeal source in nymphs harboring Erhlichia and Borrelia species.” The research is published in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology.
NEWLY PUBLISHED STUDY DOCUMENTS PERSISTENCE OF BORRELIA FOLLOWING LONG-TERM ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT IN MONKEYS
A study published in early 2012 documents the resistance of the Borellia burgdorferi (Bb) bacterium to aggressive long-term antibiotic treatment in non-human primates. This study represents another source of evidence that the Bb bacterium can evade the intended effects of long-term antibiotic therapy. Macaque monkeys were infected with Bbborrelia and received aggressive antibiotic treatments 4-6 months later. Multiple methods were used to measure the presence of Bb (see study); although the level of Bb antibodies declined, intact Bb was found to be present at a low levels in the serum of the treated monkeys following aggressive antibiotic therapy. This connects to research studies currently in progress with funding help from LRA: Dr. Eva Sapi’s work on understanding biofilms, and Dr. Ying Zhang’s work on L-forms of the Bb bacterium, both of which are believed to be strategies used by the bacterium to evade the effects of antibiotic treatments. It is encouraging to see the work of different research teams converging on an understanding that not only is Bb capable of evading antibiotic therapy, but developing an understanding of the mechanisms adopted by the bacterium to dodge the antibiotic “bullet”.
For a documentation of the formidable consequences of long term Lyme disease see Dr. Phil’s recent show on chronic Lyme disease: http://bit.ly/HMQDcT
LYME DISEASE - IT'S ABOUT 5,000 YEARS OLD
The article usually reads like this: “Lyme disease was first identified in the town of Lyme, CT in the 1970s…” but now the facts have changed dramatically. The recently discovered “Ice Man” whose frozen body was discovered by a climber in the Italian Alps, died 5,000 years ago and now we know that he was suffering from Lyme disease. "Our data point to the earliest documented case of a B. burgdorferi infection in mankind. To our knowledge, no other case report about borreliosis [Lyme disease] is available for ancient or historic specimens," the investigator writes in an article published on Tuesday (Feb. 28) in the journal Nature Communications.
This summary article quotes Dr. Stephen Schutzer, of the University of Dentistry and Medicine of New Jersey whose research into the nature of Lyme disease is funded in part by grants from Lyme Research Alliance of Stamford.
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Tel: (203) 969 1333
Email: info@lymeresearchalliance.org
The material on this web site is provided for information purposes only. This material (a) is not nor should it be considered, or used as a substitute for, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment; nor (b) does it necessarily represent endorsement by or an official position of Lyme Research Alliance, Inc. or any of its directors, officers, advisors or volunteers. Advice on the testing, treatment or care of an individual patient should be obtained through consultation with a physician who has examined that patient or is familiar with that patient's medical history.
Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her series about Lyme and tick-borne diseases, “No Small Thing,” the most comprehensive treatment of the subject ever undertaken by a newspaper, Mary Beth says she hadn’t realized that Lyme disease was “such a controversial can of worms.” 
An interdisciplinary research team has found that squirrels in the St. Louis, Missouri area, especially the Eastern gray squirrel, may play a larger role in transmitting pathogens to ticks than previously recognized. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, using a sophisticated DNA assay, found the Eastern gray squirrel is “an important bloodmeal source in nymphs harboring Erhlichia and Borrelia species.” The