"In patients with persistent symptoms, I think the number with co-infections is almost 100%. I only have a few patients with classic Lyme." - Elke Schäfer
Lyme (Borreliosis), Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichiosis, Babesiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Bartonella, Tularemia, and more recently, Borrelia miyamotoi (a distant relative of Lyme Borreliosis) are recognized tick-borne infectious diseases in the United States, of which Lyme disease is the most common and fastest growing illness.
Doctors globally say they are seeing a significant growth in co-infections when treating Lyme patients with chronic symptoms. Dr. Richard Horowitz, author of the newly released book, Why can't I get Better?: Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease, explained in Part 14 of my "Ticks" series that ticks now contain "multiple bacterial, viral and parasitic infections which can be transmitted simultaneously with Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease." Horowitz believes that patients infected with Lyme disease and associated co-infections are "much sicker and resistant to standard therapies." In Part 8 of "Ticks, " German Lyme disease specialist Dr. Armin Schwarzbach commented that based on his research with patients, his impression is that Lyme disease is epidemic while co-infections are endemic. Finally, both Dr. Dan Cameron (President of ILADS) and Dr.
Paul Auwaerter (Infectious Diseases Society of America - IDSA) have stated that active tick epidemiology studies to understand what ticks carry in regions of the United States must be a research priority.
Today in Part 15 of "Ticks, " you will hear similar views on Lyme and the co-infections issue from ILADS doctor Elke Schäfer. Elke runs a medical practice in Graz, Austria where she is treating a growing number of Lyme patients from all over the country.
