Studies of Pre-Conceptual Science Will Not Rid Us of Lyme Disease!

By Rich Kozlovich

In the last two years the has come under attack for what can only be called scientific fraud and corruption over their positions and mandates regarding this pandemic.  But let's try and understand this.  This deep deep state infection didn't just start.  For years this infection has permeated the CDC right along with all these agencies, including, and especially the EPA, which needs to be abolished, all of whom are supposed to be paragons of good science. 

•  Pandemic Conspiracy Exposed: A Crime Against Humanity!

Years ago this article appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal article, Lyme activist questions federal study of pesticides in private yards, saying:

"A leading local advocate in the fight against Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is calling a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “junk research” and a waste of taxpayer money. Jill Auerbach, chairwoman of the Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association, come on the heels of a CDC study that suggests spraying individual properties with a pesticide does not reduce the rates of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses in the people who live there.........Auerbach said the study should have been designed to include a larger neighborhood, rather than individual yards....."

Auerbach was absolutely correct in her assessment.  That money spent on this study was wasted research.  It is also clear to me that this study must have been conducted by those who really didn't understand how important widespread pesticide use is in order to impact pests, or more likely didn't care, and seems more like to me to be a case of "Pre-conceptual Science".  That's where you reach a conclusion before doing the research and then dismiss anything that disagrees with that conclusion.  Ergo, since you never see or hear anything that demonstrates your pre-conceived conclusion is wrong, it must be right.  

 

However - in the real world - making isolated pesticide applications will not resolve any pest problem if the surrounding areas are still filled with the target pest, and the consequences of ignoring the reality of pests and pesticides, cannot be ignored or dismissed.  In the real world people get sick and many die, in large numbers. 

Case Scenario One.

You are responsible for treating a twenty suite apartment building for roaches. Two of the apartment’s tenants refuse to allow you to treat their apartment and they both are filled with roaches.  What happens?  The other eighteen will still have a number of roaches each month when you return. Now, what if the numbers were reversed and only two suites were treated and the other eighteen left untreated. The migratory habits of roaches would bring them right back into the untreated suites in large numbers.  

Here's the numerical dynamics of German cockroaches.  If you have 1000 roaches in a structure and you only kill 90%, that leaves 100.  Half of them are female and half of them are pregnant.  At the end of 30 days you now have a numerical potential of 1010.  Obviously, there would be a whole lot more than just a few cockroaches in the treated suites in following month.

Now, let’s apply this real world situation and the problem of disease transmission. Let’s suppose roaches could transmit Lyme disease. What would give anyone reason to believe that the rate of disease would be reduced since the overall pest pressure from the surrounding environment would overwhelm any individual efforts, no matter how effective.

I think this statement is important to understanding what is going on behind the scenes: 

"Testing whether spraying reduces the risk of tick-borne disease is critical because people spend lots of money spraying their yards,” “These sprays can be toxic to wildlife, pets and people, and people expect a strong health benefit from doing so. The study’s finding … is very important in evaluating what works and what doesn’t. This was money well spent, in my opinion. "

That was a quote from Rick Ostfeld, disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, who also said he didn’t think the study was poorly designed, which is what I would you expect from “independent” activists.

Well it was poorly designed! That is, if you really wanted to know what the real impact pesticides have on ticks and the transmission of Lyme disease. However, if your goal was to give the impression that making pesticide applications are valueless for the control of Lyme disease – this piece of junk science was an anti-pesticide activist’s dream.

One more thing! Bifenthrin is a synthetic pyrethroid. All pests are starting to show serious resistance to this chemical class. When we lost organophosphates, due to EPA’s manipulation of the rules as outlined in the Food Quality Protection Act, this problem with ticks, Lyme disease and bed bugs became far more serious.   

Here is the reality of this article and what these grant chasers will not tell you. If you design a study that uses less effective chemistry in small areas that are isolated and surrounded by areas where no pesticide applications are made, but have large tick infestations, the conclusion will be forgone. They will kill some pests in the treated areas but those areas will quickly re-infest, and if that pest is a disease carrier the rate of transmission will remain the same as if no pesticides were applied. I could have told them that for free and saved the taxpayers a half a million dollars.

Case Scenario Two.

You're hired by the government, to control mosquitoes you absolutely know can carrying any number of deadly afflictions such as, malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever, filariasis, tularemia, dirofilariasis, Japanese encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ross River fever, Barmah Forest fever, La Crosse encephalitis,  Zika fever, Keystone virus or Rift Valley fever, all of which can be amazingly deadly to large numbers of people, especially children.  

But the government decides that pesticides are so dangerous, you're only going to be allowed to make pesticide applications on one street and miss the next six blocks.  Would any rational person really expect to see positive results in thwarting disease transmission?  The answer is a resounding NO! Now double that insanity with a requirement you must use a pesticide that's the least effective because of false claims regarding safety.

In my opinion, any honest person who is familiar with pest control, pesticides, history, and with valid science, and reads this can only come to one conclusion. This study is nothing short of conclusions in search of data!

The reality is this. The answer to all these pest problems was effective, easy to use, inexpensive chemistry that was available to everyone. If that isn’t part of the answer there will be no answer and no amount research that leaves that component out will ever be anything but junk science.

Does chronic lyme disease really exist?

July 27, 2019 By Michael D. Shaw @ HealthNewsDigest.com

Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial infection, first identified in 1975, named for the region of Lyme/Old Lyme in Connecticut where it was first observed. In the early 1970s, several children and adults presented with a pattern of symptoms, including swollen knees, paralysis, skin rashes (erythema migrans), headaches, and severe chronic fatigue. Before its bacterial etiology was confirmed in 1981 by Willy Burgdorfer, it was thought to be some form of rheumatoid arthritis.

As such, the disease was originally identified by Allan Steere, Stephen Malawista, et al. as “Lyme Arthritis.” The primary infectious species involved is Borrelia burgdorferi, with B. mayonii in the upper Midwest, and B. afzelii and B. garinii in Europe and Asia.

While the disease has been seen in every part of the US, 95 percent of all cases are confined to these 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

According to the CDC, Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of exposure to infected ticks. Notably, the rash does not always appear. Some authorities believe that the rash occurs in only 50 percent of cases. If that were not bad enough, there are limitations on the efficacy of current lab methods.

As with most diseases, early diagnosis facilitates treatment and cure. In the case of Lyme, with delayed diagnosis symptoms can worsen significantly and may include heart problems, such as an irregular heartbeat; eye inflammation; and hepatitis. While most authorities state that the disease cannot be passed from person to person, a controversial study from 2014 suggests that the disease can, in fact, be sexually transmitted. Bear in mind that some true cases of Lyme can go undiagnosed, with the patient receiving needless and costly therapy for other conditions.

Treatment usually consists of a round of antibiotics, based on various accepted protocols. Most patients will experience a full recovery. Those who do not may lapse into a stage in which fatigue and muscle aches can persist for more than six months. Such a condition has been called “Chronic Lyme Disease,” although the CDC prefers the term “Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome” (PTLDS).
Unfortunately, this condition is poorly understood, and explanations range from an auto-immune etiology, to some other difficult to detect infection. As such, there is no proven treatment for PTLDS. Long-term antibiotic therapy has been shown to be ineffective, and in some cases can lead to serious complications. Ironically, some physicians who advocate this therapy call themselves “Lyme-literate doctors.”

Making matters worse, there are too many cases of PTLDS being misdiagnosed in patients with medically ambiguous symptoms. The CDC released a video entitled “Feeling worse after treatment? Maybe it’s not Lyme Disease.”

The article linked above relates four cases that ended up in serious complications or death, resulting from such misdiagnoses.

1. A woman in her late 30s with fatigue and joint pain was prescribed multiple courses of oral antibiotics. This was escalated to months of intravenous antibiotics. She would die of septic shock related to a bloodstream infection. If you try to kill all the bugs, stronger ones will eventually take over.
2. An adolescent girl who had years of muscle and joint pain, backaches, headaches, and lethargy, received a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. A second opinion yielded a diagnosis of chronic Lyme. She was subjected to eight months of antibiotics (oral and IV), which resulted in a critical catheter-associated bacterial infection. This infection was treated, and she was released.
3. A woman in her late 40s received multiple insect bites and developed a flu-like illness with pain in her arms, legs, and back. She received a diagnosis of Lyme disease based on the standard laboratory test. This was upgraded to chronic Lyme, and she too subsequently developed a catheter-associated infection. This was properly treated, and her arthritis symptoms gradually lessened.
4. A woman in her 60s with a low white blood cell count and degenerative arthritis received intravenous immunoglobulin, or antibodies, every three weeks for more than ten years. She developed a MRSA infection and an abscess that needed surgery to drain.

I’m guessing that in all these cases, the overkill infusions occurred at some sort of “alternative” treatment facility. Meanwhile, herbal protocols have been advanced for chronic Lyme, and people are claiming relief. As the CDC notes, “Patients with PTLDS usually get better over time, but it can take up to many months to feel completely well.” Perhaps, those who don’t improve have some other undiagnosed illness.

Sadly, the entire realm of Lyme Disease and PTLDS is fraught with uncertainties, and is complicated by conflation with other conditions, along with the actions of unscrupulous practitioners.

Lyme Disease — and The Ticks That Carry It — Spreads Across The U.S.

Wbur

The threat of Lyme disease has spread to all 50 states. Quest Diagnostics analyzed 6 million blood samples and found the tick-borne disease is now in 100 percent of the country. The most cases were in Pennsylvania, but the disease is also becoming more common in places like Florida and California.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with Wendy Adams, research grant director for the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, which released research in July showing ticks capable of carrying Lyme have been found in 83 new counties across the country.........To Read More.....

New Lyme Disease Test Hits Bullseye

By Julianna LeMieux — August 21, 2017

In certain areas of the country, "tick checks" are an everyday activity - especially for the kind of ticks that carry diseases like Lyme disease. However, even if ticks are found and removed, it is not simple or easy to recognize if that tick left Lyme disease behind.

Now, new research published in Science Translational Medicine may lead to a new test that takes the guessing game out of diagnosing Lyme disease. Even better, it could distinguish Lyme disease from other tick-borne illnesses that share many of the same symptoms.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterial infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, which is passed through the bite of the deer tick. The tick must be attached for 36-48 hours or more before the bacterium can be transmitted. The infection can result in the nonspecific flu-like symptoms of fever, chills, fatigue, and aches. But, the telltale sign is the rash known as erythema migrans - or bull's eye rash. The problem is that this rash does not appear in every case of Lyme disease or may be missed if it is located in a hard to see area such as the back. Alternatively, other bites, from a spider for example, may appear like a bull's eye rash to an untrained eye. The bottom line is that Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose, even with a rash that resembles the the bullseye rash......... Read More......

Lyme disease is set to explode and we still don’t have a vaccine

A new prediction says 2017 and 2018 will see major Lyme disease outbreaks in new areas. This could lead to lifelong health consequences, so where's the vaccine?

By Chelsea Whyte

BY THE time he had finished his walk through the woods in New York state, Rick Ostfeld was ready to declare a public health emergency. He could read the warning signs in the acorns that littered the forest floor – seeds of a chain of events that will culminate in an unprecedented outbreak of Lyme disease this year.

Since that day in 2015, Ostfeld has been publicising the coming outbreak. Thanks to a changing climate it could be one of the worst on record: the ticks that carry the disease have been found in places where it has never before been a problem – and where most people don’t know how to respond.

The danger zone isn’t confined to the US: similar signs are flagging potential outbreaks in Europe. Polish researchers predict a major outbreak there in 2018. In theory, Ostfeld’s early warning system gives public health officials a two-year window to prepare. In many other cases, this would be enough time to roll out a vaccination programme. But there is no human vaccine for Lyme disease. Why not? And what can you do to protect yourself in the meantime?........To Read More....

My Take - They're asking the wrong question.  The question everyone should be asking is why this plague is right on the horizon.  The answer is the Food Quality Protection Act and the loss of pesticides.  Whether it's malaria or Lyme disease the first order of business should be eliminating as much as possible the carriers of those diseases, which in this case are mosquitoes and ticks.  And that requires effective pesticides. 

Zica Virus: A New Emerging Disease ~ Lyme Disease cases in Pennsylvania top 10,000

By Jerry Genesio, Researcher and Freelance Writer at Retired

Countries that have past or current evidence of Zica virus transmission (as of October 2015) Southern Hemisphere 11/28/15 reuters.com: by Jeb Blount – A link between a form of fetal brain damage and the mosquito-born zica virus has been confirmed by Brazilian health authorities on Saturday. The link between zica, first medically identified as a new disease half a century ago, and birth defects has never been made. The virus, endemic in parts Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and some Pacific Islands, has until now been blamed for symptoms such as fever, mild headache, skin rashes, joint pain and conjunctivitis, or “red eye.” .......There's more see the link below.....



Lyme Disease

Pennsylvania 11/28/15 outbreaknewstoday.com: by Robert Herriman – Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in Lyme disease cases as the Commonwealth through Nov. 27 has reported more than 10,000 cases, about one-third of all cases in the US that have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (31,479). This compares to 7,400 cases in 2014 and 5,900 in 2013. In April, Pennsylvania health officials reported for the first time the presence of the Lyme vector, the blacklegged (deer) tick, in all 67 counties. Lyme disease is a huge problem in the US and Pennsylvania, both medically and financially.....To Read More......

A Tick that Feeds on Birds May Increase the Range of Lyme Disease

By Meredith Swett Walker

If you have lived in the northeastern United States any time in the last 25 years or so, you have almost certainly heard of Lyme disease. You may have scrutinized odd-looking insect bites, wondering if they are developing the disease tell-tale bulls-eye rash. And you may have become skilled at distinguishing......Cases of Lyme disease are on the rise. According to the CDC, “Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector borne illness in the United States.” It is also on the move. While most commonly diagnosed in the northeast and upper Midwest, especially Wisconsin and Minnesota, Lyme disease is spreading geographically, especially into Virginia and the southeastern United States. The CDC estimates that about 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year, afflicting sufferers with flu-like symptoms. If not treated with antibiotics, the infection can cause inflammation of the joints and it can affect the heart and nervous system....... Read more of this post

Phony Studies Will Not Rid Us of Lyme Disease!

By Rich Kozlovich

This morning I received my e-newletter from the National Pest Management Association which linked an article titled, Lyme activist questions federal study of pesticides in private yards, quoting: 

" A leading local advocate in the fight against Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is calling a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “junk research” and a waste of taxpayer money.

Auerbach is absolutely correct in her assessment.  That money spent on this study was wasted research.  It is also clear to me that this study must been conducted by those who really didn't understand how important widespread pesticide use is in order to impact pests, or more likely didn't care, or as a case of "Pre-conceptual Science".  That's where you reach a conclusion before doing the research and then dismiss anything that disagrees with that conclusion.  Ergo, since you never see or hear anything that demonstrates your pre-conceived conclusion is wrong, it must be right.  However - in the real world - making isolated pesticide applications will not resolve any pest problem if the surrounding areas are still filled with the target pest.

Case scenario: You are responsible for treating a twenty suite apartment building for roaches. Two of the apartment’s tenants refuse to allow you to treat their apartment and they both are filled with roaches.

What happens?

The other eighteen will still have a number of roaches each month when you return. Now, what if the numbers were reversed and only two suites were treated and the other eighteen left untreated. The migratory habits of roaches would bring them right back into the untreated suites in large numbers.  

Here's the numerical dynamics of German cockroaches.  If you have 1000 roaches in a structure and you only kill 90%, that leaves 100.  Half of them are female and half of them are pregnant.  At the end of 30 days you now have a numerical potential of 1010.  Obviously, There would be a whole lot more than just a few cockroaches in the treated suites in following month.

Now, let’s apply this real world situation and the problem of disease transmission. Let’s suppose that that roaches carried Lyme disease. What would give anyone reason to believe that the rate of disease would be reduced since the overall pest pressure from the surrounding environment would overwhelm any individual efforts, no matter how effective.

I think this statement is important to understanding what is going on behind the scenes: 

"Testing whether spraying reduces the risk of tick-borne disease is critical because people spend lots of money spraying their yards,” “These sprays can be toxic to wildlife, pets and people, and people expect a strong health benefit from doing so. The study’s finding … is very important in evaluating what works and what doesn’t. This was money well spent, in my opinion. "

That was a quote from Rick Ostfeld, disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, who also said he didn’t think the study was poorly designed, which is what I would you expect from “independent” activists.

Well it was poorly designed! That is, if you really wanted to know what the real impact pesticides have on ticks and the transmission of Lyme disease. However, if your goal was to give the impression that making pesticide applications are valueless for the control of Lyme disease – this piece of junk science was an anti-pesticide activist’s dream.

One more thing! Bifenthrin is a synthetic pyrethroid. All pests are starting to show serious resistance to this chemical class. When we lost organophosphates, due to EPA’s manipulation of the rules as outlined in the Food Quality Protection Act, this problem with ticks, Lyme disease and bed bugs became far more serious.   

Here is the reality of this article and what these grant chasers will not tell you. If you design a study that uses less effective chemistry in small areas that are isolated and surrounded by areas where no pesticide applications are made, but have large tick infestations, the conclusion will be forgone. They will kill some pests in the treated areas but those areas will quickly re-infest, and if that pest is a disease carrier the rate of transmission will remain the same as if no pesticides were applied. I could have told them that for free and saved the taxpayers a half a million dollars.

Now, picture this. 

It's you're hired by the government, to control mosquitoes you absolutely know can carrying any number of deadly afflictions such as, malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever, filariasis, tularemia, dirofilariasis, Japanese encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis, Western equine encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ross River fever, Barmah Forest fever, La Crosse encephalitis,  Zika fever, Keystone virus or Rift Valley fever, all of which can be amazingly deadly to large numbers of people, especially children.  

But the government decides that pesticides are so dangerous, you're only going to be allowed to make pesticide applications on one street and miss the next six blocks. Would any rational person really expect to see positive results in thwarting disease transmission?  The answer is a resounding NO!

In my opinion, any honest person who is familiar with pest control and reads this can only come to one conclusion. This study is a case of conclusions in search of data!

The reality is this. The answer to all these pest problems was effective, easy to use, inexpensive chemistry that was available to everyone. If that isn’t part of the answer there will be no answer and no amount research that leaves that component out will ever be anything by junk science.