Dr Richard Horowitz, specialist in diagnosis and treatment of
Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses, spoke Monday night at the
Fireside Inn. --Bee Photos, Evans
An informational forum on Lyme disease sponsored by the Newtown
Rotary Club in cooperation with the Newtown Lyme Disease Task
Force on Monday night at the Fireside Inn was so well-attended
that chairs were at a premium. Several of the 300 attendees stood
at the rear throughout the two-hour presentation.
When Pat Smith, Lyme Disease Association president, asked how
many in the audience had suffered Lyme disease, were now
suffering from it, or had a family member who was struggling with
it, more than 100 hands went up.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, also on the
panel of presenters, spoke briefly and soberly about the impact
of Lyme disease on Connecticut residents, especially children.
"This battle is profoundly important. Lyme is an insidious,
growing threat and if we have children, we are more cognizant and
sensitive. I applaud the courage of people such as you who are
coming forward."
He added that the state system for reporting Lyme disease cases
"is woefully inadequate, and a new standard for diagnosis needs
to be realistically set."
Ms Smith also spoke on behalf of children with Lyme disease.
"Schools need more education on this issue. The children
suffering with Lyme or other tick-borne diseases [termed TBDs]
may experience a 20-point drop in IQ, and a drop in grade point
average. They suffer psychological damage when they are unable to
participate in sports, lose friends, and feel isolated," she
added.
It seems that children, as well as the elderly or those with
compromised immune systems, are at the greatest risk of
contracting Lyme disease. And while Lyme disease caused by the
spirochete bacterium Borrelis burgdorferi is most widely
recognized, it is not the only infection that can be transmitted
to humans by a bite from the black-legged or deer tick.
Several other infectious diseases, such as erlichiosis,
babesiosis, and bartonella or cat-scratch fever, may also be
passed along. In fact, as many as 40 percent of those suffering
chronic Lyme disease may also have one or more of these other
diseases.
"Patients are having trouble getting diagnosed and treated," Ms
Smith said, adding that under current Center for Disease Control
(CDC) surveillance criteria, only one-tenth of actual cases have
been reported.
"The fact that Connecticut numbers in 2003 were down 72 percent
is the result of the fact that labs are no longer required to
report the cases. It's a paper drop only," she cautioned.
A Social Phenomenon: Nightly Tick Checks
The evening's keynote speaker was Dr Richard Horowitz, a former
assistant director of medicine at Vassar Brothers Hospital and
currently a practicing physician in Hyde Park, N.Y., who has
dedicated the past 20 years to the study and treatment of Lyme
disease at the Hudson Valley Healing Arts Center.
"I've treated more than 7,000 cases of persistent Lyme, and I can
tell you it's a very complicated disease, and it's everywhere.
Prevention is impossible. Only Antarctica does not have it," Dr
Horowitz said.
"You must be your own doctor. Do a tick check every single night.
Find someone else, and do it together. If you find a tick, remove
it with tweezers and pull straight up," he advised.
"You must also think like a doctor. Lyme disease presents with
clinical symptoms that you must learn to watch for," Dr Horowitz
said.
These symptoms include feeling tired and experiencing night
sweats and chills; drenching sweats during the day; a stiff neck
and headache; memory problems and difficulties recalling words;
joint pain that comes and goes, and migrates throughout the body
from knee to elbow to shoulder; sensitivity to bright light; and
flulike symptoms.
"Obviously, you must look for the expanding, red EM rash
[erythema migrans] within three to 21 days after the bite. It
will disappear even without treatment and may lie dormant for ten
months," he warned.
"Not everyone who has Lyme gets a rash," he added.
If additional symptoms such as seizures, nausea, or vision
problems persist after initial treatment for Lyme disease with
antibiotics, this is a signal that another TBD may be involved.
"There is a universe of organisms that these ticks contain and
treatment must be different for each disease. You might need more
than one drug. Most people are multiply co-infected," Dr Horowitz
said.
"In the office, I've seen patients as sick as those with
congestive heart failure. Talk about terrorism being a threat to
the United States; we're looking at an epidemic of Lyme and other
TBDs here, and that is the worst threat imaginable," Dr Horowitz
said.
A Universe of Co-Infections
Besides the Lyme disease bacterium, there are an increasing
number of other infections that may be transmitted.
Erlichiosis may cause flulike symptoms, usually occurring within
five to ten days after the tick bite.
"A patient will also present with high fever and aches and pains,
as well as a low white cell count, high liver functions, and low
platelets. Erlichiosis is very specific and can be treated well
with antibiotics if it is caught early," Dr Horowitz said.
Babesiosis, a malarialike disease, also presents with an
intermittent high fever, but includes chills and drenching
daytime sweats, loss of appetite and anemia.
"Forty percent of those with chronic Lyme are co-infected with
babesiosis...it takes a whole battery of tests to diagnose it."
Bartonella, also called cat scratch fever because it can be
transmitted by a cat bite or scratch as well as a tick bite, may
cause seizure disorders and memory loss or confusion. There may
be vision problems and it may present with significant lymph node
enlargement. Again, treatment is unique and specific to the
disease.
Dr Horowitz closed his talk on a hopeful note, mentioning that
for the first time in 20 years, he has seen evidence of a
possible treatment solution occurring right before his eyes, "in
my office during the last 30 days."
A patient had come in who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, and
was given glutathione by intravenous injection to remove heavy
metals stored in his brain cells.
"Neurotoxins produced by the Borrelia spirochete, or Lyme disease
bacterium, also interact with heavy metals in our cells," Dr
Horowitz pointed out.
After being given the IV dose, the patient showed 90 percent
improvement within ten minutes. His joint pain was gone and his
cognitive symptoms improved markedly.
"We repeated the experiment doing a double blind test with saline
instead of the glutathione," Dr Horowitz said, adding that the
results were encouraging and consistent.
"All these chemicals in our bodies cause inflammation, and
glutathione seems to act like a sponge that pulls them out. I'm
very excited about this."