Co-Infections Lyme disease & Chronic Fatigue Patients

Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 2008; 14(4): 5-17.

 

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients Subsequently Diagnosed with Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi:
Evidence for Mycoplasma species Co-Infections

 

 

Objective: We examined the blood of 48 North American Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients subsequently diagnosed with Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi and compared these to 50 North American CFS patients without evidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infections for presence of Mycoplasma spp. co-infections using forensic polymerase chain reaction.

 

Results: We found that 68.75% of CFS/Lyme patients show evidence of mycoplasma co-infections (Odds Ratio=41.8, Confidence Limits=11.26-155.16, p <0.001) compared to controls, whereas 50% of CFS patients without a diagnosis of Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi show mycoplasma co-infections (OR=19.0,

CL=5.25-68.78, p<0.001 compared to controls). Since CFS patients without a diagnosis of Lyme Disease have a high prevalence of one of four Mycoplasma species and a majority show evidence of multiple infections, we examined CFS/Lyme patients’ blood for various Mycoplasma species. We found that CFS patients with Lyme Disease Borrelia burgdorferi mostly had single species mycoplasma infections (OR=31.67, CL=8.63-116.16, p<0.001) with a preponderance of M. fermentans infections (50% of patients, OR=59.0, CL=7.55-460, p<0.001), whereas the most commonly found Mycoplasma spp. in CFS patients without Lyme Disease was M. penumoniae (34% of patients. OR=14.94. CL=3.25-68.73, p<0.001).

 

Conclusions: The results indicate that a subset of CFS patients show evidence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, and a large fraction of these patients were also infected with Mycoplasma fermentans and to a lesser degree with other Mycoplasma species.

 

 

http://www.ocimc.com/Lyme-Disease-Mycoplasmal-Infections.html

 

The signs and symptoms of Mycoplasma infection are highly variable and thus it is not uncommon for a diagnosis to be entirely missed. A partial list of symptoms includes chronic fatigue, joint pain, intermittent fevers, headaches, coughing, nausea, gastrointestinal problems, diarrhea, visual disturbances, memory loss, sleep disturbances, skin rashes, joint stiffness, depression, irritability, congestion, night sweats, loss of concentration, muscle spasms, nervousness, anxiety, chest pain, breathing irregularities, balance problems, light sensitivity, hair loss, problems with urination, congestive heart failure, blood pressure abnormalities, lymph node pain, chemical sensitivities, persistent coughing, eye pain, floaters in the eyes, and many others.

 

Mycoplasma are pleomorphic bacteria which lack a cell wall and, as a result, many antibiotics are not effective against this type of bacteria. There are over 100 known species of Mycoplasma, but only a half dozen or so are known to be pathogenic in humans. The pathogenic species are intracellular and must enter cells to survive. Once they are inside the cells, they are not recognized by the immune system and it is difficult to mount an effective response. They stimulate reactive-oxygen species(ROS) which damage cell membranes.