joe the tick

February 12, 2010

Letter & update from Dr Jones

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease Fundraisers, Lyme Disease News, Lyme Fighters, Lyme Law — Tags: , — joethetick @ 7:43 pm

Dear Friends,

It is time to update you once again on the status of the charges that I have been fighting before the Connecticut Medical Examining Board (CMEB). I cannot thank you enough for the many expressions of support and encouragement that you have been sending my way over the past several months. These have made a huge difference to me, enabling me to maintain my determination to prevail.

I also extend a hearty invitation to you to attend the next meeting of the CMEB, which will take place
on February 16, 2010 at 1:30 at the Department of Public Health Complex, 470 Capitol Avenue, Conference Room C, Hartford, CT 06134. At that time, the Board will vote on the recommendations of the panel which has been hearing the most recent set of charges brought against me.

History and Overview
In this update, I will focus on the most recent developments in what has become a long series of charges and investigations by the CMEB and Connecticut Department of Health (CT DPH). For more detailed background information, I refer you to my letter dated September 5, 2008 , which is posted on the following website: www.lymesite.com

Currently, there have been two separate and distinct cases against me. The original case is under appeal, and the second case pertains to a new set of charges regarding a different set of patients.
In addition to this, we have learned that the court-appointed monitor has brought a number of complaints about me to the CMEB, which appear to be based on his reliance on the IDSA guidelines as the alleged “gold standard” for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. These currently are under investigation, but at this point no formal charges have been filed in relation to them.

First case:
I was brought up on a series of charges pertaining to two children from one family in Nevada, whose parents were involved in a post-divorce decree custody dispute. The children involved in the case were doing quite well and there was no allegation of harm done to either of them as a result of their treatment.
In its decision of December, 2007, the Connecticut Medical Examining Board (CMEB) imposed a $10,000 fine, a reprimand and two years of monitored probation. Despite these disappointing recommendations, this case was not lost. My license to practice medicine was not suspended or limited.

However, the CMEB introduced a very restrictive four part standard of care for Lyme disease at the very end of the proceedings. Left unopposed, this test would set a very dangerous precedent, and could be used against other doctors to shut down the treatment of chronic Lyme disease. It clearly had to be appealed.

Appeal of the First Case:
Most of the charges that I was found “guilty” of were stayed, or suspended, pending the outcome of the appeal, including the four part standard of care. The one exception was the monitoring requirement. I was required to find and pay for a board-certified pediatrician, licensed in the state of Connecticut, to conduct periodic chart reviews at my office for a period of two years. This was not an easy task: We contacted over 80 pediatricians before the current monitor was found; he was then approved by the CT
DPH.

The grounds for the appeal have been described in my previous letter. One of them pertains to the discovery of significant bias on the part of one of the panel members, Dr. Senechal, who was recognized by a set of parents who filed affidavits stating that he had expressed very significant bias against me and other Lyme literate physicians, including the statement that doctors who treat Lyme are quacks. A
hearing was held in Superior Court to review the question of the panel member’s bias. The judge rejected our arguments. The case is now on appeal to the Connecticut Appellate Court; the brief in support of my position is due in April.

Current case(s):
The Department of Public Health then filed another series of complaints against me. This set of charges differs from the first case in that it involves three separate families, with the respective cases conjoined into one proceeding. Although the exact facts differ, the cases are similar in that two of them involve
non-custodial fathers filing complaints.

In none of the cases were any of the children involved harmed; indeed, as with the first case, the children all are doing very well.The CT DPH called on Dr. Lawrence Zemel and Dr. Peter Krause to provide expert testimony contesting my treatment.Following lengthy hearings concluding last May, a
three-member panel has issued its “proposed memorandum of decision” (MOD). This will be voted on by the CMEB on February 16, following the presentation of oral arguments by both attorneys:

* The third count involving one of the families was completely dismissed.
* The testimony of Dr. Zemel was thrown out, with the panel characterizing him as clearly biased against physicians who treat chronic Lyme, and against many of the labs that they use.
* The first count was upheld: this pertained to the charge that I had “improperly” ordered serology (diagnostic) testing prior to examining the patients. This seems strange, because, as far as we know, there were no patient complaints or patient harm. It is also difficult to comprehend why pre-examination testing should ever be the basis of disciplinary action against a
physician.
* The second count against me also was upheld. The issue here was the prescription of antibiotics to a patient whose symptoms were quite consistent with both Lyme and Babesiosis. I had obtained a comprehensive history from the referring practitioner who had contacted me about the case, and also from the patient’s mother. An ER had recorded an EM rash that went untreated My schedule was so heavily booked that I could not see the patient for a number of weeks. I was confident that the patient should be started on antibiotics immediately, and that the risk of not treating would be greater than the risk of treating. The patient did well.

In this case, the panel has denied that charges have been brought against me because I am a Lyme specialist. Instead, it has characterized its findings as generic and pertaining to medical practice as a whole. This is why we have not been able to utilize the recently passed physician protection bill in Connecticut.

Nevertheless, it is rather difficult to understand why such matters should have ever reached this level, or why their two expert witnesses were specialists in tickborne diseases. There have been no patient complaints, other than disaffected fathers involved in contested custody or divorce proceedings, and no harm has come to any of the children, who in fact have done well.

Once again, the panel has not recommended that my medical license be revoked. They have, however, recommended the following sanctions:

* Another $10,000 fine
* Four years of supervised probation, with a monitor again hired at my own expense

Why I Continue to Fight:
Some of you have expressed dismay that the Connecticut Department of Public Health has spent so much taxpayer money on these charges. You have been concerned that they will continue to bring charges against me until I am forced to close my office. This process has been undeniably stressful. It has been painful to see so much time, energy and valuable resources being expended on my defense. I continue to believe, however, that it is critical for me to continue to fight these charges and to prevail:

We must stand up for what we believe and know to be right in the matter of diagnosis and treatment of tick borne disease.
I am painfully concerned about the lack of effective care for children afflicted with tick borne disease. Because I decided to fight these charges when all of this began some six years ago, several thousand additional pediatric Lyme patients have received an appropriate diagnosis and treatment for their
tickborne disease.
A successful outcome for me will both hearten and protect other physicians who wish to diagnose and treat Lyme disease comprehensively, and will encourage other pediatricians in particular to train with me.
We must send a clear message to health departments across the country that we will not be bullied, or allow our right to medical treatment to be trampled.

Legal Fees:

I continue to be grateful for the excellent defense that Attorney Elliott Pollack has been providing, and to everyone who has made this possible through donations to my legal defense fund. Please note that Attorney Pollack has achieved some significant victories: my license has not been revoked and, most recently, the decision to throw out the testimony of Dr. Zemel on the grounds that he is biased, will most likely put an end to his usefulness as an expert witness in proceedings against other LLMD’s. The legal
representation necessary to oppose these charges has been very extensive and complex:

* multiple hearings have been held, each of which have required considerable preparation and review;
* many hours have been spent helping witnesses to prepare to testify;
* the filing of the appeal has been time-consuming but essential, and has entailed multiple appearances on the part of my attorneys in Superior Court, including three pretrial sessions.
* New charges have been levied by the monitor which need to be addressed
* Preparation and presentation of the oral argument which will be presented to the CMEB on February 16, after which they will vote on the proposed MOD.

This struggle has been costly, and I will continue to require your financial support in order to prevail. We have known from the outset that Pullman & Comley does not provide pro bono legal services, and Attorney Pollack is accountable to the partners in his firm. To date, the cost of my legal defense over these past six years has amounted to approximately $700,000, most of which has been funded by donations to the legal defense fund. It is extremely painful to think of the resources of the Lyme community being spent in this way. At the same time, it is important to recognize that these charges are not unusual or excessive for a legal defense that has been as complex and lengthy as mine has been. There is a current outstanding balance of approximately $80,000. This will increase over the next few weeks as a result of the ramped up legal activity that will be necessary to address the CMEB decision, the monitor’s complaints and the ongoing appeal.

Ordinarily, Pullman & Comley does not allow clients to carry an unpaid balance on their account. They have been impressed by the stream of donations that so many of you have been sending, and have been unusually flexible in this regard. Each time that the unpaid balance grows, however, my legal representation is in jeopardy. It is necessary to demonstrate once again that the legal defense fund is solvent, and will be able to meet the cost of my legal defense.

Because of this, I am asking you to make a donation to my legal defense fund, in whatever amount that your circumstances will permit. I hope that you will continue to find the means to support this fight, despite the hardships which I know that so many of you already live with.

The current instructions for donating to my legal defense fund are noted below. These instructions also are posted on Kay Lyon’s website:

http://lymesite.com/Dr_Jones_use_paypal_to_make_donations_to_.htm

For those of you who may have additional questions not answered by this update, I invite you to send them to me by letter or by fax: 203-772-0682. Please reserve for telephone calls for urgent matters only, given the very high volume of patient calls that the office receives.

With warmest wishes,
Dr. Jones
Charles Ray Jones, M.D.

HOW TO DONATE TO THE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND:
Make Donations payable to: ” Pullman & Comley Trust Account-for Dr. Charles Jones”
Mail to:
Elliott B. Pollack, Esquire
c/o Pullman & Comley, LLC
90 State House Square
Hartford, CT 06103-3702

Note “gift” in the memo field
To use PayPal to donate to the defense fund, go to the following web address:
http://lymesite.com/Dr_Jones_use_paypal_to_make_donations_to_.htm

Temple Douglas, Intel finalist for Lyme disease research

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News, Lyme Disease Research, Lyme Fighters — Tags: , , , , — joethetick @ 11:12 am

Temple Douglas of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology has proposed a faster way to test for Lyme disease.

By Holly Hobbs
Fairfax County Times
Thursday, February 4, 2010

A high school senior’s research paper on Lyme disease is getting national recognition for proposing a method of early detection that cuts diagnosis time from a month to mere minutes.

“We’re going to develop a new diagnostic test so that we can detect it earlier and more accurately,” said Temple Douglas, 18, of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria.

Douglas was recently named one of 40 finalists nationwide in the Intel Science Talent Search, an annual contest sponsored by Intel that scouts for research conducted by high school seniors in science, health and technology.

She received a $5,000 scholarship for the ranking, a laptop and a chance to compete in March in Washington for a $100,000 scholarship.

Douglas said her research was inspired by three relatives’ struggles with Lyme disease.

“My sister and brother had joint pain, but my mom had more severe symptoms,” she said.

Almost half the cases of Lyme disease in Virginia are reported in Loudoun County, where Douglas lives. A resident of Lucketts, she buses 90 minutes to her Fairfax County school each day.

Students at Thomas Jefferson must do a senior research paper. Douglas chose Lyme disease for hers.

“At the end of the summer, I was thinking of the testing and its inaccuracies and what could be improved,” she said.
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Currently, blood tests are used to detect Lyme disease.

“Now, you have to wait for antibodies to show up [in your blood]. That can take up to three weeks,” Douglas said.

Her research paper, “The Application of Hydrogel Nanoparticles for Early Lyme Disease Diagnosis,” proposes using a urine test instead.

“Nanoparticles are added to the urine to allow you to see the bacteria,” she said.

Staff and teachers at Thomas Jefferson said they are not surprised by Douglas’s successful ranking.

“As a student, Temple was very inquisitive and enthusiastic,” said teacher Robert Latham, the school’s science and engineering fair coordinator. “The choice of what to do after high school or college rests with Temple, but from the experience gained in her scientific project work and from the maturity developed in writing a scholarly scientific research paper, she has demonstrated high-level skills that would make her very successful as a research scientist or in a related field.

“I would like to see her win a Nobel prize.”

Douglas has been accepted to several colleges, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Principal Evan Glazer had similar praise for Douglas, saying, “Her work is inspiring because she pursued groundbreaking work in a topic that could help her family.”

Twelve of Douglas’s fellow students were named semifinalists in the contest this month, each receiving a $1,000 prize for themselves and $1,000 for their school.

Last year, two Jefferson students were finalists in the Intel competition, Alexander Kim and Narendra Tallapragada.

Of the D.C. conference in March, Douglas said she is excited and nervous to compete, adding that she would find it “neat” to meet President Obama.

“The kids last year got to meet Obama,” she said.

Douglas said she hopes to one day assist in the efforts to find a cure for cancer.

Dutch Lyme Disease Group Wants Action

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease Awareness, Lyme Disease News — Tags: , , , , , , — joethetick @ 11:07 am

Debilitating Lyme disease is a growing concern in the Netherlands. A patients’ association has collected more than 65,000 signatures calling for government action on the tick-borne disease.

The Dutch Association for Lyme Patients wants to put Lyme disease on the parliamentary agenda. Its petition calls on the government to improve training for doctors in diagnosing the disease, set up a Lyme disease expertise centre, and increase public information on the danger of tick bites.

Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia bacteria and is passed on to humans by sheep ticks. Tick numbers are increasing in the Dutch countryside. What’s more, a study by Wageningen University found that around 25 percent of ticks in the Netherlands carry the bacteria. This is far higher than the European average of 10 percent.

The disease can cause a range of symptoms, including severe arthritis, and may even be fatal. According to the Dutch Association for Lyme Patients half a million people in the Netherlands are currently suffering from Lyme disease, and ten thousand people are infected each year. The infection frequently goes undiagnosed, especially when patients fail to notice they have been bitten by a tick. As a result, the symptoms worsen and become harder to treat.

Source www.rnw.nl

November 21, 2009

Nurses with Lyme disease Form Southern Oregon Lyme Disease Support Group

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News, Lyme Fighters — Tags: , , , , , , — joethetick @ 3:49 pm

By Bill Kettler
Mail Tribune

Put two nurses with 70 years of combined experience in the same room and chances are they’ll find plenty to talk about.

When both have Lyme disease, the conversation transcends the usual shop talk.
The first meeting of the Southern Oregon Lyme disease support group has been scheduled for 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the Smullin Center, Room 35, Rogue Valley Medical Center, 2825 E. Barnett Road, Medford.

For more information, call 944-5068 or 879-0222. For general information about Lyme disease in Oregon, contact the Oregon Lyme Disease Network at 541-312-3081 or visit the Web site at www.oregonlyme.org.

Sharon Lee of Eagle Point was infected some 30 years ago in California, when nobody on the West Coast knew much about the strange tick-borne disease that’s difficult to diagnose and produces a wide range of symptoms among its victims.

When Judi Johnston of Ashland came down with Lyme during the past year, she realized the Southern Oregon medical community still knows relatively little about the disease.

“I don’t know what made me more upset,” Johnston says. “Personally, not being able to find the (treatment) resources, or professionally, knowing the resources aren’t here.”

Lee and Johnston plan to use their nursing experience and training to assist Rogue Valley residents who may not even know they have Lyme disease. They’re organizing a support group to help local people determine whether they’re infected, and steer them to physicians who can give them appropriate care.

“There’s far more Lyme disease than is being recognized,” says Johnston, a nurse for more than 30 years. “And we don’t have Lyme-literate physicians in this part of the country.”

The group’s first meeting is scheduled for Thursday at the Smullin Center on the campus of Rogue Valley Medical Center.

The bacterium that causes Lyme disease is transmitted to humans by certain species of ticks, including the blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus), which thrives in Southern Oregon and California. The bacterium is also carried by tick nymphs, which are so tiny people often fail to realize they may have been bitten.

Johnston says she “never did see the tick,” that infected her.

Lee describes the bacterium itself as “a stealth organism” that evades the body’s natural defense mechanisms. If it establishes itself in the body over time, “your immune system can’t even find it,” she says.

Symptoms vary widely from person to person. The bacterium may attack the joints, the heart, the brain or other parts of the nervous system. Lyme has been confused with a number of other diseases, including multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and even Alzheimer’s.

“Some people can be sidelined and in a wheelchair,” says Lee, who retired to Eagle Point after 45 years in nursing. “Others can respond (to treatment) and do pretty well.”

Ticks often carry a number of other infectious agents, and Lee says researchers now believe the wide variety of symptoms associated with Lyme may be related to those other tick-borne diseases.

She says early diagnosis is critical for effective treatment, but tests don’t always provide conclusive proof of infection. Some people produce a rash with a characteristic bulls-eye pattern soon after they’re infected, but others may not, further complicating the diagnostic process.

Lee says she and Johnston hope to recruit a local physician who might be willing to learn more about Lyme disease so that local people can get effective treatment without traveling to California.

“We want this to be more than a support group,” Johnston says. “We want to educate people, too.”

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492 or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com

Lyme Disease Vaccine? Tick Saliva Found to Protect Mice from Lyme Disease

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News, Lyme Disease Research — Tags: , , , — joethetick @ 3:46 pm

ScienceDaily — A protein found in the saliva of ticks helps protect mice from developing Lyme disease, Yale researchers have discovered. The findings, published in the November 19 issue of Cell Host & Microbe, may spur development of a new vaccine against infection from Lyme disease, which is spread through tick bites.

Traditionally, vaccines have directly targeted specific pathogens. This is the first time that antibodies against a protein in the saliva of a pathogen’s transmitting agent (in this case, the tick) has been shown to confer immunity when administered protectively as a vaccine.

The Lyme bacterium known as Borrelia burgdorferi is transmitted by ticks. When it moves through the tick, it is coated with a tick salivary protein known as Salp15. The Yale team injected Salp15 into healthy mice and found that it significantly protected them from getting Lyme disease. When combined with outer surface proteins of B. burgdorferi, the protection was even greater.

Lead author Erol Fikrig, M.D. of Yale School of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute said, “The interaction between the Lyme disease agent and ticks is very complex, and the bacteria uses a tick salivary protein to facilitate infection of the mammalian host. By interfering with this important interaction, we can influence infection by the Lyme disease agent.”

Several years ago there was a Lyme vaccine on the market that utilized just the outer surface proteins of the bacteria. It was taken off the market in 2002, and to date no other antigen has been tested in phase III clinical trials.

The authors believe this new strategy of targeting the saliva — the “vector molecule” that a microbe requires to infect a host — may be applicable not just to Lyme disease but to other insect-borne pathogens that also cause human illness.

“We believe that it is likely that many arthropod-borne infection agents of medical importance use vector proteins as they move to the mammalian host,” Fikrig explained. “If so, then this paradigm, described with the Lyme disease agent, is likely to be applicable to these illnesses. Currently, we are working to determine if this strategy is likely to be important for West Nile virus infection, dengue fever, and malaria, among other diseases.”

Other researchers were Jianfeng Dai, Penghua Wang, Sarojini Adusumilli, Carmen J. Booth and Sukanya Narasimhan of Yale School of Medicine, and Juan Anguita of the University of Massachusetts. This work was support by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

November 6, 2009

Bacterial antibiotic resistance genes discovered

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — joethetick @ 6:37 pm

Antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer and antibiotics are all substances that we use in an attempt to kill bacteria that might make us sick.Whether we are concerned about getting strep throat, bacterial meningitis or something else, these prevention methods can offer protection.

However, some bacteria, such as those that cause Staph and MRSA infections, are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Since the 1930s, researchers have been aware that bacteria may be able to resist treatment because they can morph into the L-form, or bacteria lacking cell walls.

Until the 1980s, not much else could be known about the L-form, but now, researchers at the Bloomberg School of Public Health have used a wide variety of modern molecular tools to learn more about the origin and biological functions of the L-form bacteria.

Ying Zhang, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Bloomberg, is the senior author of the study, which was published in PLoS ONE last month.

Not all bacteria can transform into the L-form, but those that can include Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Treponema pallidum (syphilis), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis), Heliobacter pylori (stomach ulcers and cancer), Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease) and Escherichia coli (food poisoning). Zhang’s team used E. coli to create a culture of L-form bacteria.

Although it had been difficult to culture L-form bacteria before, Zhang and his team created a new method that more closely simulated the in vivo conditions in which these bacteria form.

“The presence of antibiotic stress is cell wall inhibiting, like penicillin,” Zhang said. To prevent the cells from bursting because of this increased stress, Zhang’s team added sucrose to the cell media.
This culture represented the mechanism that occurs in the body. “L forms are formed in response to stress,” Zhang said. “They have a different mode of survival and replication from classical bacteria.” The cell wall-deficient bacteria cluster together in the shape of a fried egg rather than the smooth, homogeneous appearance of wild-type bacteria cultures.

Not only are L-form bacteria difficult to culture and therefore study, but this “fried egg” cluster is part of what makes the L-form bacteria resistant to antibiotics, in addition to the fact that they do not have cell walls for commonly used antibiotics to disintegrate.

Once Zhang and his team were able to successfully culture L-form E. coli, they screened for and identified mutants that fail to grow at the L-form. From these mutants, they were able to discover a series of genes that were linked with the inability to grow in the L-form.

“These fall into four to five different categories involving extracellular matrix synthesis, membrane proteins, membrane biogenesis, DNA repair as well as iron metabolism and energy metabolism,” Zhang said.

Their identification of these genes and their effect on L-form bacterial expression is a resounding discovery because it was impossible to do before, what with the difficulty of culturing the L-forms of various bacteria. Zhang noted, however, that although his team managed to create and study a culture of L-form bacteria, their study cannot be universal.

“What we can culture is only a small percentage – probably less than 1 percent – of all bacteria on earth,” Zhang said.
“They exist in nature and grow easily, but we’re limited to what we can grow and the form of bacteria that can grow. Bacteria can grow a variety of different forms even for the same species, and can change forms under different conditions. L-forms are one example of changing under antibiotic stress.”

These L-forms of various bacteria may be the underlying reason for chronic resistant and recurring diseases, such as sarcoidosis, various forms of inflammatory bowel diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. Zhang is confident that there will be many practical applications of this discovery.

“It is possible, with our discovery of the L-form genes to develop new antibiotics and more effective ones that can be used with current ones as well as new vaccines to . . . allow these forms to be eliminated by the immune system,” he said.

jhunewsletter.com
By Aleena Lakhanpal

October 29, 2009

Gender Bias in Chronic Lyme Disease

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News — Tags: , , , — joethetick @ 10:28 pm

Journal of Women’s Health Oct 2009, Vol. 18, No. 10: 1717-1718. (Source: Journal of Women)

Gender Bias in Chronic Lyme Disease

To cite this article:
Raphael B. Stricker, Lorraine Johnson. Journal of Women’s Health. October 2009, 18(10): 1717-1718. doi:10.1089/jwh.2009.1657.
Published in Volume: 18 Issue 10: October 26, 2009

Raphael B. Stricker, M.D. and Lorraine Johnson, J.D., M.B.A.
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), Bethesda, Maryland.

Address correspondence to:
Raphael B. Stricker, M.D.
450 Sutter Street, Suite 1504
San Francisco, CA 94108

October 26, 2009

A Father-of-two is seriously ill with the potentially life-threatening Lyme Disease

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — joethetick @ 4:53 pm

Dad battles deadly tick bite illness after Lake District trip

A Father-of-two is seriously ill with the potentially life-threatening Lyme Disease after being bitten by a blood-sucking parasite while in the Lake District.

Father of two, Kevin Slater, 48, was walking in Grisedale Valley, Patterdale, when he was bitten by a tick.

A tick is an arachnid that cuts through flesh with barbed teeth before inserting a needle-like feeding tube.

The disease has now developed into encephalitis – inflammation of the brain that can cause brain damage, blindness and even death.

Now, after receiving conflicting medical advice, Mr Slater is calling for a greater recognition of Lyme Disease among the UK medical profession, and that landowners erect warning signs in places known to house ticks carrying Lyme Disease.

Mr Slater noticed the parasite clinging to his calf while in the shower the day after the walk in August.

“It looked like a blood clot. I brushed it and it fell off.

“I picked it up and could see it had small legs. It was fully engorged – very round and filled with blood,” he said.

Aware not all ticks carry Lyme Disease, Mr Slater carried on as normal.

“Three days later I began to feel very odd. The first feeling was like motion sickness; light headed and giddy. Then there was a feeling of nausea,” he said.

Mr Slater, a self-employed engineering consultant from York, was in Germany and rang NHS Direct.

Back in the UK, he visited various doctors, becoming frust-rated with their advice, which he felt was contradictory.

NHS director of public health for the North West, Professor John Ashton, said the UK was behind America in recognising Lyme Disease, but steps were now being taken to make people more aware of the dangers.

Mr Slater has been unable to work for eight weeks and is currently receiving antibiotic treatment from his specialist in Newcastle.

www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk

John Drulle M.D. Memorial Lyme Fund Inc Masquerade Fundraiser

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease Fundraisers, Lyme Disease News — Tags: , , , , , , , — joethetick @ 4:46 pm

Masquerade in Point Pleasant will benefit Lyme disease research

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The John Drulle M.D. Memorial Lyme Fund Inc. is holding its annual masquerade fundraiser from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Jenkinson’s Pavilion.

The nonprofit organization was named after a noted physician from Jackson who was a pioneer in Lyme disease research in Ocean County.

The Great Imitator Masquerade will include music by disc jockey Mr. Bill, a buffet, games, a silent auction and prizes for costumes.

Proceeds will help support research and education about Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

Tickets purchased in advance are $20 for adults, and $10 for children between the ages of 6 and 18. Children 5 and younger will be admitted for free.

Tickets will cost $5 more at the door.

Anyone wishing to purchase tickets or seeking further information may call Betty at (732) 542-7308.

Report indicates Sedlacek suffers from schizophrenia

Filed under: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — joethetick @ 11:03 am

Suspect in Maryville pastor’s shooting death found unfit for trial
BY BRIAN BRUEGGEMANN – News-Democrat

EDWARDSVILLE — A Troy man accused of shooting down a church pastor during a sermon is mentally unfit to stand trial, a Madison County judge ruled Tuesday.

Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli based the ruling on a report he received from court-appointed psychologist Robert Heilbronner’s examination of Terry Sedlacek.

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed the psychologist would testify that Sedlacek is schizophrenic and probably wouldn’t be able to understand the legal proceedings or assist in his own defense.

Sedlacek, 27, is accused of fatally shooting the Rev. Fred Winters of First Baptist Church in Maryville on March 8.

Sedlacek has no apparent connection to the church or to Winters. His attorneys said early on in the case that Sedlacek’s mental health deteriorated after he contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite years ago.

His attorneys, Ron Slemer and Madison County Public Defender John Rekowski, filed a motion in July asking for the mental examination. They argued that Sedlacek has “visual and auditory hallucinations,” speaks in a code and is bipolar and schizophrenic.

The motion also cited the tick-borne illness and other maladies, dating back at least 10 years.

He has suffered bouts of erratic behavior his family has attributed to Lyme disease, though Tognarelli’s three-page ruling makes no reference to the ailment.

Tognarelli wrote that prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that Heilbronner, if called to testify, would describe Sedlacek as a schizophrenic likely to provide his attorneys with inaccurate or illogical explanations for his behavior.

Heilbronner also found that Sedlacek would “have significant difficulty listening to and understanding explanations that are provided to him and be unable to respond in a relevant manner during pleading or testimony.”

Tognarelli ordered that Sedlacek be put in custody of the state Department of Human Services for treatment.

Madison County State’s Attorney Bill Mudge said Sedlacek “will be housed in a secure facility once transferred. The department will then evaluate and treat the defendant. If he responds to treatment and is subsequently found fit to stand trial, the people of the state of Illinois stand ready to prosecute this case and seek justice for the victims, their families, the congregation at First Baptist Church of Maryville, and the citizens of this state.”

Rekowski said the judge’s finding is “obviously the correct ruling.”

Within 30 days, the Department of Human Services will give the judge a report on whether Sedlacek is likely to become fit to stand trial within a year.

Sedlacek drove from his home in Troy on March 8 and walked into the church with a .45-caliber Glock and more than 30 rounds of ammo, police said. He sauntered down the aisle to the pulpit, then opened fire on Winters.

The first shot, according to witnesses, hit the Bible that Winters was holding, producing a cloud of confetti that some of the roughly 150 congregants thought was perhaps part of a skit or drama. One of the bullets went through Winters’ heart. The others missed him. The gun jammed after the fourth shot. Police have said that the gunman had 30 rounds of ammunition on him, and that the death and injury toll could have been much worse if the gun had not jammed.

Sedlacek had marked March 8 as “death day” in a day planner, according to prosecutors. In Sedlacek’s bedroom, police also found an index card that had “last day will” written on it, along with a voice recorder. Authorities have not revealed the contents of the voice recorder.

Sedlacek also stabbed two church members who rushed him and restrained him. They survived.

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