Raphael B Stricker

Background: Recent reports indicate that more than 300,000 cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed yearly in the USA. Preliminary clinical, epidemiological and immunological studies suggest that infection with the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) could be transferred from person to person via intimate human contact without a tick vector. Failure to detect viable Borrelia spirochetes in vaginal and seminal secretions would argue against this hypothesis. Methods: Patients with ...

Problem: Intravenous Immunoglobulins (IVIG) are widely used off label in the treatment of early reproductive failure. As IVIG is expensive, and may have side-effects, evidence of efficacy is needed. Previous results have suggested that the pre-conception treatment of primary recurrent abortion patients might be effective, but the data set has been too small for adequate statistical power. More recently it has been suggested that IVIG may improve the success rate of in vitro fertilization ...

BACKGROUND: Controversy exists regarding the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. Patients with persistent symptoms after standard (2-4-week) antibiotic therapy for this tickborne illness have been denied further antibiotic treatment as a result of the perception that long-term infection with the Lyme spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, and associated tickborne pathogens is rare or nonexistent.

METHODS: I review the pathophysiology of B. burgdorferi infection and the peer-reviewed ...

BACKGROUND: Morgellons disease (MD) is a complex skin disorder characterized by ulcerating lesions that have protruding or embedded filaments. Many clinicians refer to this condition as delusional parasitosis or delusional infestation and consider the filaments to be introduced textile fibers. In contrast, recent studies indicate that MD is a true somatic illness associated with tickborne infection, that the filaments are keratin and collagen in composition and that they result from ...

A patient with a lymphoproliferative disorder developed bleeding associated with a prolonged bleeding time and a selective defect of platelet aggregation in response to ristocetin. The patient's purified IgG was shown to inhibit aggregation of washed normal platelets by ristocetin and von Willebrand factor (F VIII:vWF). By Western blotting, it was shown that antibody bound specifically to an antigen of Mr 210,000 present on normal platelets but missing on platelets from patients with ...

BACKGROUND: Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Although antibiotic therapy is usually effective early in the disease, relapse may occur when administration of antibiotics is discontinued. Studies have suggested that resistance and recurrence of Lyme disease might be due to formation of different morphological forms of B. burgdorferi, namely round bodies (cysts) and biofilm-like colonies. Better understanding of the effect of antibiotics on ...

Complement split products C3a and C4a are reportedly elevated in patients with acute Lyme disease. We have now examined these immunologic markers in patients with chronic Lyme disease compared to appropriate disease controls. The study population consisted of 29 healthy controls, 445 patients with chronic Lyme disease, 11 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and six patients with AIDS. The Lyme disease patients were divided according to predominant musculoskeletal symptoms ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of low-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment in older women with immunologic abnormalities and recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), a condition referred to as immunologic abortion.

DESIGN: Prospective clinical trial.

SETTING: Outpatient referral practice.

PATIENT(S): Forty-seven women were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the women was 37 years (range, 28-45 years), and the mean number of prior miscarriages was 3.7. Immunologic ...

Background: Borrelia spirochetes are tick-borne Gram-negative bacteria that cause disease in humans and animals. Although many studies have focused on Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the agent of Lyme disease, recent studies have examined the role of Relapsing Fever Borrelia (RFB) in human disease. In this pilot study, we have evaluated serological reactivity against Bb and RFB in patients residing in California.

Methods: Serological testing for reactivity to Bb and RFB antigens was performed ...

Patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related conditons are known to have abnormalities of T cell subpopulations, including a decreased helper/inducer (bearing the CD4 antigen) to suppressor/cytotoxic (bearing the CDS antigen) T cell ratio and decreased absolute numbers of T cells with the CD4+ phenotype1,2. Infection of T cells with a retrovirus, termed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is thought to be important in these abnormalities3–5. HIV infection ...

INTRODUCTION: Lyme disease is a tickborne illness that generates controversy among medical providers and researchers. One of the key topics of debate is the existence of persistent infection with the Lyme spirochete, Borreliaburgdorferi, in patients who have been treated with recommended doses of antibiotics yet remain symptomatic. Persistent spirochetal infection despite antibiotic therapy has recently been demonstrated in non-human primates. We present evidence of persistent Borrelia ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic Lyme disease (LD) is a debilitating illness caused by tickborne infection with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Although immunologic abnormalities appear to play a role in this disease, specific immunologic markers of chronic LD have not been identified.

METHODS: We evaluated 73 patients with chronic LD for lymphocyte subset abnormalities using flow cytometry. Of these, 53 patients had predominant musculoskeletal symptoms, while 20 patients had predominant ...