Cynthia M Chase

BIOFILM:  A NEW HIDEOUT FOR BORRELLIA BURGDORFERI

It is as though Dr.Eva Sapi is on a Safari in the deepest jungle in Africa.  She is mapping out a totally unknown area of the world filled with dangerous animals, new forms of life never seen by man (or woman) and she is armed only with her microscope.  She is in this reality Eva Sapi, Ph.D., assistant professor of cellular and molecular biology at the University of New Haven, Connecticut.  Her brand new article in the Lyme Times summarizes her research on an entity called biofilm.  A rather dry word, but an amazing concept.  For those of us lay persons interested in Lyme disease and co-infections and why it appears that some people have chronic infection the concept is revolutionary in its possibilities.

Here is how it works:  the research shows that when enough microbes gather they begin to adhere to each other or to living or inert surfaces.  These organisms then communicate to each other and start a change in “gene expression” that allows the cells to produce something called “exopolysaccharide” which becomes a “protective matrix“.

Like a moat which surrounds the castle it provides protection from attacking forces – like phagocytes or antibacterial agents!  Not only that, German scientists  using  marine bacteria identified that this biofilm actually is capable of  releasing a paralyzing agent.  “It appears that biofilm is not just a defensive fortress, it can also fight back.”

Dr. Sapi in conjunction with Dr. Alan MacDonald has recently worked “in vitro” to study biofilm formation of Borrelia burgdorferi. In her words:  “In summary, if we can demonstrate that biofilm structure of Borrelia burgdorferi renders them resistant to antibiotics, it could provide a logical explanation as to why extensive antibiotic treatment for patients with a tick-bite history could fail.  The end result from our study could provide novel therapeutic approaches for Lyme literate physicians to explore for chronically ill patients”

Please go to lymetimes.org for the above-reviewed article in its entirety and join to receive the most up-to-date research and support.

Cynthia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 9:46 pm and is filed under Interesting Publications, Lyme disease.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.