Fw: [mscured] Bacteria linked to MS

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Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2004 1:49 AM

Subject: [mscured] Bacteria linked to MS

>

> Bacteria linked to MS

> VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY

> http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/04/24/ms24.shtml

> Published by

> The Tennessean

> Saturday, 4/24/99

> Brad Lamons

> Brad Lamons, a former DARE officer for the Bedford County Sheriff's

> Department, has apparently recovered from multiple sclerosis after

> receiving antibiotic therapy. (Randy Piland / Staff)

> By Bill Snyder / Tennessean Staff Writer

>

> Vanderbilt University researchers have found compelling evidence linking

> multiple sclerosis to a bacterial infection.

>

> Genetic evidence of the bacteria, Chlamydia pneumoniae, was found in the

> spinal fluid from 17 patients with recently diagnosed MS, Dr.

> Subramaniam Sriram reported yesterday at an American Academy of

> Neurology meeting in Toronto.

>

> This is not the same chlamydia that causes sexually transmitted disease.

> That's Chlamydia trachomatis, a different species.

>

> Nor have the Vanderbilt researchers proved Chlamydia pneumoniae causes

> MS, a mysterious and debilitating neurological disorder that afflicts

> more than 250,000 Americans including an estimated 2,000 Middle

> Tennesseans.

>

> But according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, which is

> supporting the research, " this provocative study could shed new light on

> the cause of MS, and may have important long-term implications for

> potential MS therapies. "

>

> Sriram's research began in July 1996, when a seriously ill deputy

> sheriff from Bedford County was admitted to Vanderbilt University

> Medical Center.

>

> Five months after he developed symptoms of MS -- vision problems and

> tingling down his left side -- Brad Lamons was unable to move either leg

> or his left arm, and he was having difficulty swallowing.

>

> " I was scared, " said Lamons, 26, of Tullahoma. " I was going down so fast

> that within a week or so I'm afraid I'd have been on a ventilator. "

>

> When tests of his spinal fluid came back positive for chlamydia, Sriram

> put him on an aggressive, 18-month-long course of powerful antibiotics.

>

> Several weeks later, with the help of a physical therapist, Lamons was

> walking again.

>

> He has continued to improve, without a relapse, for nearly three years,

> though he can no longer work as a deputy because he tires easily. Lamons

> said he hopes to train for a job in computer-aided drafting.

>

> Inspired by Lamons' dramatic recovery, Sriram, a professor of neurology

> who directs Vanderbilt's MS center, began looking for chlamydia in other

> patients with MS.

>

> He and his colleagues, including Dr. M. , professor of

> pathology, and Dr. W. Stratton, director of clinical

> microbiology, were able to grow bacteria from the spinal fluid of eight

> of 17 patients with a recently diagnosed form of MS.

>

> Using a sophisticated laboratory test, the scientists also found genetic

> evidence of the organism in the spinal fluid of all of the patients.

>

> In comparison, the researchers were not able to grow chlamydia from the

> spinal fluid of any of 13 " controls, " people who did not have a

> diagnosis of MS.

>

> Bacterial genes were found in two of the controls, but these patients

> exhibited symptoms, including inflammation of the spinal cord,

> suggesting they may have had a first attack of multiple sclerosis,

> Sriram said.

>

> In an interview, Sriram cautioned against drawing too enthusiastic a

> conclusion from the Vanderbilt study or from Lamons' anecdotal

> experience.

>

> In most cases, the disease waxes and wanes. Patients may experience

> temporary relief from symptoms, only to relapse within a few weeks or

> months, he said.

>

> MS destroys myelin, an insulating material that helps transmit nerve

> signals. Symptoms include blurred or double vision, muscle weakness, and

> problems with balance, coordination and other neurological functions.

>

> The cause of MS is unknown, but many experts believe it results from an

> abnormal immune response -- a misguided, " friendly fire " attack on the

> body by its own defense system.

>

> Chlamydia may simply be an innocent bystander -- a secondary infection

> of already damaged nerves.

>

> But MS behaves like a chronic infection, and scientists for years have

> looked for a culprit. Sriram said the link between chlamydia and

> multiple sclerosis is " extremely high -- much higher than any other

> organism people have looked at in the past. "

>

> The next step is to reproduce these findings in larger numbers of

> patients. Ultimately, he said, a carefully conducted treatment study,

> comparing patients who received antibiotics to those who did not, will

> be necessary to settle the question.

>

> Chlamydia pneumoniae, which is spread through the air, is a common cause

> of pneumonia. Increasing evidence suggests it also can infect blood

> vessel walls and may be an important factor in the development of heart

> disease.

>

> " It turns out chlamydia infection is one of the leading hot topics in

> stroke, as well, " added Dr. Walter Koroshetz, a neurologist at Harvard

> Medical School who was familiar with Sriram's work.

>

> " If this is (also) at the bottom of MS, there are medications that can

> probably kill this bug. "

>

> " This thing, if it's true, just would be unbelievable, " added Bill

> Weaver, a former insurance executive who has multiple sclerosis, and

> whose family endowed a chair in MS at Vanderbilt six years ago.

>

> The $1.25 million endowment allowed Vanderbilt to recruit Sriram from

> the University of Vermont to direct its new MS center.

>

> " It has been our dream that Dr. Sriram would uncover some information

> about (MS) that could help other people, as well as Bill, " said Weaver's

> mother, Craig Proctor, a former Belle Meade mayor. " When we

> see all these people in wheelchairs, it simply breaks our hearts. "

>

> http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/04/24/ms24.shtml

>

>

>

>

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> Have a nice day !

>