Biofilm and Infections

[Guest guest]

Lyme-Induced Autism Conference Focuses on Biofilm and Toxicity

> by Budinger

>

> Dr. Fry suspects that inside biofilms are pink elongated microorganisms that

may be the causative agent of much chronic disease. He is mapping the genetic

components of these microorganisms.

>

> Peeking into the secret world of biofilm and shifting through common

environmental toxins may hold the keys to understanding the current epidemic of

chronic disease.

>

> That was the theme at the third annual Lyme-Induced Autism (LIA) Conference

held last month in sdale, AZ. The event serves as a think tank for

practitioners and parents on the forefront of the epidemic.

>

> Biofilm - The Hot Topic

>

> The quest to understand biofilm is changing the paradigm of blood pathology.

The conventional wisdom is that blood is sterile because nothing can be cultured

from it, but clearly, we have pathogens floating around in blood. " Blood is not

sterile. We have to drop that idea, " said Dr. Jeff Wulfman of Vermont. " Forty

percent of blood samples contain cell wall deficient bacteria. What are the

other factors in blood? We are only beginning to understand. "

>

> Biofilm is also in the blood, as well as the gut and on the teeth. Biofilm is

a self-made protective environment in which microbial populations hide from the

body's immune system and anti-microbial therapies. Biofilm allows the bugs to

evade surveillance of the immune system and our best attempt to throw

antibiotics at them. Biofilm communities can be 1000 times more resistant to

antibiotics than free-floating bacteria. Ever tried and failed to knock out

candida with the anti-candida diet? Well, candida too hides in the biofilm where

it helps the bad guys by stimulating inflammation. The National Institutes of

Health estimates that nearly 80 percent of chronic microbial infections are due

to biofilm colonies.

>

> Teasing out elements hidden in blood is what Dr. Fry and his

colleagues do at Fry Labs in sdale, Arizona. " I don't think Borrelia is the

main problem in Lyme disease, " Dr. Fry explained. " We only have one picture of

it in the thousands of slides that have gone through our lab. There is something

else that stains like bacteria, and looks like bacteria, in people who are sick.

Many of the people we see have evidence of biofilm. There is more than one

pathogen in biofilm communities, but the microorganism we are mapping now may be

the main concern. "

>

> Dr. Fry finds that the sicker a person is, the more there will be biofilm

communities in the blood sample. " Six years ago, I established Fry Laboratories

to begin to identify the DNA of a particular pathogen we see in the biofilm. We

looked at the blood from various patients under the microscope and found signs

of this particular microorganism in many samples from patients ill with chronic

Lyme disease. So far, we have found some unique genes that make up this

microorganism; no other entity on earth is known to possess them. "

>

> Dr. Fry thinks the day is not far off when we may recognize a single

microorganism which hides itself in biofilm, and is responsible for symptoms of

Lyme disease, its co-infections, and many other expressions of chronic disease.

" As our work progresses, we will be able to further identify the genetic makeup

of this pathogen and then develop a reliable test for it, " he said. " It may be

that we can develop a simple protocol to knock it out. "

>

> But if one bug is the cause of Lyme disease, autism, and so much other chronic

disease, why do patients get so many different diagnoses and symptoms? " In the

biofilm community, there is a soup where many pathogens hide, " Dr. Fry said.

" For example, just about everybody over the age of 35 will test positive for

Epstein-Barr virus, but people usually are not sick from it. Not every bug in

the biofilm soup is causing symptoms. We think we've found that one is. And the

symptoms may vary based upon a person's genetics, environment, and pathogen

genotype. "

>

> Dr. Fry's take on biofilms is novel. " I could be barking up the wrong tree,

but maybe not. Remember that we used to think stomach ulcers were caused by too

much acid production. Then Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren turned medical

dogma on its head by proving that a bacterium was the cause. The pair identified

the bacterium H. pylori and proved how it causes inflammation, then ulcers.

Maybe in 10 years we will be smart enough to know that the 'auto' in

'autoimmune' actually means pathogen and the whole concept of autoimmunity will

change. Chronic inflammation is chronic infection. In autoimmune disease, my

model is that there is a chronic infection that cannot be eliminated, thus the

immune system is always switched on. The self antibodies are due to apoptosis

and death of host cells with host immune response. "

>

> Biofilms are also of great interest to Dr. Anju Usman of Illinois. " All of our

tough cases, the non responders - they show biofilms when we run their blood at

Fry's lab, " she explained. " Scientists are finding biofilms in polluted areas of

our body - the teeth, mouth, adenoids, sinuses, and intestinal tract. The immune

system recognizes a bug by proteins on its outer membrane. What happens when the

bugs don't produce outer membrane proteins? Well, these bugs don't. " Biofilms

act as a unique cloaking device.

>

> Dr. Usman is focused on dismantling the biofilm. " Let's look at what happened

when experts tackled the superbug, MRSA. One of the most effective drugs against

MRSA is vancomycin. But they couldn't knock it out because there was a biofilm.

However, when they combined the drug with EDTA, then the chelating agent pulled

out the calcium, magnesium, and iron - all elements of biofilm - and dismantled

the film. "

>

> That raises the question of what supplements and nutrients may inadvertently

feed the biofilm. " When trying to kill bugs, if you take calcium, you may not be

making headway, " Usman said. " Calcium, iron, and magnesium block our efforts to

dismantle the biofilm. "

>

> Dr. Usman uses EDTA to open up the biofilm. EDTA, ethylenediaminetetr aacetic

acid, is a chelating agent used to lower one's body burden of heavy metals.

Another important resource is iron chelating compounds. " Outer membrane

proteins " are easy for drugs to see, but they are not expressed when iron is

present. " Our bodies make proteins, transferrin and lactoferrin, which mop up

iron and block the ability of biofilm to form, " she said. " But pathogenic

bacteria secrete iron chelators to snatch up iron and thus compete with the

transferrin and lactoferrin for what they need to survive. "

> To break down biofilm, Dr. Usman also uses enzymes such as serrapeptase,

derived from silk worms, and nattokinase which penetrates the GI tract and gets

into the blood where it breaks down fibrin. Biofilm requires formation of

fibrin. Probiotics and synbiotics - a combination of pre- and pro-biotics -

crowd out bad bacteria, and also help disrupt biofilm along the mucus membrane.

>

> " When the film opens up, we do not know what is under there, and the immune

system may not know what is under there, so you might get sick, " Usman said.

" And it is not always about killing the bugs. It is more important to change the

gastrointestinal environment so the bugs don't grow. "