(First posted July 2000)
From Dr. Lynn Shepler on Anthrax-no list...
Hello to all,
I have been most impressed by the accomplishments of this
group and have spent a great deal of time reading the anthrax vaccine websites.
I began reading about the anthrax vaccine issues after I went to the website
for the House Committee on Government Reform related to my interest on hearings
on the Lyme vaccine.
I am a physician who has been active in Lyme disease patient
advocacy groups for the last 4 years. I speculate whether this group may have
insights into present day problems experienced by those in the Lyme community,
particularly as it relates to military interests in vaccines and the abuses
accompanying those interests.
The bizarre plan outlined on the JVAP website is
astonishing. It is difficult to believe this has been engineered by anyone with
a medical or scientific background. It is implausible, like a child’s fantasy
of protection against bad bugs.
Given the level of fantasy that seems to have taken hold
in the DOD about the power of vaccines, many of us wonder if this has not been
a factor in the distortions (I call it “fraud”) in many of the mainstream
papers on Lyme disease. The CDC has a peculiar interest in policing the belief
system of doctors treating Lyme in private practice, to the point that
physicians holding different views than is contained in these distorted (i.e., fraudulent)
papers are being prosecuted by medical boards. When one examines these papers
and asks, Who is being served by these distortions? The answer is clearly the
vaccine manufacturers --- and anyone else holding an interest in the vaccine.
There is now a major class action suit against SmithKline
Beecham related to serious adverse reactions to the vaccine. It appears that
many of these patients were likely already infected with Borrelia burgdorferi
at the time they were “vaccinated.” However, there is a tight knit clique of government-associated
“scientists” who deny that seronegative Lyme exists. (This is itself a product of their own creation since they
themselves designed the problematic system embodied in the current-CDC
methodology of diagnosing Lyme disease --- but that is an entirely different
story....)
Most importantly, if these researchers did not deny the
existence of seronegative Lyme, then there would be no way the vaccine trial
protocol ever could have made it through an IRB. In a Lyme endemic area, some
of the people you are “vaccinating” are already infected!! The other obvious
problematic aspect of this is, if you can’t tell who is and who is not
infected, then how can you use these same tools to tell how efficacious the
vaccine is? You can’t. The study becomes a sham.
When these people are “vaccinated,” they develop symptoms
of full blown Lyme disease. The vaccine does not carry any live component, so
there is some other mechanism for this not currently understood. Of note, the
symptoms of chronic Lyme disease resemble symptoms associated with GWS and
symptoms post-anthrax vaccine.
In any case, while there are sizable commercial interests at
stake here
related to the commercialization of the Lyme vaccine, many
of us wonder if
there aren’t also unstated military interests at play here.
For example,
Russian and China are full of Borrelia. One of the
researchers in question,
in fact, has been traveling to the former USSR since 1986 to
collect
specimens through an NIH grant. The description of the work
states its
through the US-USSR Biological Health Agreement. I have been
able to find no
reference to such an agreement. The person in charge of
research related to
Lyme disease at the CDC also happens to be involved in
bioterrorism committees and publishes on the plague. At least, based on
circumstances, these associations raise questions as to whether a dominant
interest in this disease among top level officials and researchers could be
military in its orientation.
A friend of mine runs a lab devoted to tick borne
diseases. This person told me the Army has a history of issuing RFPs for
projects related to Borrelia burgdorferi that look like they are only for in
theatre use. What is ironic is that the Army seems to have two views of this
disease: (1) an interest in it for purposes of the military theatre; (2)
absolutely no interest in treating its personnel who are ill with it here in
the States.
This is a long introduction to my question to you, and
that is whether or not you see any connections between the DOD’s interest here
in the anthrax vaccine and possible interests by JVAP in a Borrelia vaccine.
Looks to me like they’ve included just about every vaccine in their toy chest.
Historically, Borrelia supposedly has held the interest of
German scientists as an agent used in biowarfare. Borrelia burgdorferi and
other species of Borrelia are listed among the biological agents to be
monitored in the UNSCOM report vis a vis Iraq.
I am also interested to know whether the Michigan Dept of
Public Health (aka “Bioport”) ever had a Borrelia vaccine in the works. Does
anyone know more about the politics of the MI Dept of Health? Of note, they
were the first to prosecute a physician related to his treatment of Lyme
disease patients. It appears that this occurred under the behest of a David T.
Dennis, MD of the CDC. The physician was barred from treating Lyme patients. He
was a competent, conscientious and caring physician. It is amazing to read the record
from the proceedings of his prosecution available through FOIA.
These physician prosecutions have sprung up throughout the
country. (No, I have not been one of those...) It appears these are occurring
under State direction with involvement by this clique of researchers with
inroads to the CDC. It is very strange. The doctors who are being prosecuted
represent a threat to the CDC’s propaganda about the disease because if what we
say is true, it will be impossible to commercialize any Lyme vaccine. At least
until the technical problems re: seronegative Lyme disease are resolved. These
have proven to be intractable since the organism was first reported in the U.S.
in 1975.
What is occurring is that these patients without vigorous
antibody evidence for the organism are being told they don’t have the disease
and are being denied treatment. I have seen many tragic results. (B.
burgdorferi resembles T. pallidum and untreated disease can resemble late stage
syphilis in many respects.) What is also notable is that many patients with
chronic borreliosis don’t test positive until AFTER they have received
antibiotics. Then, if you retest, you
will often see, for example, additional bands on western blot, etc. This same
phenomenon has been observed in Europe related to seronegative syphilis. What
is also remarkable is that using antibiotics, you also see Jarish-Herxheimer’s
reactions in these chronic borreliosis patients that helps to confirm the
diagnosis.
Doctors are being told that these diagnostic methods are
not permissible. They are being told
they are ordering unnecessary laboratory tests and unnecessary antibiotics.
There is nothing there.
It is as though there is a deliberate attempt by officials
in our government to cover up this disease. And also to coverup in order to
bring these vaccines to market. Vaccines seem to be the Holy Grail these days.
Related to chronic fatigue syndrome, in reanalyzing some
data in an old publication on Lyme disease, it appears there may also be marked
gender differences in the way these tests are able to diagnose the disease. For
example, in a population of CDC-surveillance criteria Lyme patients (very restrictive
criteria), use of simply an IgG titer for Lyme missed 53% of female patients,
whereas it missed only 14% of male patients. Women also seem to have fewer
number of bands expressed on IgG western blot, compared to males. The average
number of bands per female patient with confirmed Lyme disease was fewer than
five. Five is the cut off point determined by the CDC to constitute a “positive”
test. Males as a group exceeded five bands, females as a group averaged less
than five bands. The obvious concern is that the sex bias in these tests result
in women being told they don’t have Lyme disease when they truly are infected
and require treatment. This parallels what I observed in my private practice.
Chronic Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome are
clinically indistinguishable. The ONLY distinguishing factor is a lab test
indicating that one has Borrelia. If women as a group do not test positive on
the commonly used tests for Borrelia burgdorferi, then this may explain the sex
differences in what we are calling “chronic fatigue syndrome.” The two groups look
identical. Seems to me that these tests define women out of the picture ---
they have Lyme but are told they don’t because of the sex bias of the antibody
tests.
I would be interested in any of your thoughts about what I’ve
presented here --- JVAP, military interests in vaccines, Bioport, etc.
Best to all,
Lynn Shepler, MD, JD
Mountain View, CA
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