Another area of research neglected to our detriment - on #Lymedisease
Sexual transmission of Lyme disease demonstrated over twenty years ago: Several folks have requested information about this study. In 1993, the University ofWisconsin's John Michael Gustafson, Ph.D. published his 172-page thesis. In it, he revealed troubling findings about Lyme disease transmission in foxes.
Not only did Gustafson's work show that the animals may pass Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) to their young while still in the womb (and that tests may not detect these "seronegative Lyme disease" cases), he found clear evidence that Lyme disease may be sexually-transmitted.
Unfortunately, like so much of the Lyme disease research, this 20+ year old work hasn't been readily shared with medical doctors and researchers by government health officials. Just imagine how much farther along we'd be...how much closer to finding a cure...if ALL of the evidence about Lyme disease was openly acknowledged and explored over the years. What if the CDC and NIH had encouraged and funded scientists to investigate ALL avenues...including sexual transmission, seronegative disease, persistence, various Borrelia species causing disease, etc?
Thankfully, many doctors who treat Lyme disease have educated themselves about all of the research (not just the one-sided studies listed by IDSA and CDC). And, in recent years, some independent researchers have taken it upon themselves to further investigate sexual transmission of Bb in humans. Kudos to them!
Here's an interesting summary of Gustafson's 1993 findings in foxes with GALDA's thanks to BettyG, who does a great job over at MD Junction:http://www.mdjunction.com/forums/lyme-disease-support-forums/studies-research/2365038-in-utero-bb-transmissionseronegative-vixenfoxes
