Detecting Mycoplasmas

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Detecting Mycoplasmas

When the Nicolsons began to explore the connection between GWI and mycoplasma, they first had to figure out how to screen people with GWI signs and symptoms for the presence of these pathogens.

This was easier said than done.

Since mycoplasmas are extremely small, change shape and lack rigid and distinctive cell walls, they’re impossible to find using conventional microbiology techniques. They won’t grow in a standard culture medium, and they are not usually revealed by standard tests that look for antibodies (proteins made by a white blood cell as a primary defense against foreign substances). Some people do show antibody responses to certain mycoplasmas, but antibody tests are still not specific enough to make a diagnosis.

Using a technique called nucleoprotein gene tracking developed by the Nicolsons, they were able to identify mycoplasma genetic elements in white blood cells of GWI patients. However, conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR0 tests performed by Army pathologists did not confirm the presence of mycoplasma DNA.

Eventually, the Nicolsons developed a new PCR test based on techniques used by forensic pathologists to test for DNA from crime scenes. This test revealed that over 40% of the GWI patients were positive for “invasive” mycoplasma (not mycoplasma in superficial sites such as nose, throat and genitourinary tract).

The Nicolsons found mycoplasmas, especially M. fermentans, inside tissues and in certain white blood cells – the very cells that are normally involved in the destruction of pathogenic invaders. “Mycoplasmas are not found systemically in most normal subjects – only a few percent of asymptomatic subjects have evidence of mycoplasma in their blood. I don’t consider oral mycoplasma, or mycoplasma at other superficial sites to be evidence of an infection. It is more likely simple bacterial colonization, and unless these mycoplasma invade the epithelial cell layer (a thin layer of tissue that covers a surface or lines a cavity), they are probably benign nonpathogenic residents,’ explains Nicolson.

The researchers’ results were significant and published in several journals. Other investigators, especially those working with Gulf War Vets, were able to duplicate the results, but the Nicolson’s work was largely dismissed or ignored by the Department of Defense.

However, in February, 2000, psychiatrist Lt. Col. Charles Engel, M.D., director of the Gulf War Illness Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, presented pivotal information to a CFS coordinating board at the National Institutes of Health. A study conducted independently for the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs demonstrated that approximately 40% of more than 1,600 GWI patients were positive for mycoplasma infections, and 80% of those were positive for M. fermentans. Lt. Col. Engel also stated that he felt that these infections might also be an important cause of CFS. The study findings nearly duplicated the figures that the Nicolsons had reported earlier: 45% positive for mycoplasma; 80% with M. fermentans.

Currently, other prominent researchers are corroborating the role of mycoplasma in disease. The number of known conditions in which mycoplasmas play a role is growing, thanks to advances in detection.

Mycoplasmas are now said to be contributors, or at least cofactors, in a number of conditions, including CFS/CFIDS, fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), lupus, multiple sclerosis (MS), psoriasis, scleroderma, Chrohn’s diseases, solid cancers, leukemia, lymphoma, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), asthma, atypical pneumonia, Sjogren’s syndrome, interstitial cystitis, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases. Mycoplasmas have also been associated with a variety if autoimmune diseases that can cause definite changes in nerve conduction, demyelation (a degenerative process that erodes away the myelin sheath that normally protects nerve fibers) and sensitivity.

DR. NICOLSON SAYS THAT THE ROLE OF MYCOPLASMAS IN VARIOUS ILLNESSES AND DISEASES IS NOW GRADUALLY BEING ACCEPTED, ESPECIALLY IN THOSE ONCE LONG-SUSPECTED AS “PSYCHOLOGICAL.”


Acceptance is due to the recognition that symptoms cannot be explained solely by psychological criteria, and because discrete clinical markers have been discovered. For example, the vascultitis (inflammation of blood vessels) found in mycoplasma-positive patients correlates with evidence of mycoplasma-induced abnormalities in blood cells and proteins related to blood clotting.

http://www.immunesupport.com/library...le.cfm?ID=3066