New Parasite Heat Treatment Treatment Device: Used On Soldiers’ Leishmania Lesions

[tcmgpt13]

So far, a new medical device to treat parasites called Thermomed seems to have only been used on US soldiers who have developed the cutaneous form of leishmaniasis. One session with this device has healed lesions after one treatment while treatment with one of the more commonly used medications for cutaneous leishmania has to be done for ten days. Results are said to be equal to the use of the medication. It is also more cost effective than using medication. There are plans to try to get the cost of this device lowered so they may be used in third world countries to treat those who have this form of leishmania.

I wonder if anyone at all has thought of trying this on a Morgellons lesion? Oh, yeah, I forgot. It’s self inflicted sores and the illness itself is imaginary. Anyway, here’s some information about this which I found pretty interesting and hope someone somewhere will get the bright idea of trying this device in developed nations too. I don’t know whether this treatment would help us as M seems to be a systemic disease, but just think if we could be treated every time a lesion developed and nip it in the bud immediately. Much of course would depend on whether or not it worked for an M lesion. This is one example of a new direction being pursued in the quest for new, safer and more cost effective parasite treatments.

Now if only we could get them to study M patients who have a history of skin lesions.

There's a link in this article to the more scientific discussion of the study using this product which was conducted on 56 soldiers.

Written on March 8, 2010 at 8:22 pm by Armed with Science STUDY: Heat Therapy Treats Parasitic Infection Among Soldiers in Iraq

Filed under Life Sciences {0}
Thermomed applies heat to kill the parasite that causes the skin infection. Courtesy Thermosurgery Technologies, Inc.

Ian Graham works for the Defense Media Activity’s Emerging Media Directorate.

A parasitic skin infection spread by sand flies common in Iraq and Afghanistan has a new foe: a handheld device called Thermomed.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis major, which has affected some 1,300 American servicemembers and civilians since the beginning of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, causes ulcer-like, non-healing sores on the skin around an infected bite.

Because the more common versions of leishmaniasis can infect the whole body, the only available medication is delivered intravenously and takes more than a week to run its course. In addition, the medicine, sodium stibogluconate, isn’t approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so it has to be acquired under a research protocol.

For the military, this means high costs in paying for the medicine and in transporting troops stateside for weeks at a time to receive treatment.

Dr. Naomi Aronson, the director of the infectious diseases division at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, found a solution to that problem in Thermomed, a small device that can be used to treat skin infections using heat. Results from the randomized treatment trial, which involved 56 military personnel who contracted L. major while serving in Iraq, are reported March 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Tropical Neglected Diseases.

“This device allows quick, easy, portable treatment,” Aronson said. “It worked just as well as our super-duper intravenous medicine for the infections we found in the desert.”

The device uses two small tines, like a fork, to apply heat in a localized area. By applying that heat in a grid over an infected bite, Aronson found the parasite causing the infection can be killed quickly. Without treatment, the infection can take anywhere from six to 12 months to fully heal.

The effects of Thermomed treatment on the patient’s skin are a small blister followed by a burn on the same level of pain as sunburn for a day. After that, discomfort was negligible.

For an infection this serious that can come as the result of an unassuming bug bite, it’s a relief to have a quick, portable solution. Aronson said it’s also beneficial because a leishmaniasis infection can be very scarring, and Thermomed devices are used in many cases to remove scars.

“Soldiers don’t want to leave the theater for weeks to fix a skin sore,” Aronson said. “This allows them to treat the infection without having to take troops out of action.”

The treatment is simple: lidocaine is used to numb the skin around the sore, then the Thermomed is applied to make a small grid of burns over the affected skin and surrounding area. After a few days, the pain is gone and the infection is dead.


STUDY: Heat Therapy Treats Parasitic Infection Among Soldiers in Iraq|Armed with Science

[tcmgpt13]

This information has been available since March, 2008. Interesting that we have not heard much about it before.There's more information in the pdf file:Conclusions/discussion: The variability in study protocols make it difficult to draw firmconclusions about the treatment efficacy of radiofrequency heat therapy using ThermoMed™ relative to available therapies for which greater clinical experience exists or for which different dosage schedules than those used in earlier studies are now recommended.

In general, ThermoMed™ as a single session local treatment option appears well-tolerated with local anesthesia and without exaggerated scarring or color changes. Evidence suggests that
the optimal candidates for ThermoMed™ are patients with less severe forms of infection in areas of the body that are appropriate for heat therapy and without evidence of lymphatic spread. Post treatment wound care is essential, as blistering and secondary infection are the
most common adverse effects. There is no consensus regarding the appropriate length of follow up, but evidence of complete or partial healing occurred within two months in the majority of cases. Longer follow up is desirable to detect recurrence or document slower healing lesions.

Conclusions about Skin Cancer treated with Thermomed (basal cell carcinoma abbreviated BBC in the report)

Regarding ThermoMed™ for treatment of basal cell carcinoma, Bath-Hextall (2007) lists implications for future research of BCC treatments in general:

• Promising preliminary results from an ongoing long-term study of imiquimod versus surgery
should be confirmed before routine use.
• Clinical trials comparing other alternatives to excisional surgery with long-term follow up data
(at least three years) should be conducted before recommending for routine use.
• Future trials should make clear which type of BCCs are being studied with respect to size,
location and histological types; morpheaform type and recurrent malignancies should be
analyzed separately.
• Assessment of adverse effects should include pain, cosmetic appearance and costs.

Conclusions about leishmaniasis treated with Thermomed:

Anecdotal evidence in Lobo (2006) suggested a systemic cytokinine response effect in bothtreatment groups, but further study is needed to determine if all lesions of a patient with multiplelesions require local heat therapy. Further study is also needed to determine if degree of
healing and duration of infection at clinical presentation and Leishmania species play importantroles in treatment effectiveness.

www.va.gov/VATAP/docs/ThermosurgeryDermotology2008tagm.pdf

[Baraka Obam]

The lesion pictures of this situation do not seem to match our lesions, some do look close but most pictures vary from what I have seen time after time, still that does not mean it is not a variant of this disease.

I would love to try this machine. I am gonna have to look up and see how it works.

[tcmgpt13]

Well, you have access to the VA. Perhaps they may get them in the dermatology departments.

The Army research came out of Walter Reed Hospital in D.C., but I imagine that's mostly for active duty and veterans of the current war.

The more I look into this the more I wonder about Leishmania. Vets of all wars since WWII have been in areas which have risks for exposure to this parasite. So it does leave me pondering.

I believe that most of the Leishmania lesion pictures look different than our lesions too but you never know. There's no way of saying each of us have had the same exposures either or have the same basis for our illnesses. Many different parasites and disease organisms can cause skin lesions, that's for sure. Still the similarities are there too. In my case I know it could not just be one parasite like Leishmania, not unless there is also some other parasite which accompanies the Leishmania parasite as I have a recurrent visible parasite associated with the lesions. So far I cannot find any association between Leishmania and a macro type parasite.

[Baraka Obam]

maybe our symptom disease's are not exact as we all have been exposed to different things, also our bodys immune responce may be different according to our DNA, previous exposier, symbiotic relation ships of pathogens, mutations, ethnic disease, foods, and who knows what else enters the equasion.

This other matter of a designer disease I do not imagine as we have too much in common, if we did not we would still be running around saying why am I the only one. We know there is somthing we all have in common, and it is the culprit.