#45: Bela Chheda, MD on Lyme & Co-Infections Testing & Treatment

Why are chronic, persistent infections like Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia and others like long-COVID and Epstein-Barr Virus so difficult to diagnose and treat? Infectious Disease specialist, Dr Bela Chheda, MD, walks us step by step through testing options including Elisa, Western Blot, PCR, Immunoblot (Igenix, Vibrant America), FISH testing for Babesia (Igenix), and some of the uncommonly tested parts of the immune system like the T-cells (InfectoLab). She also reviews how these bacteria can hide deep within tissue compartments and intracellularly,  and that they can change themselves to hide from our immune system as well as changing our immune system itself. This flows right into the discussion about treatments with a focus on antibiotics: when to start them, when to stop them, how long they may be used for and what they can or can't do for recovering from chronic persistent infections. Dr Chheda explains why the CDC-criteria for Lyme disease set in the 1990's to target surveillance of population health lacks the sensitivity to find the cases of Lyme disease out there that can be responsive to treatment and discusses the critical importance of interpreting all test results in the clinical context of the individual patient. This one-hour show cracks the nut on how to think about testing and treating of these tricky vector-borne diseases that can trigger a chronic persistent infection that impedes optimal health.