lassesen 4:10 am on August 16, 2017  

uBiome with bioscreen results and an unwelcomed surprise

Another reader shared their uBiome results with bioscreen results (done the old fashion was of culturing bacteria). First thing is the classic “where’s the bifo and lacto!!” result seen with CFS/

cat

Looking at: Firmicute to Bacteriodetes ratio: 3.8 (double the typical ratio of 2.1), the volume of Bacteriodetes was the cause of the shift (50% of typical).

Over on Bioscreen, we see the rest of the normal story for CFS patients: Zero E.Coli and overgrowth (remember this is cultured, so only a few results will be shown — most gut bacteria cannot be cultured).

catl

Going back to the uBiome results — we again see a fair number of rare bacteria appearing. There is no clear pattern beyond “a lot of rare ones appear”. For example, this is the first sample showing any of the Spirochaetia Phylum (The TOP level of bacteria tree). This family includes Borrelia burgdorferi, B. garinii, and B. afzelii, which cause Lyme disease.

cat3

Drill Down

Phylum Level

  • Lentisphaerae was 19.21x the average where as most CFS patients have zero
  • Tenericutes was 4.31x the average where as most CFS patients have zero

Class Level

  • Mollicutes (under Tenericutes) was 4.30x the average where as most CFS patients have zero. The best-known genus in the Mollicutes is Mycoplasma.

Order

Family

  • Victivallaceae (under Lentisphaerae) was 20.17x the average where as most CFS patients have zero

Genus

  • Victivallis (under Lentisphaerae) was 20.32x the average where as most CFS patients have none

Bottom Line

There was two major surprises in this uBiome — beyond seeing the usual CFS pattern:

  • Overgrowth of the class that contains mycoplasma – Mollicutes 
  • Overgrowth of the phylum that contains lyme bacteria – Spirochaetia

I do not know if one or the other have been tested for. The prescription antibiotics for both of these classes also overlap the generic CFS antibiotics and would likely reduce the overgrowth. My own preference (for myself), would be [with regular rotation]:

  • Tetracyclines: for example:
    • Doxycycline
    • Chlortetracycline.
    • Clomocycline.
    • Demeclocycline.
    • Lymecycline.
    • Meclocycline.
    • Metacycline.
    • Minocycline.
  • Macrolides:
    • azithromycin (brand name Zithromax),
    • clarithromycin (brand names Klacid and Klacid LA),
    • erythromycin (brand names Erymax, Erythrocin, Erythroped and Erythroped A),
    • spiramycin (no brand), and.
    • telithromycin (brand name Ketek).

Normally, lyme and mycoplasma are done by blood tests. If their “first cousins” and thriving in your gut, then the metabolites that they produce may be similar to those produce by lyme and mycoplasma — producing similar symptoms.

The lab results concluded “mild neutropenia” – WebMD cites for this condition

  • “Antibiotics for bacterial infections, if the underlying cause is an infection”
    • There appears evidence from the uBiome that there are atypical gut infections.

Again, this is not medical advise — just inferences from the data and the model that I am using. These inferences should be discussed with your knowledgeable medical professionals.

I will add to my backlog posts looking for herbs/spices etc that have been demonstrated effective for these two abnormalities.