Naturopaths Drs. Jennifer Nardella and Megan Haggarty recently attended the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Annual Scientific Conference. A remarkable lecture was given by the Director of Armin Labs, Dr. Armin Schwarzbach regarding “The Role of Tick-Borne Diseases and Viruses in Cancer and Degenerative Illnesses.” According to the World Health Organization in 1997 “up to 84% of cases of some cancers are attributable to viruses, bacteria and parasites.”
As naturopathic doctors the fundamental approach of our practice is to look at the whole picture and recognize that disease processes are not working in isolation. For example, when the immune system is fighting Lyme Disease other opportunistic infections can take hold and have a “knock-on” effect on a patient’s health. These infections often include viruses such as EBV (Epstein-bar virus) and CMV (cytomegalovirus). Clinic Naturopaths often find that borrelia infections are associated with a co-infection. These co-infections are typically babesia, bartonella, mycoplasma, ehrlichia and anaplasma.
Each of these infections has its own potential future consequence for our health:
- Borrelia, the lyme bacteria, has long been associated with autoimmune diseases.
- Rheumatic diseases: Arthritis, Fibromyalgia
- Neurological diseases: Alzheimer’s, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis
- Autoimmunity: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, Lupus
- Borrelia has also been found in the tissues associated with mantle cell lymphoma and glioblastoma (brain cancer).
- Bartonella has been found to facilitate breast tumor development;
- Mycoplasma infection is associated with lung, colon, prostate, breast, esophageal and stomach cancers;
- EBV and CMV are associated with hematologic cancers such as lymphoma;
In light of the association of infections with cancer and degenerative diseases, it is essential to receive the right diagnosis and treatment of these stealthy and harmful organisms. The immune system functioning is a wholistic process. Nardella Clinic’s Naturopathic Doctors address the basics of creating a supportive healthy routine with the more complex methods involved in killing the organisms. Achieving homeostasis of the body is the objective and this is imperative to a long healthy life.
