Spirochaeta Myelophthora in Multiple Sclerosis

Summary (by Joachim Gruber)

• Research dates back to the beginning of 20th century.

• Dr. L.H. Mattman is currently (as of October 2000) doing research on this subject.

• Culture studies showed
  • 59 of 75 patients culture positive, 28 controls negative (Ichelson 1958),
  • 5 of 27 patients culture positive, 13 controls negative (Newman et al 1958),
  • 3 of 7 patients culture positive, 21 control negative (Myerson et al 1958).

• Research raising questions followed in 1959, 1960 and 1962.

• Postulate by Gay and collaborators: An oral spirochete is the agent of MS, has crossed the barrier between the sphenoidal sinus and subarachnoid space at an age when this barrier is thin (Gay et al 1986 - Gay et al 1991).

• Experimental problems might explain discrepancies in findings, e.g. pleomorphism of and difficulty in culturing the organism.

• Spirochete-like bacteria from autopsy material reacted with sera from over 50 MS cases (Ibrahim 1986).

• Research at L-Form Laboratory, Dept. of Biology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan by P. Hoekstra, C. Hussar, R. Johnson, C Kodner, H. Parikh, G. Riviere, H. Rossmoore, Lukehart et al 1985, Riviere et al 1991: Growth of borrelia-like organism from
  • MS spinal fluids,
  • from approximately 90 % of MS bloods and
  • from some patients who do not have MS .
  (note: some studies were done with autoclaved components).

References

Steiner, G., Acute plaques in MS, their pathogetic significance and the role of spirochetes as the etiological factor, J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 11(4) 343, 1952.

Steiner, G., Morphology of Spirochaeta myelophthora in MS, J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 13, 221-229, 1954.

Ibrahim, M.Z.M., On the etiology of M: new observations? Abstr. Anat. Rec., 214A, 58, 1986.

Ichelson, R.R., The cultivation of spirochaetes from spinal fluids of multiple sclerosis cases and negative controls, Proc. Penn. Acad. Sci., 32, 49-54, 1958.

Lukehart S.a. et al., Characterization of monoclonal antibodies to Treponema pallidum, J. Immun., 134, 585-592, 1985.

Myerson, R.M. et al., Preliminary observations on the cultivation and morphology of a microorganism from the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis, Am. J. Multiple Sclerosis, 236, 677-691, 1958.

Newman H.W. et al., The spirochete in multiple sclerosis, Calif. Med., 89, 387-389, 1958.

Gay, D. and Dick, G., Is multiple sclerosis caused by an oral spirochete? Lancet, July 12, 75-77, 1986.

Gay, D. and Dick, G., Spirochaetes, Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis, Lancet, September 20, 685, 1986.

Gay, D. and Esiri, M., Blood-brain barrier damage in acute multiple sclerosis plaques. An immunocytological study, Brain, 114 (Pt 1B), 557-572, 1991.

• Bill Snyder (Tennessean Staff Writer), "VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Bacteria linked to MS", The Tennessean, April 24, 1999. (in cache)
• Tom Grier in the January 1998 issue of LimeSig on L.H. Mattman's research. (in chache)
• Controversies in neuroborreliosis by Audrey Stein Goldings, M.D. in: Lyme Disease Conference, October 23, 1992.
• Autoimmune Illnesses (in cache) by Garth L. Nicolson, The Institute for Molecular Medicine, 15162 Triton Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92649, USA.
• Megan M. Blewett, A Geostatistical Analysis of Possible Spirochetal Involvement in Multiple Sclerosis and Other Related Diseases, 2006. (in cache)