Experts: For infectious disease physicians, false & misleading information about the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is not new. It is increasing in frequency and prominence, creating much confusion among primary care physicians and their patients.
False and Misleading Information About Lyme Disease
Recently, there has been considerable interest in the topic of fake news. For infectious diseases physicians, false ...
www.amjmed.com
More on MDPI's long history as a predatory publisher and vanity publisher for cranks:
Predatory publisher MDPI has long been a vanity publisher for cranks.
Now, "integrative medicine" quack Jeanne Drisko, MD is editor of a special issue dedicated to hyping Vitamin C for infections like COVID. 🙄
Pierre Kory is citing this paper to promote his Vitamin C nonsense.
The simultaneous disparaging of safe/effective COVID vaccines and promoting ivermectin 🙄
It’s yet another instance of predatory MDPI serving as a vanity publisher for conspiracy theorists.
Co-author David Scheim:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ivermectin-is-the-new-hydroxychloroquine-take-5-the-nobel-prize-gambit/
MDPI is a predatory publisher
I ask a simple question to the scientific community
why do we still tolerate this?
Appalling: A fake chronic #Lyme diagnosis leads to Medical Child Abuse of a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
She had a drug reaction after 4 weeks of amox-clav & Bactrim. She had previously taken other antibiotics & naturopathic/homeopathic products.
Case report: Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS)-induced hemophagocytic disorder
Hemophagocytic disorders are severe and life-threatening conditions that can be genetic in origin [i.e., primary hemopha...
www.frontiersin.org
How to be a quack:
1: Identify a fake problem
2: Sell a fake solution
3: If anyone questions you, claim there’s a conspiracy theory against you and that you are the real expert.
Hey @youngliving another one of your reps is using obvious conspiracy theories to promote your products. Is this something you support?
Jann Bellamy’s comments when the draft rules were released in 2019:
FDA strengthens homeopathic drug enforcement (but falls short of actually enforcing the law)
The FDA may strengthen homeopathic drug regulation with its "risk-based" enforcement policy, but this still leaves ill...
sciencebasedmedicine.org
New rules for the peddlers of fraudulent homeopathic treatments.
Basically, if they don’t harm any babies, the FDA will probably let the multi-billion dollar grift continue.
FDA Roundup: December 6, 2022
FDA Roundup
www.fda.gov
Politicians weakening the military and placing troops in danger:
Paywall-free link:
https://wapo.st/3Pbs0Pk
Wow- Cureus sold out to Springer Nature https://www.cureus.com/newsroom/news/159
ILADS speaker/anti-vax/Lyme/mold/coffee enema predator Jessica Peatross, MD surrendered her license after endangering children and charges of Gross Negligence, Repeated Negligent Acts, & Unprofessional Conduct.
But the grift continues...
https://lymescience.org/rogues/Jessica-Peatross/Jessica-Peatross-license-surrender-2022.pdf https://twitter.com/this_is_mallory/status/1600696868002230274
Free article from Dr. @EdzardErnst: Homoeopathy should be regarded as pseudoscience because its proponents claim scientific standing for it and produce argumentative bullshit to defend it, thus violating important epistemic standards central to science. 🙌 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-022-03882-w
Snake oil salespeople in the 19th century also claimed to cure “brain fag”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fag_syndrome
Study uses Reddit comments to define “brain fog”, an ill-defined symptom that is often difficult to address.
People who have brain fog are often targeted by integrative/functional/naturopathic/“Lyme literate” grifters.
https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2022/12/06/jnnp-2022-329683
So much nonsense is sold to desperate patients at the clinic of David Minkoff, MD:
https://tonyortega.org/2016/11/27/what-youll-find-on-the-menu-at-the-clinic-run-by-a-physician-whos-also-a-scientologist/
"Lyme literate" charlatan David Minkoff, MD is still preying on patients today, despite his long time grift and role in the death of Lisa McPherson
We want to warn you the #Scientology story we’re reprinting today is very disturbing. December 5 marks the 27th anniversary of Lisa McPherson's final day on earth, and we are reproducing the culminating piece of our series about her which we published seven years ago.
It's true that pandemic charlatan Simone Gold did not renew her California medical license, but this year she obtained a Florida license, where her fellow anti-vaxxer Joseph Ladapo is in charge of the health department...
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-08-18/the-anti-vax-founder-of-americas-frontline-doctors-now-has-a-license-to-practice-in-florida
Quackwatch looks at the Healy World scam
https://quackwatch.org/device/reports/a-skeptical-look-at-the-healy-bioresonance-device/
Dr. Pan protected children in so many ways ❤️
. @Twitter followers, please honor my service in #CAleg . Sunday is my last day in CA Senate. Advancing #publichealth & reducing #hunger were major priorities. 2022 #HCWvsHunger campaign also concludes Sunday. 🧵
#Kidvengers @HCWvsHunger @DrJenChen4kids
https://californiahealthline.org/news/article/state-senator-richard-pan-champion-tough-vaccine-laws/
Medical misinformation has consequences.
True story:
A teacher joined the chronic Lyme cult in 2019, hoping it would solve her health issues.
Though scared of COVID, an online Lyme group convinced her not to get vaccinated.
Her September 2021 death from COVID was preventable.
We often get asked “what’s the harm?” when debunking a myth/misconception about science & health. Data demonstrate that those who believe in one piece of #misinformation are more likely to fall victim to other health misinformation. Social media algorithms exploit this psychology
US Office of Management and Budget:
Concluded Action: Consistent without Change
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=281661
The homeopathic snake oil peddlers are really upset that the FDA is finally poised to release guidance on regulating homeopathy.
Jann Bellamy wrote about the draft guidance when it was released in 2019:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/fda-strengthens-homeopathic-drug-enforcement-but-falls-short-of-actually-enforcing-the-law/
This is quite the romp through the wooniverse of social media pseudo-parasite claims:
Hey, just me hanging out with all the parasites I totally definitely have. At least according to a certain squirmy side of TikTok that just so happens to sell cleanses 🪱🐛
🎧 Listen to my Parasite Cleanse TikTok report for Conspirituality Podcast here: https://www.conspirituality.net
Dr. Edzard Ernst: US ‘doctors of naturopathy’ and their professional organizations live on a different planet, a planet where evidence counts for nothing and dangerously misleading patients seems to be the norm.
https://edzardernst.com/2022/12/naturopath-jailed-for-selling-fraudulent-vaccination-documents/
@DrJudyStone It's useful in case you encounter more perpetrators of Medical Child Abuse who falsely claim that stretch marks indicate an infection.
Since many adolescents develop stretch marks during puberty, false claims by CLD advocates can cause MCA.
https://lymescience.org/medical-child-abuse/
New in our Document Repository: Johns Hopkins dermatology experts found no evidence to support bizarre claims by dangerous chronic Lyme pseudoscience groups like LymeDisease,org that rashes that look like stretch marks indicate a bartonella infection
No credible evidence supports rumors about stretch marks
Chronic Lyme pseudoscience groups wrongly blame bartonella
lymescience.org
The state witchdoctor board that licenses naturopaths in California has also suggested that Juli Mazi’s fraudulent scheme was bigger than COVID vaccinations.
Mazi allegedly signed dubious vaccination certificates for many children at a charter school.
https://lymescience.org/rogues/Juli-Mazi/Juli-Mazi-accusation-2022.pdf
Thanks to the @FreeLawProject for hosting legal documents in a few different dockets for the case against licensed naturopathic fake doctor Juli Mazi:
Search Results for Courts: All › Query: "United States v. Mazi" AND "julie mazi" — 4 Results — CourtListener.com
Create alerts, search for and browse the latest court opinions, PACER documents, judges, and oral arguments. Updated ...
www.courtlistener.com
Licensed naturopathic fake doctor Juli Mazi pleaded guilty in her profitable fraudulent scheme to sell fake (homeopathic) immunizations and vaccine cards.
But she later attempted to avoid prison with an anti-vax rant and claiming “sovereign immunity” 🙄
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/11/quack-who-sold-sham-covid-immunization-pellets-gets-nearly-3-years-in-prison/
The consensus guidelines also make a strong recommendation against routine Lyme testing for patients with cognitive decline and dementia:
Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and American College of Rheumatology (ACR): 2020 Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease
Abstract. This evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease w...
academic.oup.com
According to consensus guidelines, 2-3 weeks of antibiotics for neuroborreliosis is recommended, antibody index calculation and explicitly *not* western blotting is performed on CSF, and negative testing after months of symptoms essentially rules out Lyme
Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), and American College of Rheumatology (ACR): 2020 Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease
Abstract. This evidence-based clinical practice guideline for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of Lyme disease w...
academic.oup.com
Red flags of quackery in Brian Fallon & Monica Embers's cult-funded case report:
• The woman tested negative for Lyme antibodies
• Inappropriate CSF testing was performed
• She was abused with ≥8 months(!) of antibiotics
• She had a credible alternative diagnosis (dementia)
Red flags of chronic Lyme quackery are obvious in the unethical garbage published by Monica Embers of Tulane and Brian Fallon of Columbia, so much so that it looks like research misconduct.
https://lymescience.org/red-flags-of-lyme-quackery/
"Chronic Lyme disease" is a health scam and pseudoscientific cult, not a real diagnosis.
Monica Embers and Brian Fallon are quackademics who each accepted millions of dollars from the cult. They undermine settled science using their university press offices.
New in PubMed Central: Experts tear apart a bogus paper funded and published by chronic Lyme advocates.
Cult-funded cranks Monica Embers and Brian Fallon unethically exploited a dementia patient, attempting to blame Lyme disease despite negative testing.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9410724/
It’s bizarre that someone would be so hostile to *considering* that some symptoms may be explainable by Functional Neurological Disorder but will fully support coffee enemas, quack diagnosed MCAS + “toxic mold”, and risky invasive spinal surgeries.
@DrJenGunter @susanematthews @chadhayesmd @maie_lynn @Nutritionprof1 @gorskon @skepticpedi @juliaoftoronto @TamarHaspel Coauthor Rehmeyer also seems to think the science isn’t settled on coffee enemas. Are more studies needed?
And Dusenberry promotes both chronic Lyme & Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in her book, while debunking the similarly unscientific “wandering womb”
Dr. Paul Offit in his book explains the appeal of pseudoscience: It provides certainty.
This fictional technology was cool when it was in Star Trek, but it’s not cool to sell it in the real world:
See me posting about #Healy but still not sure what it is? I’m still not sure, but here’s a rep trying to explain what it (apparently) does 👇🏻 QUANTUM!
“Lyme literate” charlatans continue to falsely claim that ordinary and harmless stretch marks mean someone has “chronic Bartonella”. 🙄
https://lymescience.org/bartonella/
Dissecting hormone woo and why testing from functional/integrative/naturopathic charlatans is a waste of time and money:
In these two episodes of The Health Investment podcast, I separate hormone myths from fact. I give an honest recounting of why I became an Endocrinologist. And of course, I rant about alternative medicine. https://hormonesdemystified.com/hd-on-the-health-investment-podcast
ILADS-associated Lyme/ozone/anti-vax charlatan Robert Rowen gets prison for tax crimes, but defrauding patients for decades is perfectly acceptable
https://quackwatch.org/11ind/robert-rowen-sentenced-to-prison-2022/
The license of Robert Jay Rowen, M.D. (G39465), of Santa Rosa, CA, was issued an automatic suspension order. More info: https://www2.mbc.ca.gov/BreezePDL/document.aspx?path=%5cDIDOCS%5c20221007%5cDMRAAAJD5%5c&did=AAAJD221008000119487.DID
Correction to the above:
Unrepentant quack Jessica Peatross, MD still has a locum tenens license in Oregon.
How cruel of Jessica Peatross, MD to tell her parents that her mother’s dementia-like symptoms were caused by her father’s vaccination.
When functional/integrative/naturopathic/“Lyme literate” quacks say they get to the “root cause” this is the kind of nonsense they mean:
An unrepentant grifter, Jessica Peatross, MD surrendered her license rather than comply with basic ethics rules of being a doctor.
Like other quacks, she misleadingly markets herself as getting to the “root cause” of health problems. But diagnosis is practicing medicine…
ILADS speaker/anti-vax/Lyme/mold/coffee enema quack Jessica Peatross, MD officially no longer has a medical license.
She endangered children and was charged with Gross Negligence, Repeated Negligent Acts, & Unprofessional Conduct.
https://lymescience.org/rogues/Jessica-Peatross/Jessica-Peatross-license-surrender-2022.pdf
Jessica Peatross definitely thought the story of her surrendering her license would get widespread media attention defending her…but it’s not. And that makes her sad.
When you are on the cusp of seeing you’re in an echo chamber…