FOUND IN VITAL ORGANS IN AUTOPSY

In 2019 an autopsy was performed on a well-documented Lyme Disease patient who had undergone multiple long term antibiotic treatments over 16 years. Each course of antibiotics yielded little benefit if any, and she worsened overtime. Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme, was detected in her body after multiple treatments. 

In 1991 at the Centers for Disease Control in Fort Collins, CO, B. burgdorferi was cultured and grown from her cerebrospinal fluid, making her the first reported treatment failure confirmed by culture in the United States.

During her autopsy, clusters of B. burgdorferi spirochetes (corkscrew shaped cells) and biofilms (antibiotic resistant microcolonies) from seven different strains were found in tissue from the brain, liver, kidney, and heart. 

Infiltrating lymphocytes (white blood cells) were found in significant numbers near the biofilms, suggesting that Borrelia burgdorferi biofilms might cause chronic inflammation.

Under the current treatment guidelines from the CDC and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA), this patient would not be able to receive adequate treatment. Intravenous Ceftriaxone, the most potent of their recommended antibiotics for neurological Lyme Disease, failed to eradicate her infection multiple times.

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