Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria in MS – Part 6

In this video, Pam Bartha discusses how chronic malarial infections are diagnosed and treated.

There are at least five types of plasmodium single celled parasites that can cause malaria in humans. They infect red blood cells (RBCs) and cause a highly inflammatory disease in the body. Some types cause life-threatening illness while others cause less serious sickness but can remain dormant in the liver for months and cause a relapse of symptoms months, or even years later.

Multiple sclerosis is an infectious disease caused by dysbiosis and a parasitic infestation. Several parasites have been identified in MS patients. There is significant evidence that a malaria type parasite is one of the main infections that causes multiple sclerosis.

Diagnosing malaria in MS

Because it is very difficult to detect chronic silent malaria in patients, the following criteria is presented to help practitioners make a diagnosis.

Elevated blood lactate in MS

Lactate or lactic acid is a chemical produced by the body when cells break down carbohydrates for energy. Most people think of lactic acid when they are feeling stiff and sore the day after a tough workout. But normally, the body will clear the excess lactic acid within a couple of days.

Lactic acidosis occurs when lactic acid production exceeds lactic acid clearance. This buildup of lactic acid in the blood can lead to the development of neurological and psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.[i]

Current medical standard of care claims that lactic acidosis is caused by toxins, lack of oxygen and specific disease conditions. Yet, it is well understood in science that many parasites produce lactic acid. Malarial parasites, schistosomes (blood flukes), and filarial worms are the only parasites that produce the most measurable amounts of lactic acid resulting from the fermentation of carbohydrates.[ii]

Carbohydrates are the preferred source of food for parasites that live in the body. In most areas of the body, there is minimal to no oxygen present and therefore, parasites living in the body must get their energy almost solely by fermenting carbohydrates, which offers them a much better food source than either protein or fat.[iii]

Schistosomes (blood flukes), worms and most protozoa (single celled parasites) do not need oxygen to survive.[iv]

Lactic acidosis is common in patients with severe malaria and also in MS patients. Researchers feel that testing blood lactate levels may be a useful biomarker in MS.[v] [vi]

The amount of lactate in the blood of MS patients is linked to disability.[vii] One study found that lactate in MS patients was 2.8 times higher than in healthy controls.

Malarial parasites infecting RBCs may lead to blood vessel obstruction and lack of oxygen in the surrounding tissues and cells, which results in increased anaerobic glycolysis (breakdown of glucose in the absence of oxygen).[viii]

In malaria, more lactate is produced and the clearance of lactate is impaired due to several factors:

• The parasites themselves ferment carbohydrates.
• The breakdown of glucose by activated immune cells.
• Anaerobic breakdown of glucose in oxygen deprived cells and tissues as a consequence of a parasite invasion and resulting anemia.[ix]
• Impaired clearance of lactate by the liver or kidneys due to liver and / or kidney disease.

Normal lactate levels should be less than 2 mmol/L, with hyperlactatemia defined as lactate levels between 2 mmol/L – 4 mmol/L. Severe levels of lactate are 4 mmol/L or higher. Lactic acidosis also includes a pH of less than or equal to 7.35.[x]

Symptoms of lactic Acidosis[xi]

Early symptoms of lactic acidosis include:

• Fatigue or exhaustion
• Muscle cramps
• Body aches
• Nausea and vomiting
• Rapid, deep breathing.

More advanced symptoms may include:

• Increasing weakness
• Drowsiness
• Confusion
• Delirium
• Ataxia – loss of muscle control in the arms and legs. This may lead to a lack of balance, coordination and trouble walking. Ataxia may affect the fingers, hands, arms, legs, body, speech and even eye movements.
• Oliguria – low urine output.

Other symptoms may include:

• Low body temperature
• Low blood pressure
• Fever
• Jaundice – a yellow tint to the skin and the whites of the eyes.

Which parts of the body are most affected by malaria?

The brain, eye (retina, optic neuritis), gastrointestinal tract, bones, lungs, kidneys and placenta can be affected both during and even long after a malarial infection.

Symptoms of malaria in the central nervous system

Malaria in the brain can cause blocked blood vessels, reduced blood flow in the brain and many other changes and conditions such as:

• Paralysis affecting one side of the body
• Cranial nerve palsies – partial weakness or full paralysis
• Myelitis-like syndrome – pain, weakness, loss of bladder control, abnormal feeling in legs (burning, prickling, tingling)
• Psychosis –amnesia, lack of focus and concentration, insomnia, anxiety, depression, mania, confusion and delirium
• Ataxia – loss of muscle control, poor coordination / lack of balance, eye movement disorders and impaired speech
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Seizures
• Impaired consciousness and coma.

Post-malaria neurological syndrome occurs when neurological or psychiatric symptoms appear after a symptom-free period of two months after a supposedly cured malarial infection with a negative blood test and no alternative diagnosis.[xii]

Bloodwork

In the case of chronic silent malaria infections, parasites are hard to find and antibodies to this parasite may not be evident.

A previous researcher stated that it wasn’t until after his MS patient died that malaria parasites were discovered moving out of small blood vessels in the brain. Even though the patient had no history of malaria.

RBCs become infected by the malarial parasite and resulting RBC tests such as MCV, MCH and MCHC can all be above normal. Anemia is common.

Malaria causes an activation and increase in the numbers of B and T immune cells and an eventual exhaustion of T cells.

Low blood vitamin D levels are commonly reported in patients infected with parasites that cause malaria and in MS.[xiii]

A blood smear test, a malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and / or a PCR test may or may not confirm the presence of malarial parasites.[xiv]

An antibody blood test against malaria parasites using either indirect immunofluorescence (IFA) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) may detect past exposure to malaria.[xv]

Other lab findings may include a mild decrease in blood platelets (thrombocytopenia), elevated bilirubin and elevated aminotransferases (liver enzymes).

 

Treatment of chronic silent malaria in MS

In the late 1800s to early 1900s, several physicians treated MS patients with the malarial drugs quinine and quinine hydrochloride with great success.[xvi] [xvii] [xviii]

Currently, the American CDC recommends treating malaria with artesunate which is the injectable form of artemisinin wormwood.

Other studies have reported that the combination of artesunate together with the oral supplementation of pearl garlic oil improved the efficacy of malaria treatment in animal studies.[xix] [xx]

Oxygen therapies can help improve the recovery of malaria. Review oxygen therapies in treating MS.

Combining two different slowly eliminated antimalarial drugs with artesunate which is called triple artemisinin-based combinations (TACTs) may help protect against the risk of malarial parasites developing drug resistance.[xxi]

Herxheimer reactions common when treating chronic malaria

Breckner, who treated 49 cases of MS with malaria medication in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s, observed that in some cases, there was a slight worsening of some of the symptoms at the beginning of the treatment. Yet, those symptoms would later show significant improvement.

Years later, his experience would be explained as a Herxheimer reaction, which was well known to occur when starting neurosyphilis treatment.

A Herxheimer reaction is a sudden increase in the intensity of symptoms (not necessarily with a fever) which  usually occurs within 72 hours after introducing a specific treatment.

 

The real cause of MS

Our current medical standard of care for MS, the 2017 McDonald criteria, insists that the immune system is the problem and our immune cells are attacking nerve cells for some unknown reason.

Approximately 125 years ago, several doctors and researchers understood how helpful it was to treat their MS patients with anti-malarial drugs. They also made significant observations that would help us understand the cause of multiple sclerosis. But unfortunately, their research and experience has been largely forgotten.

If a malaria type protist infects red blood cells (RBCs) in MS patients and these parasitized RBCs cause blockages and hemorrhages of small vessels in the brain, the immune system would be activated to clear away the diseased RBCs and any malaria parasites present.

It would make sense that a lesion (which is an area of inflammation) would form around this damaged blood vessel and the ring of iron around the lesion would be the result of iron being released from the diseased RBCs. In this situation, MS would be considered an infectious disease caused by parasites which leads to a bleeding disorder in the brain.

Strong evidence suggests that vascular dysfunction is one of the possible causes of sickness and death in MS patients.[xxii]  It has been shown that MS patients have a higher risk of hemorrhagic stroke when compared to people who don’t suffer from MS[xxiii]. It has also been shown that small brain bleeds are associated with an increased risk of physical and cognitive disability in patients with multiple sclerosis.[xxiv]

The biggest question is, “Why was all this research dropped?” Historically, much research focussed on searching for infectious agents that causes multiple sclerosis. Then suddenly in the 1960s, a new theory was founded which labelled MS an autoimmune condition – one in which the immune system attacks the myelin on nerve cells. Animal studies funded by the Rockefeller institute in the 1930s were responsible for creating this link between MS and immune dysfunction and we have been following this same expensive and futile theory for close to 100 years now, with no hope of a cure.

There are real solutions to recover from parasites today!

To restore health, we must focus on treating the cause of inflammation, which are parasites. First, identify the enemy (parasites), then support the body and treat the parasites while following a holistic approach. When parasitic infections are treated effectively, we can overcome inflammation or disease.

If you’re frustrated with the fact that our standard of care STILL doesn’t offer a real solution for treating MS and other diseases, then click on the link below to watch Pam Bartha’s free masterclass training and discover REAL solutions that have allowed Pam and many others to live free from MS and other diseases.

CLICK Here to watch Pam’s masterclass training

Or take the Health Blocker Quiz to see if you could have parasite infections 

 

 

References:

[i] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44192-022-00011-4#:~:text=Both%20deficiency%20and%20accumulation%20of,Alzheimer’s%20disease%2C%20and%20Multiple%20sclerosis.

[ii] https://www.jstor.org/stable/3273145#:~:text=The%20only%20parasites%20in%20which,schistosomes%2C%20and%20the%20filariid%20worms.

[iii] https://www.jstor.org/stable/3273145#:~:text=The%20only%20parasites%20in%20which,schistosomes%2C%20and%20the%20filariid%20worms.

[iv] https://www.jstor.org/stable/3273145#:~:text=The%20only%20parasites%20in%20which,schistosomes%2C%20and%20the%20filariid%20worms.

[v] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925443914000921

[vi] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33411818/#:~:text=Lactic%20acidosis%20and%20hyperlactatemia%20are,aggravate%20the%20outcome%20of%20malaria.

[vii] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37995076/

[viii] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-01151-3#:~:text=Lactate%20is%20a%20classical%20byproduct,tricarboxylic%20acid%20(TCA)%20cycle.

[ix] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-01151-3#:~:text=Lactate%20is%20a%20classical%20byproduct,tricarboxylic%20acid%20(TCA)%20cycle

[x] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470202/#:~:text=Other%20definitions%20for%20lactic%20acidosis,of%20organ%20failure%20and%20shock.

[xi] https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25066-lactic-acidosis

[xii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8356585/

[xiii] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6370580/

[xiv] https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/diagnosis.html#:~:text=PCR%20is%20most%20useful%20for,either%20smear%20microscopy%20or%20RDT.&text=Serology%20detects%20antibodies%20against%20malaria,linked%20immunosorbent%20assay%20(ELISA).

[xv] https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/diagnosis.html#:~:text=PCR%20is%20most%20useful%20for,either%20smear%20microscopy%20or%20RDT.&text=Serology%20detects%20antibodies%20against%20malaria,linked%20immunosorbent%20assay%20(ELISA).

[xvi] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11516218/

[xvii] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11516219/

[xviii] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/archneurpsyc/article-abstract/646514#:~:text=The%20experience%20of%20five%20years,particularly%20in%20the%20early%20stages.

[xix] https://www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2016.22

[xx] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7046881/

[xxi] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10387089/#:~:text=A%20potential%20alternative%20solution%2C%20based,resistance%20and%20therefore%20preserve%20high

[xxii] https://tehj.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s43044-022-00244-2#:~:text=There%20is%20strong%20evidence%20that,with%20clinical%20and%20radiological%20findings.

[xxiii] https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-neurologia-295-articulo-recurrent-intracranial-hemorrhage-in-patient-S0213485321000116#:~:text=It%20has%20been%20recently%20shown,five%20years%20after%20MS%20diagnosis.

[xxiv] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616141344.htm#:~:text=Leaky%20blood%20vessels%20in%20the,according%20to%20a%20new%20study.