ALLERGENS FROM PROTOZOAL INFECTIONS AND CHRONIC INFLAMMATIONS

[Sepp]

by Beldeu Singh

The article - How Yeast Can Create Havoc in Your Life and How to Address it (Dr Mercola, December 2, 2008) correctly points out that "most conventional doctors do not recognize the symptoms of Candida overgrowth, and are clueless about how to cure it". There are similar problems with protozoal infections, especially in detection and when the symptoms are subclinical.

Psoriatic skin conditions are often lumped together as psoriasis but blood investigations may show fungus or heavy metals or protozoal infection as the underlying cause other than a block in Coenzyme Q10 and natural corticosteroid in the body (or suppression by excess medicant-drug use) and these conditions must therefore be treated accordingly but there is little hope from the allopathic pharmacy for fungal psoriasis or due to heavy metal free radical chain reactions or protozoal infections that cause the chronic inflammations or to detox the body of inorganicmenerals in supplements or medicant-drugs that tend to bioaccumulate in fat cells of the body. Many disease states and degenerative disease conditions arise from chronic inflammations in which the cell membrane integrity is affected to the extent that it alters cell output and cell function. Chronic inflammations occur when natural antioxidant levels are low and are caused by:-

1. Excess free radicals, including the superoxide and secondary free radicals such as the hydroxyl and the peroxynitrite oxidant,
2. Heavy metals that can initiate free radical chain reactions,
3. Aflatoxins produced by fungal infections,
4. Viral toxins such CMV virus toxins or hepatitis B virus toxins, and
5. Protozoal allergens.

Protozoal infections go undetected simply because upon infection, the molecules that compose their cell structures and their excretions and secretions are allergenic to the tissues and the body responds by encapsulation to "cordon them off" but over the long term their allergens can cause havoc leading to arthritis, persistent cough that gets worse at night, skin rashes that develop into bad dermatitis with increased itch at night, corn formations, chronic hypertension that gives a high reading in the morning and tends to lower towards the evening, a high blood sugar reading (FBS) that tends to lower towards the evening, eyesight and ocular problems as well.

The encapsulation response of the body explains why protozoa are not easily detected through blood tests. They are held in these tissue capsules. One tablespoon of turmeric formulated with other edible herbs mixed with a cup of warm water and taken orally like a tea about 4 minutes later appears to flush out the protozoa. A blood test done about 20-22 minutes after consumption shows the parasites in the blood, if there was an earlier infection.

We have observed protozoal infections in cancer patients as well and these are usually "heavy". Smokers who develop cancers tend to have heavy metals as well as protozoal infections. Micro-nodules in lungs may be indicative of protozoal infection.

Protozoa are not symbiotic in nature unlike symbiotic bacteria that flourish in the large intestines. They feed on the best of nutrition including vitamin B12. They become active at night. Their feeding activity at night and consequent secretions and excretions at night are increased that lead to increased inflammatory activity at night. Hence, there is greater intensity of itch in skin rashes and greater irritation in the throat at night in patients with persistent cough.

Vitamin B12 is a natural antioxidant is found in nerves. Neuropathy of nerves can set in, even in patients whose blood sugar levels are well within normal limits. Vitamin B12 is important in the regulatory processes including in hormone production, the amount of LDL production in the liver. Chronic protozoal infection of the liver can result in raised LDL levels at night. The depletion of vitamin B12 and the increased inflammatory activity caused by the protozoal allergens explain the "Dawn Phenomenon" or Somogyi Effect in which not only blood sugar levels become raised but LDL may also be raised at dawn.

Protozoal allergens are disruptive to the formation of the GTF factor that is critical in glucose passage and entry into cells and it can have an oxidative effect on hormones including insulin directly. LDL molecules may also suffer similar oxidative injury thereby increasing the risk of plague formation, lowering of libido and possibly prostrate problems.

Treatment with B vitamins or food rich in niacin such as wheat grass, for patients in certain conditions such as skin rashes or persistent cough that gets worse at night or for neuropathies, can have counter results as it only serves to feed the protozoa. Naturally taking extra insulin at night for patients with Somogyi is not a viable long term solution as it would deplete more natural antioxidants in the body and slowly create more complications.

Protozoa-induced chronic infection may also be responsible for many of the degenerative kidney conditions and chronic hypertension and problems in the lining of the womb that can prevent implantation of the fertilized ovum. All of these need to be further investigated systematically for the advancement of medicine and developing therapies that are non-toxic. Of special interest is to investigate the association of protozoal infections with the incidence of diabetes and breast cancer.

Most parasitic infections are chronic, and the host immune response reacts to the different stages of the parasite life cycle involving different parasite antigens. The chronicity of these infections is characterized by fluctuations in antigenemia and therefore in host responses.

Glomerular lesions associated with parasitic infections are observed that lead to the proliferation of glomerular disease through chronic inflammation caused by their allergens. “The association of parasitic infections with glomerular injury is clear. The glomerular lesions observed in parasitic infections cover the whole range of glomerular lesions known, but most of them are proliferative” (MLF. van Velthuysen and S. Florquin, Jan 2000, Clin Microbiol Rev. 13(1): 55–66). The host natural immunity comprising parasite antigens appears weak and such weakness is primarily due to the oxidative damage suffered by these antigens by the allergens produced by the parasites that results in chronic inflammation that aids the proliferation of disease.

There is a range of clinical manifestations in glomerulopathy. Different clinical syndromes are associated with each type of glomerulopathy. The clinical manifestations range from isolated proteinuria or hematuria to nephrotic syndrome (proteinuria of >3.5 g/day, hypoalbuminemia, generalized edema, and hyperlipidemia), nephritic syndrome (glomerular hematuria, recognized by erythrocyte casts in the urine, and diminished glomerular filtration with some degree of azotemia, oliguria, and hypertension), renal insufficiency, and rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (nephritic syndrome with doubling of the creatinine level in serum within 3 months as a sign of progressive renal failure).

Chronic inflammation caused by protozoal allergens can suppress the human immune system and may have a troubling relationship with the spread of AIDS that is not yet properly recognized. Leishmania is a protozoal parasite transmitted to humans through sandfly bites. The allergens may be the primary cause of the destruction of the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth and throat and surrounding tissues; or visceral, resulting in wasting while concurrent infections result in pneumonia and diarrheal disease and bleeding secondary to thrombocytopenia and impaired liver function. In visceral leishmaniasis, the parasite infects macrophages throughout the reticuloendothelial system, compromising the immune system.

Malnourished people have relatively lower levels of B vitamins (including B12) and have decreased immunity. Protozoal infections suppress the immune system and accelerate the onset of opportunistic infections (e.g., pneumonia, tuberculosis) and their allergens promote chronic inflammations that aid the proliferation of disease conditions. In malnourished people as in poor communities in Africa, most patients will be expected to die before their CD4 counts reach the low levels generally observed in seropositive AIDS patients in richer societies as in European communities (see: Aranka Anema and Koert Ritmeijer, Synopsis, Treating Leishmaniasis and HIV/AIDS coinfection in Ethiopia, May 24, 2005, CMAJ 172 (11)).

When CD4+ T cells are fewer than 200 CD4+ T cells per microliter (µL) of blood, cellular immunity is lost, leading to the condition known as AIDS. Protozoal infection of macrophages or the allergenic destruction of macrophages by protozoal allergens can also reduce CD4 cell counts. In a European study, 79%–90% of people with HIV–visceral leishmaniasis coinfection were found to have CD4 cell counts of less than 200 106/L (Alvar J, Gutierrez-Solar B, Molina R, Lopez-Velez R, Garcia-Camacho A, Martinez P, et al. Prevalence of Leishmania infection among AIDS patients [letter]. Lancet 1992; 339: 1427). In Ethiopia, most patients die before reaching such low CD4 counts (see: Aranka Anema and Koert Ritmeijer, Synopsis, Treating Leishmaniasis and HIV/AIDS coinfection in Ethiopia, May 24, 2005, CMAJ 172 (11)).

Most of the antibiotics that are effective against bacteria are not active against protozoa. Most of the drugs used in the treatment of diseases caused by protozoa are synthetic or from plants. Drugs like metronidazole produce breakages in DNA or suppress DNA replication and are toxic to host cells, too. Quinacrine, used in the treatment of giardiasis adheres to DNA molecules and result in yellow staining of skin or deposit blue and black pigment in nail beds. Nifurtimox is used in the treatment of flagellated protozoa. Its metabolism yields high amounts of superoxide or oxygen free radicals that are lethal to it and produce oxidative damage to host cells. Most of such drugs are toxic and can produce side effects.

Treating glomerulopathy associated with or caused by parasitic infections with drugs that generate large amounts of superoxide to kill parasites can result in further aggravation of the disease through oxidative damage that serves to increase inflammatory damage to cell membranes.

Visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) is a world-wide, disseminated intracellular protozoal infection, for which prolonged, conventional therapy with pentavalent antimony has become increasingly less effective. Relapse may occur in otherwise healthy persons simply because the drug may not pass into the capsule that is encapsulating the protozoa. Relapse also occurs in malnourished people and in people receiving immunosuppressive therapy (S. Sundar, NK Aggarwal, PR Sihna, GS Horwith, HW Murray, July 1997, Short-Course, Low-Dose Amphotericin B Lipid Complex Therapy for Visceral Leishmaniasis Unresponsive to Antimony, Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol 127 (20, 133-137). “Most human infections caused by visceralizing strains of Leishmania are probably subclinical, attesting to innate resistance or, more likely, to T (Th1)-cell-dependent immune responses which induce acquired resistance.

While treatment is not given for subclinical infection, remote recrudescence still remains a possibility, especially if the host becomes T-cell deficient” (ref:HW Murray, August 2001, Clinical and Experimental Advances in Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis, AMS, Vol 5 No 8, 2185-2197). Herein lies the problem in public health coupled with the fact that protozoa stay encapsulated and cannot be seen in live blood analysis but as blood antioxidant levels decline with age, the chronic inflammation caused by their allergens begin to manifest in disease or suppression of the immune system. AS T4 cell counts decline, opportunistic infections begin to take root.

A new drug, NTZ (nitazoxanide), the first to be developed in the last thirty years, is now available for treating the three most common causes of protozoal diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia intestinalis and Entamoeba histolytica. The concept of using the fixed combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole resulted from the recognition that bacteria are obligate folic acid synthesizers, while humans obtain folate through dietary sources. So drugs like trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole were developed to inhibit bacterial synthesis of tetrahydrofolic acid. Tetrahydrofolic acid is the physiologically active form of folic acid and a necessary cofactor in the synthesis of thymidine, purines and bacterial DNA. However, both drugs cross the placenta and appear in breast milk, with detectable concentrations found in fetal serum in patients undergoing therapy. The problem of killing protozoa that are encapsulated without toxicity to host cells still remains.

Fortunately, there are a number of edible roots and herbs that are antifungal and/or anti-parasitic and have strong anti-protozoal activity that can be used in therapy. However this therapy has an interesting and inherent complexity. As the protozoa are flushed out from the 'capsules' into the bloodstream they secrete allergens that cause the blood cells to aggregate and appear compacted, about 20 minutes after treatment, in almost the same way that chemo-drugs tightly compact blood cells. That indicates the very high degree of toxicity of allergens produced by protozoa and their ability to induce chronic inflammations that can lead to arthritis, hypertension, CVD, diabetes and cancers.

Hence, it is necessary to orally consume a glass of orange and noni juice or use a nano-biotech spray formulated from extracts obtained in the nano-form from garlic, orange, lime and noni. This dermal spray serves as an anti-allergy spray as well and it results in good thinning of the blood within 40 minutes, without disturbance to its clotting abilities, unlike aspirin, depending on the amount sprayed and its concentration. This process can be repeated every day until the condition such as psoriasis is resolved and three subsequent blood tests fail to reveal any protozoa.

In hypertensive patients, wherein protozoal infection is a cofactor to problems in nitric oxide biochemistry, the anti-hypertensive spray will cause an initial drop in blood pressure followed by a rebound that can be higher than the original depending on the amount of allergens produced by the flushed out protozoa and an anti-allergy spray is necessary to lower the blood pressure.

Protozoal infections can come about by airbone spores and more often through contact with animal hosts (cats, dogs, goats and cattle). It is submitted that protozoal infections appear to be much more prevalent than commonly thought and are an issue in public health and chronic disease management.