This clip shows the real dangers of ticks and how quickly they can proliferate.
(more)
By Den Heslop on 16/10/2009
Read article > | 0 comments
Graphical representation of the Tick's life cycle.
(more)
By Den Heslop on 01/09/2009
Read article > | 0 comments
An infectious film about microbes, money and medicine.
One of the most controversial illnesses in the history of medicine, Lyme disease may be the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States. Yet each year thousands are misdiagnosed - many of them told that their symptoms are "all in their head." This upcoming documentary investigates the shocking human, medical, and political dimensions of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic destroying countless numbers of lives. A case study of the dangers of the confluence of money and medicine, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of our healthcare system and its inability to cope with a biological terror under our skin.
(more)
By Administrator on 31/05/2009
Read article > | 0 comments
About Under The Eightball
In the summer of 2006 my sister Lori was afflicted with an illness that, ten months later, has yet to be definitively diagnosed. Less than one year ago she had full function of her body, regularly riding bicycles, swimming and gardening with her son Jackson. One day, while helping Jackson onto his bicycle her leg gave way beneath her and she collapsed. Although it felt no different it just wouldn’t respond.
She quickly sought treatment for what she thought was simply a pinched nerve. However, after seeing a specialist she was told that due to the quickly lost muscle function Guilian Barre Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease, could be the culprit. She was started on a rigorous and extremely expensive course of intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, which boosts antibodies to help the good guys fight the bad guys. But why after a month of treatments, when improvements should be seen in a few weeks, was Lori not getting better but getting worse? Lyme disease!
At the time my knowledge of Lyme was the same as others --What’s Lyme? A disease -- How do you get it? Ticks – What does it do? Makes you sick. Right? – Well, Lyme disease can be hard to diagnose with its vague flu-like symptoms. However, when Lori described a bite she had that was surrounded with Lyme’s trademark round red rash, commonly called a “bulls-eye”, why didn’t doctors start her on a routine regimen of antibiotics? If untreated Lyme’s can cause debilitating arthritis and joint swelling, meningitis, blindness, fatigue, droopy eyes and other serious conditions. Why wouldn’t doctors prescribe the harmless antibiotics?
We were all very scared at what was happening to Lori and what we had discovered, but even more frightening was the possibility that this was something that could have been prevented....
Trailer 1
Trailer 2
(more)
By Administrator on 29/05/2009
Read article > | 0 comments