Credits to: Alternative Medicine Digest and Richard Leviton Source listed: Lida H. Mattman, Ph.D., Cell Wall Deficient Forms—Stealth Pathogens, 2nd Edition, CRC Press (1993), CRC Press, 2000 Corporate Blvd. N.W., Boca Raton, FL 33431

An Introduction to Stealth Pathogens

While they differ in function, most of the body's estimated 100 trillion cells have many similar features, including a defined cell membrane, or wall, separating the cell's inside from the surrounding fluid outside the cell. The cell membrane is ultrathin (about 1/2,500,000 inch thick), composed of proteins and fats arrayed in a scaffolding of different fibers, struts, and hollow rods. The purpose of the cell membrane is to regulate the passage of materials into and out of the cell.

The term stealth pathogens refers to bacteria that have cell walls that are deficient in shape, structure, rigidity, and/or layering. This feature enables such bacteria (CWD, or cell wall deficient) to easily move DNA between cells and for groups of CWD bacteria to fuse together and "facilitate genetic experiments," explains microbiologist Lida Holmes Mattman, Ph.D., a leading authority in this field.

Such "genetic experiments" can include many of today's more baffling autoimmune diseases such as MS and rheumatoid arthritis, along with other forms of arthritis, septicemia, meningitis, urinary tract infections, heart valve infection, eye inflammations, "and a host of other maladies," says Dr. Mattman. These organisms are "clandestine, almost unrecognizable, and omnipresent," says Dr. Mattman. They are capable of considerable shape-changing and growth resulting in disease-hence the apt term, stealth pathogens.

In fact, the cell shapes produced by a diminished, discontinuous, or absent cell wall are "almost endlessly variegated" and work their way into "all aspects of microbe participation in life." They're known by various technical names, according to the degree to which they've lost their cell wall: spheroplast, protoplast, L-phase, L-forms, transitionals, and mycoplasma. According to some physicians, mycoplasma, which are unable to make any cell wall whatsoever and are highly divergent in type, may be involved in the initiation of cancer.

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis--The Cause May Be in the Blood

Changes in the shape and function of common microorganisms may explain the origin of certain autoimmune diseases. A live blood analysis provides the startling evidence--and points the way towards successful treatment.

Many theories are put forward to account for the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, both of which are marked by the body's strange destruction of its own tissues, as if they were foreign, even dangerous, matter.

Physicians believe rheumatoid arthritis is caused by, variously, food allergies, nutritional deficiencies, intestinal permeability, genetic susceptibility, or microorganisms. For multiple sclerosis (MS), proposed causes range from food sensitivities, yeasts, environmental toxins, and dental mercury amalgams to fatty acid deficiencies, stress, and the herpes virus.

A new theory may dispel the cloud of uncertainty surrounding both diseases and the baffling nature of the autoimmune response itself This theory holds that the cause may be fairly ordinary bacteria that have changed their body structure and activity and become what microbiologists now call "stealth pathogens" or cell wall deficient organisms. These pathogens can be seen through darkfield microscopy in living blood samples of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or MS.

However, according to Philip Hockstra, Ph.D., director of Therma-Scan, Inc., a blood-imaging and specialty diagnostic company in Huntington Woods, Michigan, you can only begin to understand the clinical relevance of these pathogens if you study living blood without any preconceived ideas.

"Most blood testing starts with too many preconceptions, but if you simply remove your biases and allow the blood to show you what is going on, you can see a whole story. Every cell has a story to tell. You can physically see these microorganisms. You may not be able to identify exactly what they are, but you can tell fairly quickly whether these microorganisms are at a problematic level and affecting the immune system." This in turn sheds new light on the process of autoimmune diseases, Dr. Hoekstra adds.

Understanding the Autoimmune Response

Dr. Hoekstra disagrees with the prevailing concept of an autoimmune disease; that is, for a mysterious reason, the immune system starts attacking itself as if it were suddenly crazy. "I do not believe that in the wisdom of the body the immune system goes 'nuts' and targets the body's tissues for destruction. Rather, I see this as collateral, secondary damage while the immune system is actually seeking out a specific, though somewhat hidden, target."

To explain his new model of autoimmune activity which is based on extensive laboratory observation, Dr. Hoekstra relies on a hunting metaphor. Hunters with torches move through the woods in search of a raccoon. In pursuit of the elusive raccoon the hunters accidentally set fire to trees and the hunting dogs damage much of the undergrowth. In fact, they nearly trash the entire woods, creating a tremendous amount of collateral damage, says Dr. Hoekstra.

"Let's see the dogs as immune system antibodies (out to digest foreign matter), the hunters as white blood cells, the woods as the body, and the raccoon as a specific microorganism," he comments. "In pondering this analogy, it occurred to me that in an autoimmune disease, the immune system is probably tracking down a specific, targeted microbial agent."

The quest to identify this elusive microbial agent in rheumatoid arthritis has occupied rheumatologists for over one hundred years, but it has been a quest marked by numerous false starts and dead ends, partly because it has been based on misleading animal studies, says Dr. Hoekstra. But when you start looking with wide-open eyes at the living blood of humans, as a researcher you are brought a lot closer to an accurate identification of that microbial "raccoon."

Bacteria in an Altered State

Quite often, when he examines a slide of blood using darkfield microscopy, Dr. Hoekstra can quickly surmise the patient's entire health history. If the platelets are "sticky," or clump together, there is a high probability the person suffers from headaches. Similarly, variations in shape among red blood cells tell him a great deal about a person's biochemistry, their nutritional intake and nutrient levels. "We are committed to patient education here, so patients sit with me while I analyze their living blood sample, watching its shapes and movements on the video monitor. "

Patients new to the information-gathering potential of darkfield microscopy often liken the technology's remarkable ability to reveal detailed health histories to a crystal ball, says Dr. Hoekstra. "There is no psychic intuition here--it's all there in the blood for us both to see. With our specially equipped microscopes, we can look for many things that are commonly missed in routine blood studies. The goal is to get more than routine information about a patient's condition so that it might be used in a holistic, preventive way."

It doesn’t take long--watching the blood for 20-40 minutes--to get to the heart of the problem, says Dr. Hoekstra. "Then I can show the patient different features in the blood that are probably linked to their health problem. You can see features of chronic viral infections, such as herpes, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr, that cause shape changes in the white blood cells called lymphocytes."

In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, Dr. Hoekstra has found that virtually all the patients he has studied have had significant amounts of a bacteria called Propioni bacterium acnes. "This is the genus and species of the organism we believe is responsible for propagating and perpetuating this disease," says Dr. Hoekstra. "It is a very common bacteria in an altered state of being--it's cell wall deficient."

The bacteria was first identified and described in 1981 by G.A. Denys at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. "This bacteria is passed transplacentally, from mother to fetus, and this may be responsible for rheumatoid arthritis showing up in generations in a single family," says Dr. Hoekstra.

Why this bacteria is prevalent in seemingly all cases of rheumatoid arthritis is not clear; overuse of antibiotics may be a factor encouraging its growth. "The use of antibiotics is one of the most potent ways of inducing cell wall deficiency; bacteria seem to do this as a survival mechanism."

In other words, when a bacteria is transformed into a cell wall deficient form, it assumes different characteristics from the whole or native type of microorganism it used to be, Dr. Hoekstra explains. "The organism remains intact except it loses its cell wall and its antigenic characteristics, enabling it to function as a cellular chameleon. " When it loses its antigenic signature, the bacteria is able to mask itself against destruction by the immune system's antibodies which can no longer recognize it as an antigen (foreign protein).

Dr. Hoekstra's mentor, Lida Holmes Mattman, Ph.D., also of Wayne State (now professor emeritus of biology), confirmed the causal role of P. acnes in a laboratory experiment. Dr. Mattman extracted the bacteria from the synovial fluid (which lubricates joints) of human arthritis patients, and injected it into chicken embryos. The chicks then exhibited symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. When she treated the chicks with antibiotics known to disable P. acnes, the disease disappeared.

A different bacteria, operating on similar principles, seems to be the organic cause of multiple sclerosis, says Dr. Hockstra. It's tentative name--not yet widely accepted by other microbiologists--is Borrelia mylophora, so named because its characteristics seem to resemble those of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria believed responsible for Lyme disease.

In multiple sclerosis, the myelin sheath covering nerves gets eaten away by the immune system, explains Dr. Hoekstra. "That is exactly like the hunters' torches setting fire to the forest. Most of the destruction of the myelin sheath takes place from actions of the white blood cells and their antibodies. But their primary target is not the myelin sheath at all. It's the Borrelia mylophora bacteria, running around in the nervous system. B. mylophora has an extremely high affinity for the myelin sheath. It loves it."

Unfortunately, the myelin sheath sustains a lot of collateral damage as the immune cells attempt to find and destroy the microbe, Dr. Hoekstra says.

As with rheumatoid arthritis, the work on identifying a possible microbial agent in multiple sclerosis has been under way for many years, since 1913. One of the difficulties is that the microbiologist must be very patient, able to culture a blood specimen and keep it uncontaminated for as long as nine months before a positive bacterial identification can be made, explains Dr. Hoekstra

Both P. acnes and B. mylophora are examples of stealth pathogens, of organisms with deficient cell walls, capable of acting secretly in the body, creating disease, and hardly leaving a trace.

Pushing Away Their Wheelchairs

Once you understand the nature of the organism causing an autoimmune disease, it's much easier to develop an effective strategy against it, says Dr. Hockstra. "We have a number of multiple sclerosis patients who have pushed away their wheelchairs or thrown away their canes and are walling now. And their vision has been restored," he adds.

Physicians use different strategies in dealing with the underlying bacteria. Dr. Hoekstra cites the example of Phoebe, a 36-year-old woman with MS. After B. mylophora was cultured from her blood, Phoebe's doctor prescribed a heavy dose (about 100 mg daily) of a standard antibiotic called doxycycline. After four weeks, she was able to lift both hands in the air, comb her hair without losing her balance, see clearly again without dizziness, and move about without her cane; after six months (four of which involved continuous dosing), Phoebe was free of all symptoms, says Dr. Hoekstra.

The successful use of this antibiotic against B. mylophora was first verified by a physician in South Dakota who reasoned that the symptoms of MS (which he had) were suggestively similar to those of Lyme disease, which responds fairly well to doxycycline. After dosing himself for three months with the antibiotic, he was symptom free.

However, the long-term use of antibiotics has many drawbacks, cautions Dr. Hoekstra. It seriously damages the ecology of intestinal microflora and can lead to a condition of microbial imbalance called dysbiosis. This in turn can be the foundation for numerous diseases. As stated above, it can also facilitate the growth of more cell wall deficient forms. To counteract this, Phoebe's doctor recommended a product called Probioplex, made from concentrated globulin whey protein.

"This is a source of passive immunity, like the concentrated antibodies in colostrum [breast milk at childbirth]," Dr. Hoekstra explains. Phoebe used Probioplex as a gentle, broad-spectrum, natural antibiotic (at a dosage of 1/2 teaspoon, four times daily) to suppress the overgrowth of nonbeneficial bacteria, whose numbers may have increased from the prolonged antibiotic intake.

Phoebe further supported her intestinal ecology by regularly taking supplements of Lactobacillus acidophilus and L. bifidus (in refrigerated powder form). To offset the toxic effects of the antibiotic on her liver and kidneys (which filter all the body's toxins), Phoebe took high doses of vitamin C, typically 4.5 g daily in divided doses. She continued this regimen for a month after the end of the antibiotics course, adds Dr. Hoekstra.

Often patients with MS have a problem with mercury amalgam fillings, says Dr. Hoekstra. "Some MS patients seem to benefit greatly from having their mercury fillings removed. " Phoebe had her mercury amalgams replaced, a procedure that seemed to help her considerably, he adds.

Halting Bacteria with Colloidal Silver

In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, a hallmark of conventional medical treatment is the use of steroids, which can provide symptomatic relief, but no cure. The danger here, cautions Dr. Hoekstra, is that such drugs "give a free and clear run to the bacteria involved (Propioni bacterium acnes). If such a patient is ever to subdue this microorganism, they must have a competent immune system, and to have this, they must be off the steroids."

Dr. Hoekstra notes that while it may seem daunting to an arthritis patient to surrender the comfort of symptomatic relief from steroids, there are effective natural alternatives by which inflammation can be diminished without suppressing the immune system. The herb gentian violet, for example, is a nonspecific antimicrobial agent of benefit here. Other helpful herbs include echinacea, goldenseal, and chaparral. A homeopathic preparation called a nosode can be cultured from the bacteria itself then reintroduced into the patient as a subtle vaccine, says Dr.Hoekstra.

Colloidal silver and the omega-3 group of essential fatty acids can also be used successfully. Dr. Hoekstra cites the case of a 45-year-old carpenter with rheumatoid arthritis. Over the course of four years, he progressively deteriorated to the point where he could only price jobs, but was no longer able to do the manual work. He took colloidal silver (an ultrafine liquid suspension of medicinal silver) for several months at the rate of 3 cc of 30 ppm colloidal silver per day for 60 days.

In addition, he took daily dosages of immune-enhancing herbs and vitamins. Specifically, these were: esterified vitamin C (4 g), vitamin B complex, zinc (30 mg), vitamin E (400 IU), folic acid (1 mg), vitamin B 12 (0.8 mg), fish oils (5 g), goldenseal (500 mg), echinacea (500 mg), and chaparral (500 mg). After this supplementation, he improved spectacularly," says Dr. Hoekstra.

On the basis of the "disease stories" Dr. Hoekstra has read in the living blood of numerous patients, he affirms a message of clinical hope. "We have made a serious crack in these autoinunune diseases by showing that there is a cause involving microorganisms which can be handled. People who have been dealing with what they've been told is a hopeless medical situation should realize it is not at all hopeless."