Bartonella Madness and PANS

There exists a pernicious conspiracy between Borrelia species and Bartonella species with the intention of making us humans mad.  (This as close as I will get to conspiracy theories and politics in this BLOG).

One young man may have PANS as well (pediatric autoimmune neurological syndrome).  The teenager in question developed OCD, correctible anorexia with rapid weight loss and an aversion to one family member, for no apparent reason. The patient has no explanation or insight into this unusual change in his personality.  He is somewhat irritable, angry and rageful with other family members but not out of control, and, he does reasonably well at school, interacting well with teachers and peers.

The diagnosis of PANDAS was made because a particular expert who blames Strep.  Evidence for Strep is scant. The ASO titer and anti-DNase B were minimally elevated (Strep antibodies).  Lyme antibodies and Bartonella antibodies are present. Everyone in the family has tickborne disease.

The Cunningham panel was essentially normal.  This test is frequently relied upon for the diagnosis of PANS/PANDAS.  I ordered a GAD 65 auto-antibody which was elevated. This is a nonspecific marker but it can be associated with autoimmune encephalopathy.  

The hallmark of PANDAS is that symptoms seem to come on overnight.  In other patients, this has been the case and I have characteristically seen tics, including Tourette’s and more typical OCD manifestations. In my experience, the Cunningham panel is reliably positive.  This   patient’s symptoms came on over a short period of time, but not overnight.  The Cunningham panel is comprised a group autoantibodies directed against the brain that can be measured in a peripheral blood test. The test is supported by peer reviewed literature.

In this patient, the SPECT scan was dramatically abnormal.  This tends to confirm the diagnosis of encephalopathy but does not impute a cause.  

The patient was treated with a single dose of IVig and there was no response. The treating physician recommended waiting 6 months before retreating.  (Not what I would do).

Encephalopathy in patients with Lyme/Bartonella may be multifactorial. There may be an inflammatory component as well as an autoimmune component.  And there may be something else, far less understood.

Mysteriously, brain infectious, may induce specific effects. For example, Bartonella reliably causes, anxiety, irritability, rage (Lyme rage) in many patients. Patients may also suffer with virtually every other conceivable psychiatric symptom.

One can explain this case without consideration of PANS, or any autoimmune encephalopathy. But there is the GAD antibody, suggesting something autoimmune is going on.

Dreaded steroids (overly maligned in my opinion) are very helpful in these cases. Steroids may be administered on a one-time basis. A response to a burst of steroids is predictive of response to IVig.

If neuropsychiatric symptoms do not budge with steroids, IVig will likely fail. Steroids did not help the patient in question. This is important. IVig is prohibitively expensive. And even though tertiary academic centers recommend its use, insurance companies will not cover the therapy for PANDAS/PANS. 

If there is a dramatic response to steroids IVig can be life saver. In my experience, IVig, like antibiotics, must be given on a regular, consistent basis over a long period of time. And PANS requires high doses, 1.5 – 2 gm/kg. I have a patient who developed acute symptoms in early childhood with no evidence of strep and with 10/10 IgG Lyme WB bands and with a positive Cunningham test, who is maintained, a decade later, on IVig every 4 weeks. She has done beautifully. When IVig was withdrawn a few years ago, OCD symptoms emerged immediately.

If Bartonella is suspected to be the major culprit, specific therapy is indicated.  Combinations such as Biaxin, Rifampin and doxycycline have been used by some. This is not my favored approach. Biaxin crosses the blood brain barrier poorly (brain the target).  I like Doxycycline and Rifampin, both pass the BBB well and are active against Bartonella species. I like to add a third drug in the sulfa class. These drugs are active against Bartonella species and cross the BBB well, especially at higher doses.

This approach is not always highly effective.

The addition of low pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy, good for all encephalopathies, may be a great adjunct.

If this isn’t working, I will go with IV therapy, preferably gentamycin and others. In lieu of IV, I have had good luck giving gentamycin as a once daily intramuscular shot. Never alone.

I stay away from quinolones which are riskier and less effective in my experience.

Gentamycin can be given as a single daily dose and relatively low doses can be clinically effective. Ear and kidney toxicity are minimized with lower doses. Gentamycin, like rifampin, is never given as solo therapy, it must be given in a cocktail with other drugs.

With these steps, I have successfully treated many cases.

I was asked recently by another physician what I do when patients don't get better.  My answer is go back to the drawing board, reconsider the diagnosis and options. Try a different approach. Sometimes you have to get creative. This is all unchartered water.

It may be necessary to juggle: IVig, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, IV gentamycin and other IV drugs while covering Lyme and sometimes Babesia species. 

A word about doxycycline.  A little bit of knowledge is dangerous and it is easy for a lay person to misinterpret things read on the internet.  Doxycycline does not kill only a small percent of Lyme bacteria and doxycycline is not a “cyst generator.” 

Doxycycline remains one of the very best drugs.  It is highly active against rapidly growing spirochete forms of Borrelia – perhaps the most active of any known drug.  It gets into tissues well when taken orally, including the brain. And, it may be given IV.  As is the case with two drugs mentioned above, rifampin and gentamycin, I don’t order doxycycline as solo therapy. It is part of a cocktail. If you look at Zhang’s work on in vitro eradication of Borrelia burdorferi, doxycycline is always a key component of successful three drug regimens. Doxycycline is also a primary component of many anti-Bartonella cocktails.

I have good success treating patients with therapies that are rational and can be explained within the context of available scientific facts.  My BLOGs and medical approaches to tick borne illness, are also based on empirical experience garnered over many years of trial and error practice.

A word about Bartonella testing. This patient tested positive for B. henselae.  Commercial antibody testing is unreliable. There are another 15 or so species and subspecies that may be clinically relevant for which no such test exists.  We got lucky here. I always tell patients: positive results are helpful, negative results are not. Clinical diagnosis is required in most cases.

The presence of darkly colored parallel stretch marks are hugely helpful, as in this case, but this is not a reliable sign.