Probiotics and Lyme Disease
Probiotics do two things that significantly benefit a person with Lyme disease:
- They re-establish the intestinal tract’s beneficial microflora that are destroyed by the antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease.
- They up-regulate the immune system so it can more effectively fight the Lyme disease pathogen.
Probiotics contain beneficial Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains that colonize the mucous lining (wall) of the intestinal tract. Lactobacilli work best in the small intestine, Bifidobacteria prefer the large intestine (colon). When beneficial probiotic bacteria are present in large numbers pathogenic microorganisms are kept in check and the intestinal tract is healthy. It’s called competitive exclusion, the pathogens can’t occupy the same space held by the probiotics; with probiotics in control you have less intestinal discomfort and your bowel movements are normal and more predictable. Antibiotics kill both pathogenic and probiotic bacteria and usually miss enough of the pathogens that, when no longer held in check, takeover the intestinal surfaces and cause diarrhea. It’s called A.A.D. or antibiotic associated diarrhea. To correct this nasty situation probiotics must be re-established.
You’ve probably heard that some yogurts contain probiotic bacteria, the problem is they do not contain enough live CFU (colony forming units) to produce a therapeutic effect. Also, consuming probiotic bacteria in yogurt does not guarantee they will pass through stomach alive in large numbers (the stomach is harshly acidic). Therefore, supplementation with a therapeutic strength, acid-proof probiotic product is required!
The immune system functions in both the intestinal tract (mucosal immunity) and in the blood stream (systemic immunity). Probiotics activate or up-regulate the mucosal immune system which then signals the systemic immune system to kick in. Here’s how it works: Even though probiotics are beneficial microbes they are not human body cells so they raise a “yellow flag” when colonizing the intestinal surface. Since they only stick to the outside of the intestinal wall (they are not invasive like most pathogens) they do not raise a “red flag.” In this yellow-alert condition a modulated immune response is triggered in the intestinal tract: Phagocytosis increases, cytokine production elevates, natural killer cells are stimulated, IgA immunoglobulin production increases, and hydrogen peroxide is produced.
The Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, is a potent, dangerous pathogen. Once past the first stages of infection it burrows deep into body tissues where the immune system forgets about it, so to speak, until it raises its ugly head and re-emerges, weeks or months later. It’s during this period of latency that an up-regulated immune system can be of significant benefit.