The question has puzzled scientists for decades – how are L-form bacteria able to divide if they lack cell walls? The answer remained elusive until recently, when medical researcher Josep Casadesus at the University of Sevilla, Spain published on the subject in the medical journal Bioessays. The findings he reports provide valuable clues about how L-form bacteria are able to propagate and reproduce.

In the case of the more commonly studied classical bacterial forms, the creation of a septum, or a wall separating two cavities or spaces, is an essential requisite for cell division. The main structure of a septum is composed of chains of amino acids made from the substance peptidoglycan. In fact, classical bacterial divide only after a double layer of peptidoglycan is laid down in the middle of the cell. The septum subsequently splits – forming two daughter cells. The septum itself is formed by several different proteins that unite to form a ring-like complex.

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P.Bear (P.B) is a registered nurse who lives on the Ozark border in Missouri. Symptomatic since childhood, P.B. is feeling dramatically different after three years on Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol. He will now take your questions.

Describe the progression of your disease. When did you first start to feel sick, how did your symptoms progress?

I was allergic to many things as a kid and would break out in a rash at the drop of a hat in response to many foods, additives, or topical exposures. I also suffered from many respiratory, sinus, and ear infections. I fell ill with an acute illness accompanied by a bulls-eye type rash in 1963 after playing in the woods along the coast of Connecticut. My doctor at one point suspected scarlet fever or rheumatic fever but eventually decided on mononucleosis. Because of my extraordinary fatigue, the illness ended up keeping me out of nearly a year of school. I almost fainted every time I stood up, had joint pain, and needed up to 18 hours of sleep on many days. A few days I felt so sick I thought I might die. Today this might have been diagnosed as acute stage “Lyme” (I did eventually test positive by one western blot to borrelia in 2002, with many positive bands on the other blot[Igenex]).

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What do Microsoft and medical research have in common?

Let’s start with the simple fact that they have both been wildly successful. Microsoft has 79,000 employees, global annual revenue in the year 2007 exceeding $51 billion, and has made more than 12,000 of its employees millionaires simply by increases in stock valuation. Additionally, Microsoft’s market share for the operating systems on desktop computers, by one 2003 estimate, is 90%. Not bad for a garage startup.

In the United States alone spending on medical research is at or near the $100 billion mark in the year 2007. That’s about $300 for every man, woman, and child and more than doubles what was spent just a decade ago. According to Dan Fox, president of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a philanthropic group that works on health policy issues, the data in a recent JAMA review makes it plain that “we are spending huge amounts of money, more than any other country, to develop new drugs and devices and other treatments.”

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“Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries; they also make very poor observations. Of necessity, they observe with a preconceived idea, and when they devise an experiment, they can see, in its results, only a confirmation of their theory. In this way they distort observation and often neglect very important facts because they do not further their aim…”
–Claude Bernard, An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine

I’ve been on the Marshall Protocol since May of 2005. Before I began the MP, I remember reading through the documentation and thinking, “You know, this makes a lot of sense to me. I could really see how this could work.”

What follows are ten reasons why the MP made sense to me. Those of you who have other thoughts about why the MP “just makes sense” are encouraged to share your insights by posting a comment at the end of this piece. You must click on the title of the piece for the comment box to appear.

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When this California librarian found out she had sarcoidosis, she felt as if a massive freight train was headed her way. Now, thanks to Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol not only is she leading a normal life, but her bloodwork has returned to normal and her bone density is headed in the right direction. Sherry Cook will now take your questions.

Can you describe the progression of your disease? When were you diagnosed?

I became symptomatic little by little over many years. In my 20’s I was diagnosed with “Reynes Syndrome” but in 1988 a funny lump developed on my upper neck. After a biopsy I was diagnosed with Cat scratch fever - an infectious disease thought to involve the intracellular parasite Bartonella. My doctors told me not to worry, but I found it quite odd that I was not offered any treatment options. Insomnia and headaches grew more common, and the only way I could make myself feel good was by swimming outside on my lunch hour. If I didn’t swim, I was literally in a torpor of brain fog.

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While alone in a foreign country, this mom from Houston Texas began to suffer from an array of debilitating symptoms. Soon, she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. Despite the fact that she had to care for three young children, she successfully started Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol and today, about two years later, is active once again. Meet Lisa Shanahan.

When did you start to get sick?

It all happened very suddenly. Before becoming symptomatic, I considered myself very healthy. I was even preparing to run my second half marathon after completing two full marathons. My husband and I had decided to adopt a baby from Guatemala. We went down to Guatemala to see our son for the very first time. The next morning I woke up and my face was swollen. I didn’t know what to make of it. At the same time, two large lumps appeared on my arm, at my inner elbow area. Upon returning to the US that next week, I saw two different doctors that informed me that I had allergies and not to worry, so I went on with my usual routine. They gave me a small steroid dose pack to decrease the swelling.

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“I’m sixty going on sixteen.” “I think that at the moment my brain functions even better than it did when I graduated from college 50 years ago.” “I’m convinced that I will live longer because I’m doing the Marshall Protocol.” Comments like these - which were made by actual patients in the MP phase II study trial - are increasingly common as people reach the later stages of the treatment. In fact, many Marshall Protocol patients who have recovered from inflammatory conditions, such as sarcoidosis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and others report that recovery feels like “being 20 years younger.”

The wear and tear created by the inflammatory response plays a large role in generating the stress and tissue damage that leads to old age.

In a 2006 paper in the Journal of Immunity and Aging, Italian researcher Sergio Giunta argues that inflammation and aging are intricately connected, to the point where the term “Inflammaging” has been coined “to explain the now widely accepted phenomenon that ageing is accompanied by a low-grade chronic, systemic up-regulation of the inflammatory response and that the underlying inflammatory changes are also common to most age-associated diseases.”

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After being diagnosed with the deadly disease sarcoidosis, he felt as if his entire body was shutting down. But after several years on Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol this Australian geologist is feeling great and living life to the fullest. Meet Mirek Wozga.

When did you start to get sick? What happened?

In 2001, I woke up and went outside. For some reason I was extremely cold. Upon returning inside, I realized that I was running a low-grade fever. Several weeks later it was still there. Then, I started to have terrible night sweats, insomnia and severe gastrointestinal pain. I was exhausted and brain-fogged. Because my body was so burnt out, I began to lose weight – almost 15 kilos, dropping down to 65 kilos. Upon waking up every morning, I felt as if someone had beaten me up - literally, not a single muscle wasn’t aching. It was like I’d been to the gym the night before and completely pushed myself over the top. In reality, I lost the ability to exercise.

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There’s little doubt about it – the Th1 pathogens (L-form, biofilm and other metagenomic bacteria) generate inflammation, and the eye does not appear to be spared from the actions of these persistent pathogens.

In many people who suffer from eye disease, the pigmented middle of the three concentric layers that make up an eye becomes inflamed. This condition is referred to as uveitis. Other parts of the eye can also become inflamed, causing conditions such as scleritis – a disease that affects the white outer coating of the eye. These conditions are both included in the umbrella name ocular inflammatory disease.

Many cases of ocular inflammatory disease are associated with “autoimmune diseases” like Crohn’s disease and rheumatic arthritis, or with illnesses of “unknown cause” such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and sarcoidosis – all of which have been linked over the years and most recently by biomedical researcher Trevor Marshall to the Th1 pathogens. Thus, it comes as no surprise that these same cell wall deficient pathogens may also be responsible for causing the many ocular inflammatory diseases. It’s also logical that people who have acquired enough of the Th1 pathogens to develop one form of Th1 disease (and begin to suffer from decreased immune function) find that these same pathogens more easily infect other areas of the body, like the eye.

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Two years ago, biomedical Trevor Marshall attended the 2004 biennial International Congress on Autoimmunity in Budapest, where he presented the groundbreaking paper “Sarcoidosis succumbs to antibiotics - implications for autoimmune disease”

The conference will take place in Porto, Portugal.

This coming year he’ll be at the association’s next conference. But this time Marshall, who is also Adjunct Professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at Murdoch University, will be running an entire session on “The Vitamin D Receptor, Vitamin D, and Immune Disease.”

“I will be chairing the session and making a presentation,” says Marshall. “Dr Greg Blaney will also be making a presentation. We will be putting an effort into getting as many of our colleagues as possible to submit papers for this scientific session.”

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This cyclist had to put away his bike in 2002 due to CFS. But today, this New York City resident, who has also conquered his depression, is psyched to be riding again thanks to Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol. Paul Albert will now take your questions.

What did you do for fun before you became acutely ill?

Starting in college, I rowed crew. I was not much of a technical rower, but I got pretty good at pulling the oar hard. Crew was just what I needed at the stage in my life.

When I graduated from school, I went on to do triathlons, which include swimming, biking, and running. One of the last biathlons (which is just running and biking) I did, I went from 30th place or so after the run to third place after the bike. It occurred to me then that I could be pretty good on the bike.

In 2001, I blew out my knee a second time, and that kind of sealed it: I would race my bike exclusively. I started to train in earnest, putting in as many miles as I could. My favorite event was the time trial. I was pretty good at putting in a consistent effort and staying just below my red line for a long period of time. One time, I got a lactate tolerance test (LTT) and my coach, who is now my friend, said that my LTT was the highest he’d ever seen. Yup, I’m really good at suffering.

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Four years ago, her eyesight and health were deteriorating. Then, after being diagnosed with sarcoidosis, this Belfast Ireland resident took action and started Autoimmunity Research Foundation’s Marshall Protocol. Today most of her symptoms are gone and she’s thrilled to have played a part in the treatment that’s revolutionizing medicine. Meet Julia Greer.

How were you diagnosed?

It would have been funny if it hadn’t been so serious.

For many months I’d had gradually worsening eye troubles - ripples of ‘light’, increasing floaters and cobwebs, a painful feeling of pressure, and sore tiredness. I had four courses of steroid drops that only gave temporary relief each time; then the uveitis would come back with a vengeance.

A baffled eye consultant passed me on to another one, and he in turn passed me on to a third. He was a tall, unsmiling Greek god, cold as marble. For weeks he carried out every test in his book, while I got steadily worse. I thought I was losing my sight.

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