Mentioning Mr. MacDonald's full title is done out of respect for what he endured to receive it.

That being said, you are almost dead on. Lyme Disease has become one of, if not, the most controversial epidemics this country has seen. And to make matters worse, the CDC mandates testing for only a two week period. This leaves the other 90 percent guessing for treatment/diagnosis.

The fact that Dr. Alan MacDonald is truly one of the only scientists involved in the complexities of this disease, is definitely a bad sign. That's why I find it even more important to mention his full title. He Deserves it.

Alan MacDonald, M.D., is a pathologist affiliated with St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, New York. His current research is concentrated on developing what he refers to as a new biology for Lyme disease, including the use of special DNA probes to detect Borrelia DNA in spinal fluid and in tissue sections from Alzheimer autopsy tissues.

Through his research, and with the help of other leading researchers in the field of molecular and cellular biology, Dr. MacDonald is pioneering a broader understanding about the behavior of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. He has appeared as an invited lecturer at Lyme symposia, including the ILADS National Scientific Meetings and Columbia University/Lyme Disease Association conferences in Philadelphia, PA, where he presents the findings from his explorations into the connection between Borrelia spirochetal infection and Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Alan MacDonald: "Using the syphilis model, I began to study some autopsied brains, and found that I was able to identify spirochetes in autopsied brain tissue in the hippocampus, which is one of the areas that Alzheimer's disease tends to target in every patient. I was able to grow spirochetes from autopsied Alzheimer's brain tissue, and stain the spirochetes with special monochromal antibodies, through the techniques I learned and developed through the study of stillborn babies with Lyme disease. And those two positive results made me think even more strongly that some Alzheimer's might be like syphilis, a late manifestation of the bacterial infection in the brain, not to say that all Alzheimer's disease is related to Lyme disease, but some."

Not enough is known about Lyme Disease and its relation to Alzheimer's, ALS, MS, Fybromyalgia, etc. But, you can be sure Dr. MacDonald will be at the forefront.