Frequently Asked Questions

Submitted by Maureen

Many myths exist when it comes to testing and treating people who have asthma caused by mycoplasma or chlamydia pneumonia. Before buying into any of them, consider the following. Understand that this is just one persons opinion and is not meant to advise or recommend any specific course of action. However, this information may help you to convince or educate your doctor.

First, some think blood tests are too inaccurate in order to determine whether a patient has mycoplasma or chlamydia pneumonia. Researchers are currently working to refine and set standards for these blood tests. In the meantime, the current blood tests are adequate, unless one wishes to undergo the invasive procedure of having a (more accurate) bronchscopy performed. In fact, serology is the basic strategy used in clinical practices to determine presence of mycoplasma, etc.

Second, thinking six to twelve weeks of antibiotics is unconventional doesn't make sense, given the fact that people are often on antibiotics for longer periods of time for other ailments. We invite people to look up the risks involved in taking Azithromycin for example, and you'll see that the testing done for approval of this drug involved people taking it for twelve weeks. Evidence showing risk wasn't high unless someone had a liver problem.

Third, the argument that antibiotic resistance is a concern is debatable, considering people with mycoplasma and c. pneumonia as the cause for their asthma, are often sick and frequently take various antibiotics many times during the year anyway.

Fourth, the argument that it's too risky to use this treatment on patients with severe asthma and that more evidence needs to be gathered before doctors start treating patients with asthma caused by mycoplasma and c. pneumonia doesn't take into account the adverse side affects of leaving this bacterial infection in our system.

By expecting those of us with unresolved mycoplasma and c. pneumonia bacteria in our bodies to just live with these bacterial infections dooms us to a severely reduced quality of life.

Plus it ignores the following risks we could be exposed to:

• The risks of being on antibiotics several times a year for secondary infections caused when illness creates a flare up of the bacterial infection,


• The risk of having countless cortisone shots and prednisone bursts over the years


• Having numerous bouts of bronchitis and pneumonia,



• Suffering severe asthma attacks that lead to trips to the emergency room. In Jim Quinlan's case, his heart had already stopped and EMT's were able to revive him. Others are not so lucky,


• The financial strain of paying for expensive asthma medicine and from lost wages from being sick so often,

If the risk of being on a twelve week course of Azithromycin is more dangerous than the above described items, then ask yourself why longer rounds of antibiotics are being prescribed for less severe afflictions? Are the doctors prescribing them being reckless?

Finally, the argument that "this is all anecdotal evidence" is not true. It suggests that the information being provided consists of personal stories from a handful of people making unscientific observations, when in fact controlled studies have taken place throughout the years.

Good doctors use anecdotal evidence all the time. Doctors often prefer one medication, method of treatment or approach to a problem "based on what I've heard from my patients". This is anecdotal evidence. When a doctor prescribes a drug for a longer period of time than what is considered the norm, because he or she has "seen it takes this long with most of my patients", they are making this decision and treating their patients differently than they once did, based on anecdotal evidence. But again, there have been controlled studies that link these bacteria to asthma, so the argument that it's all anecdotal isn't valid.

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One more thing to consider - The long term effects of Atypical Pneumonias

Both Mycoplasma and Chlamydia pneumonias, the primary atypical pneumonias, are usually mild. Some research is suggesting, however, that they may have certain adverse long-term effects even in healthy younger individuals.

Heart Disease and Stroke. Research has suggested that the Chlamydia (C.) pneumoniae may trigger an immune response that causes inflammation and damage over time in the arteries or heart muscle. In a 2000 study, C. pneumoniae was associated with a thickening in the carotid artery which leads to the brain. Nevertheless, studies on a causal relationship between C. pneumonia and heart disease or stroke have been mixed. The most recent ones have found no strong association between the infection and heart disease while others downstate a possible link.

Neurologic Diseases. Some research suggests that C. pneumonia may affect the brain. Researchers have also detected C. pneumoniae in areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer's but not in other areas, suggesting that the inflammatory response may contribute to this dreaded disease.

Another study reported an association between Chlamydia and multiple sclerosis, another neurologic disease caused by the inflammatory process. Asthma. Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and the respiratory syncytial virus are becoming important suspects in many cases of severe adult asthma. (Serious respiratory infections that occur in early childhood, however, probably do not play a role in asthma that develops in adulthood.)

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Supporting Links:

Chlamydia pneumoniae and Cardiovascular Disease

Atherosclerosis in dialysis patients: does Chlamydia pneumoniae infection contribute to cardiovascular damage?

Chlamydia pneumoniae Binds to Platelets and Triggers P-Selectin Expression and Aggregation

How serious is Pneumonia?

Upcoming Book

"A Cure for Asthma? What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You - and Why"

is a book currently being written by Dr. David Hahn.

We will announce and post appropriate links when more information and publishing dates become available.

News

(July 2010) Wilmore Webley PH.D. recently sent me some of the latest research he was a part of:

Infectious Chlamydia pneumoniae is Associated With Elevated Interleukin-8 and Airway Neutrophilia in Children With Refractory Asthma

Occurrence of Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydia pneumoniae in paediatric respiratory infections

Science Daily News
(May 25, 2010)Scientists from the University of Massachusetts have developed an animal model that shows how an early childhood lung infection can cause asthma later in life.

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The University of Wisconsin, American Academy of Family Physicians, Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians (WAFP), The Dean Foundation for Health, Research and Education (Dean Foundation) and Pfizer corporation is sponsoring a study and recruiting volunteers for a study called AZMATICS to determine the effectiveness of Azithromycin as Adjunctive Treatment for Adult Asthma.

Important notice: At this time, the study is no longer recruiting subjects. However, the Principal Investigator, Dr. David Hahn, is willing to discuss other research opportunities that may be available for asthma suffers.

If you are interested in learning more, you may email Dr. Hahn at:

Dean Foundation

Follow this link to learn more about Dr. Hahn and the Dean Foundation.

If you are interested in making a donation to The Dean Foundation you can specify that it be used towards infectious asthma research

Support forum

First off, I would like to apologize for abruptly shutting down the support forum several years ago. Besides dealing with hackers, trolls and rude people, I was going through an extremely stressful time in life that resulted in the loss of our youngest son.

It got to be too much to handle so one day I flipped the switch and shut it down.

I know this upset some people so I hope they can accept this apology

Archives for the support forum can be found here. Plenty of good information to research

Old News

Newspaper Articles about AsthmaStory

The St. Petersburg times ran a story about AsthmaStory just before I went on Appalachian trail journey

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Several newspaper articles about the near fatal asthma attack.

Article 1

Article 2

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Every year thousands die from fatal asthma attacks

Take asthma seriously!

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