Information for Journalists

1. A list of first-hand accounts from Blastocystis Patients (including audio accounts). If you would like interviews with any of these patients, I can work to contact them.

2. An online book written by CG, a young man who relocated to Eugene, OR, got sick with Blastocystis and lost his job.

3. A letter from Representative Rickard Neal (D-Mass) written February 2008 to the NIH and CDC asking them to (a) list Blastocystis as a class C bio-defense pathogen and (b) work on developing a treatment. The letter was written on behalf of one of his constituents

4. A letter written from NIAID Principal Secretary Hugh Auchincloss on May 28, 2008 indicating that that agency will not take any initiative on Blastocystis infection, but they would look at a proposal if someone submitted one (NOTE: The NIH subsequently rejected BRF's proposal)

5. A petition to the NIH to address Blastocystis infection, sent June 2008, signed by almost 100 Gulf War Veterans, returned Peace Corps workers, US foreign service employees, returning travelers, civilians, scientists, physicians (some signatures are on paper only, and do not appear on this sheet)

6. Oral testimony (audio + transcript) presented by Blastocystis patients in Oregon in March 2007 to the Oregon State Health Policy Committee in support of HB 2699, a bill which would have made Blastocystis infection a reportable disease in Oregon.

7. Slides presented to the committee from the above presentation

7A. A picture of Ken Boorom testifying to that committee

8.PDF of petitions from two board certified gastroenterologists in Corvallis, along with written accounts from patients in Oregon

9. A map showing frequency of detection of Blastocystis in clinical samples in different states as of 2003, based on a study published by an Arizona-based lab which analyzes patient samples from all over the country.

10. A list of studies from the longest running investigation of Blastocystis infection in the United States. This was done by Dr. Charles Zierdt, an NIH scientists who studied Blastocystis for 20 years. He documented most of the symptoms patients are suffering from today. Today, the NIH and CDC do not acknowledge the existence of any of this work.

11. A picture of Dr. Charles Zierdt

12. Complete list of letters from BRF to public officials, dating back to 2006.

13. Summary of a study conducted by BRF, the US Air Force, Oregon State University, published in 2008, "Association of Blastocystis sp. subtypes 3,1 with chronic gastrointestinal illness in an Oregon Community" I can send a full copy of the paper.

14. Newspaper Article from Corvallis Gazette Times, November 2008, "Has a Tiny Parasite Invaded from the Middle East?"

15. Newspaper Article from Corvallis Gazette Times, January 2007, "Tiny Parasite Blamed for Increasing Number of Stomach Disorders"

16. January 1990 study from Metro McNair lab, Vancouver, BC indicating Blastocystis patients are not getting cured, and they have as many as 20 bowel movements per day.

17. January 1991 paper from NIH Researcher Charles Zierdt, Blastocystis: Past and Future, which outlines many of the symptoms patients are reporting today. The NIH will not acknowledge the existence of any of these studies today, although they still exist on the NIH's Pubmed Database server.

18. October 2009 study from the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology that says the treatments being used today for the infection probably do not work.

19. January 2009 Trends in Parasitology that says the diagnostics being used today for the infection probably do not work.

20. Review from the October 2008 BMC Parasites and Vectors that says the diagnostics AND treatments being used for the infection do not work.

21. Appendix to the review showing th epidemic curve of Blastocystis in the Western United States , starting in the 1990's, and peaking in 2000.

22. Study from November 2009's Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases authored by Denmark's Staaten Serum Institute identifying major symptoms of Blastocystis as including the skin rash, joint pain, and gastrointestinal symptoms

23. Testimony by Oregon DHS Office of Epidemiology employee Dr. Emilio deBess indicating there is no evidence Blastocystis causes disease, and that it would be very expensive for the State to do anything about it now because so many people are infected.

24. List of over 100 studies identifying Blastocystis as disease causing (13 pages long) which Dr. deBess somehow missed.

25. Same list - smaller format (7 pages long)

26.Link to Google Maps tool that lets you plot current results in researcher conclusions in Blastocystis studies

27. Link to a systematic study which concluded Blastocystis doesn't act differently from the other protozoal infections we aggressively treat in the United States. The study was authored by scientists stationed at the US CDC, China's CDC, the US Air Force, the Pasteur Institute, a WHO Coordinating Center for Molecular Epidemiology of Parasitic Infections, the Scottish Parasitology Lab, and others.