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Blastocystis Research Foundation
 

Information for Journalists

I.  Letters and Communications To/From Federal Officials

1. (February 29, 2008, From Representative Neal to CDC/NIH) A letter from Representative Rickard Neal (D-Mass)  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

2. (May 28, 2008, From National Institutes of Health, to Ken Boorom/BRF) 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 has rejected all Blastocystis proposals submitted to them since 1997)

3 (June 2008, To National Institutes of Health) 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)

4. (September 30, 2009, From Rep. Kurt Schrader, to BRF)  Reply to request that CDC/NIH address Blastocystis issue

5. (September 30, 2009, From Rep. Kurt Schrader, to CDC) Requesting CDC address Blastocystis issue

6. (October 8, 2009 From Radm Khan, CDC to Ken Boorom) Response to request that CDC support initiative to suggest that physicians inform patients of positive test results for Blastocystis so they can take precautions to avoid spreading the disease.

7. (November 25, 2009, From CDC, to Rep. Kurt Schrader) Reply concerning Blastocystis from CDC

8. Complete list of letters from Ken Boorom/BRF to public officials, dating back to 2006.

 

II. Letters and Communications To/From Oregon State Officials

1. (March 2007, State of Oregon Healthy Policy Committee)  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.

2.  (March 2007, State of Oregon Healthy Policy Committee) Slides presented to the committee from the above presentation

3. (March 2007, State of Oregon Healthy Policy Committee)  A picture of Ken Boorom testifying to that committee

4 . (March 2007, State of Oregon Healthy Policy Committee) PDF of petitions from two board certified gastroenterologists in Corvallis, along with written accounts from patients in Oregon

5.  (March 2007, State of Oregon Healthy Policy Committee) 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.

 

III. Newspaper Articles and TV segmentsents

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

2. (February 2007, KVAL-TV) Video of BRF Founder Ken Boorom talking on KVAL TV about Blastocystis.

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

 

IV. First-Hand Accounts from Patients

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, Oregon, got sick with Blastocystis and lost his job.

 

V. Papers from Peer Reviewed Medical Journals

1. Studies co-authored by BR F(Blastocystis Research Foundation)  on patients in the United States, Egypt, Turkey, and France  (Links to NIH Pubmed Database)

2. A list of studies from the longest running investigation of Blastocystis infection in the United States.  These were authored by Dr. Charles Zierdt, an NIH scientists who studied Blastocystis for 20 years.  Dr. Zierdt coordinated the longest investigation into Blastocystis infection in the United States.  He documented most of the symptoms patients are suffering from today.  Today, the NIH and CDC public information web sites show no evidence of Dr. Zierdt's research.

3. A picture of Dr. Charles Zierdt

4. List of over 100 studies identifying Blastocystis as disease causing (13 pages long) which state and federal officials somehow keep missing.

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

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

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

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. January 1991 paper from NIH Researcher Charles Zierdt, Blastocystis: Past and Future, which outlines many of the symptoms patients are reporting today. 

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

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

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

15. 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

16. 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.