Using Saunas to Help with Lyme disease

Many Lyme Disease patients buy our saunas – more than any other group.

We can’t make medical claims for saunas treating anything as they are not “medical devices” per se. That being said, they are being used increasingly for their potential health benefits.

Below are excerpts from the Abstracts of two studies about the effects of heat that are related to Lyme..

1. Borrelia burgdorferi and Treponema pallidum: a comparison of functional genomics, environmental adaptations, and pathogenic mechanisms

Stephen F. Porcella and Tom G. Schwan Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Hamilton, Montana

Abstract excerpt: “The low tolerance of spirochetes for high temperatures is well known and may explain in part the restricted distribution of B. burgdorferi to temperate latitudes and its absence in the tropics, where infected ticks may be exposed to high temperatures detrimental to spirochete survival.

Interestingly, the thermal sensitivity of T. palladium was exploited in the early 1900s prior to the discovery of penicillin by using fever therapy with malaria or relapsing fever infection to treat patients with general paresis.”

2. Abstract Excerpt: Antibiotics and increased temperature against Borrelia burgdorferi in vitro.

Reisinger E, Wendelin I, Gasser R, Halwachs G, Wilders-Truschnig M, Krejs G. Department of Medicine, Karl Franzens University, Graz, Austria. Scand J Infect Dis. 1996; 28 (2): 155-7. PMID: 8792482

We cultured Borrelia burgdorferi at different temperatures, alone and in combination with antibiotics.

The susceptibility of all strains to penicillin and ceftriaxone was increased up to 16-fold by an elevation of temperature from 36 degrees C to 38 degrees C.

These in vitro data suggest that elevated body temperature may be beneficial during antimicrobial treatment of Lyme disease. This may be particularly important in tissues where high concentrations of antibiotics are difficult to achieve.

Note: 38C = 100.4F