35. Innovation in Lyme disease research and treatment with Rossana Magnotta

In this episode, Sarah speaks with Rossana Magnotta, who established the G. Magnotta Foundation in honour of her late husband, Gabe, who passed away after a courageous battle with Lyme disease. The G. Magnotta Foundation leads scientific research into Lyme disease at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

Rossana tells Sarah that Gabe was an avid outdoorsman who spent much of his life camping, hunting, and fishing. When he developed symptoms including balance issues, eye problems, and memory loss, he was tested for everything from Alzheimer’s to ALS, before finally being tested for Lyme disease. However, the Canadian Lyme tests came back negative.

This experience echoes the stories of so many other Lyme patients who are shuffled between different doctors and specialists, with no answers. Rossana emphasizes how difficult this experience can be for families as well.

Even when Rossana insisted to her husband’s doctors that Gabe was an avid outdoorsman and that she believed he had Lyme disease, she was dismissed because of the negative tests. When Gabe’s blood was sent to the US for testing, the results were positive. But at that point, they had lost precious time and he never recovered.

Having worked in hematology, microbiology, and biochemistry, Rossana was able to investigate Canada’s ELISA test (a two-tiered serological test), the apparent “gold standard” test for Lyme disease. Rossana explains that when she dug into it, she realized it was faulty, as it only measures a narrow immune response rather than identifying whether the person has an active infection or not and whether Borrelia is the causative agent of the illness.

The test is still not a reliable indicator for doctors. With determination, Rossana set out to develop a reliable and trustworthy test to support doctors in diagnosis and consequently early treatment. From this painful experience, the G. Magnotta Foundation was born.

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