Badzilla, the disease of champions

[thehog]

And another from the article she is complaining about:-

Doctors initially diagnosed mononucleosis, but the treatments failed. It was only after Froome underwent extensive blood screening following his switch to Sky in 2010 that the parasitic infection was caught and he was prescribed an eye-wateringly strong treatment, similar to chemotherapy.

Do you think in his sleep she injects him with EPO? Bridezhilla?

You go make me some money hubby to be. You'll be good to me, won't you? Won't you?

 

[bewildered]

Thanks for the link. MC’s post on Oct. 18, 2012 confirms Froome had 3 separate treatments of praziquantel up to that time. Prazitel is the same drug as Biltricide, just manufactured by a different pharmaceutical company. Prazitel is made by Cosmos, a Kenyan drug company. Biltricide is made by Bayer, a German drug company.

It has been over 3 ½ years since Froome was diagnosed with schistosomiasis. Why is he still taking treatments? With proper care, he should have completely recovered from the parasitical disease ages ago. Are his doctors misdiagnosing his treatment? Does he have some sort of super freaky new worm species that is immune to drugs?? Will his badzilla be miraculously cured when he goes for his next check up (followed by a quick return to his pre 2011 form)? It’s all very strange…

Prazitel

DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION:

Prazitel is administered by mouth with food.
In the treatment of schistosomiasis in adults and children it is given on one day as three doses of 20 mg/kg at intervals of 4 to 6 hours or it is given as a single dose of 40 mg/kg.
Doses in adults and children in the liver fluke infections clonorchiasis and opisthorchiasis are 25 mg/kg three times daily for one or two days or a single dose of 40 mg/kg. Similar doses may be used in intestinal fluke and lung fluke infections.
Single doses of 5 to 25 mg/kg are used in adults and children in tapeworm infections.
Praziquantel is used in the treatment of neurocysticercosis in a dose of 50 mg/kg daily in 3 divided doses for 14 days. A corticosteroid should be given to reduce the severity of adverse effects.

http://www.cosmos-pharm.com/index.p...item&id=108:prazitel-tablets-600-mg&Itemid=97

On velorooms she said it was a 7 day treatment. Not sure if the corticosteroid reference relates only to neurocysticercosis treatment?

But I'm more interested in Froome's/Brailsford's direct quotes as they have enough inconsistency and they can be directly questioned on them. They can just say Michelle was misinformed anyway. But it's still relevant.

 

[BYOP88]

I doubt Ms Cound is ill-informed in any way shape or form when it comes to Froomstrong.

 

[thehog]

The parasite defense is hilarious.
Almost better than Tyler's unborn twin story.
Good luck dawg, you will need it.

In combination with the "it's not possible to do 440w for an entire stage" answer to his power readings up Ventoux.

Neutral feed zones are always pushed through at 500w

 

[Stradebianche]

Interesting piece in the Independent pre tour brings up a couple of new statements.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-over-for-favourite-chris-froome-8679516.html

"It has not always been so smooth a journey for the 28-year-old rider. His initial season at Sky was erratic, limited by the recurrence of bilharzia, a waterborne virus he had picked up on a childhood fishing trip in Kenya, where he was born to an English father, Clive, and his late mother Jane. Its impact on his training was at first not realised and it was only after a visit home that he received proper treatment.

“It feeds on red blood cells so your immune system is always lower, your recovery is not as fast,” says Froome. “I would do a hard training day and I would be absolutely nailed at the end of it. I would get a cold that lasted for weeks until I stopped training completely and then had to start all over again. I found myself stuck in this cycle, so in a way it was a relief when I found that I had it.”

He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment – the last was in January and the next will be straight after the Tour. The treatment is harsh and wipes him out for a day or two. There will be some tightly crossed fingers – not a usual Sky approach – that the disease does not make the untimeliest of returns in the next three weeks."

 

[Stradebianche]

This piece on treatment and follow up may give some credence to the official position,especially if he has been infected for a long period before diagnosis.
It does mention follow ups at 36 months and possible though not automatic retreatment.

http://www.snp.com.au/media/160501/schistosomiasis.pdf

TREATMENT
Praziquantel (Biltricide) 20 mg/kg bodyweight every 4 hours for
2 to 3 doses depending upon the species is recommended. In
travellers, this is likely to achieve cure rates in the order of 90%.
Tablets are scored and available as a 600 mg dose dispensed 6
per pack. In patients at risk of chronic disease, such as refugees
and migrants, it is important to be aware of complications that
may arise from chronic infection: liver fibrosis, portal hypertension
and its sequelae, and colorectal malignancy in the intestinal forms;
obstructive uropathy, superimposed bacterial infection, infertility
and possibly bladder cancer in the urinary form.
FOLLOW-UP
Follow-up Schistosomiasis serology is recommended in 12 to 36
months after treatment. Follow-up serology may differ between
immigrants and returned travellers. Travellers may show a more
rapid serological decline post-treatment due to a shorter duration of
infection and lower parasite burden. Immigrants may even show a
rise in titre within the first 6 to12 months post-treatment. Persisting
titres should not automatically justify retreatment, this should be
based on symptoms, parasite identification or eosinophilia. Viable
eggs may continue to be excreted for up to one month after
successful treatment. Non-viable and degenerate eggs can be
found in tissue biopsies for years after infection has occurred.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Guys who are quoting from articles or other websites in this thread:
Can you please go back & edit your posts to also include a link to the article itself? It's helpful to be able to bring up the original article to see its date, authorship, context, etc. I believe forum rules say that we are supposed to always include a link alongside any lengthy quotes anyway.

These various stories are so inconsistent, it would be nice to be able to see if there's some sort of pattern among the articles themselves.

 

[rata de sentina]

One of the greatest thread titles in forum history.

Cool story bro.....

 

[The Hitch]

I'll of course defer to your actual experience with the disease, but according to all the sources I have seen, it requires a single annual treatment. The disease is controlled, not eliminated. E.g., this is what it says in the link provided by Cycle Chic. I believe Froome has also been quoted as saying he's treated every six months.

Im way out of my league here and probably late to the party (this is from the other thread) but was the link you looked at the "Carter centre"?

If so that link was a bit ambiguous. It goes under the title "how to treat Bilharzia" but it is clearly aimed at people who live in areas where the disease is common and in the same section they talk about mass treatment even if only a % have the disease. So I think that page may have been aimed at helping those who live under constant risk of infection and reinfection rather than at someone like Froome who is no longer facing that risk.

And of course the Carter centre is all about helping poor local populations.

I suppose patswana confirmed that annual dosage was for those who face the danger of reinfection but if what i posted above makes sense then perhaps the Carter foundation isn't contradicting people here as some may have thought.

 

[silverrocket]

Interesting piece in the Independent pre tour brings up a couple of new statements.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-over-for-favourite-chris-froome-8679516.html

"It has not always been so smooth a journey for the 28-year-old rider. His initial season at Sky was erratic, limited by the recurrence of bilharzia, a waterborne virus he had picked up on a childhood fishing trip in Kenya, where he was born to an English father, Clive, and his late mother Jane. Its impact on his training was at first not realised and it was only after a visit home that he received proper treatment.

“It feeds on red blood cells so your immune system is always lower, your recovery is not as fast,” says Froome. “I would do a hard training day and I would be absolutely nailed at the end of it. I would get a cold that lasted for weeks until I stopped training completely and then had to start all over again. I found myself stuck in this cycle, so in a way it was a relief when I found that I had it.”

He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment – the last was in January and the next will be straight after the Tour. The treatment is harsh and wipes him out for a day or two. There will be some tightly crossed fingers – not a usual Sky approach – that the disease does not make the untimeliest of returns in the next three weeks."

If he needs treatment twice a year, and it only prevents him from training for 1-2 days, and Sky is worried about it recurring during the TdF, why on Earth would they not have had him get his last treatment a month ago, or 2 months? Why wait until immediately after the Tour?

 

[thehog]

If he needs treatment twice a year, and it only prevents him from training for 1-2 days, and Sky is worried about it recurring during the TdF, why on Earth would they not have had him get his last treatment a month ago, or 2 months? Why wait until immediately after the Tour?

Sounds like it made a return on both rest days. Treatment via a bag full of RBCs

"You know, I didn't expect to win today, but I did"

 

[DirtyWorks]

If he needs treatment twice a year, and it only prevents him from training for 1-2 days, and Sky is worried about it recurring during the TdF, why on Earth would they not have had him get his last treatment a month ago, or 2 months? Why wait until immediately after the Tour?

Read the first post on this thread. IMHO, it checks out good.

I will give Froome some room here. Somethings don't get transcribed well in interviews especially between two or more non-medical people discussing medical things. But, unless he is seeking out the ponds and swimming in them for the express purpose of catching the disease, he was cured after initial treatment phase.

End of story.

This is shaping up to be second only to Hamilton's ephemeral twin explanation.

 

[The Hitch]

Sounds like it made a return on both rest days. Treatment via a bag full of RBCs

"You know, I didn't expect to win today, but I did"

Could we keep this serious? Nothings stopping you from making the same post in the Froome thread where those you seek to antagonize can have their back and forth with you without necessarily distrupting a more serious discussion.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Non-viable and degenerate eggs can be
found in tissue biopsies for years after infection has occurred.

This would be the cover story to hit the oxygen vector doping and go zoooom!

 

[thehog]

Could we keep this serious? Nothings stopping you from making the same post in the Froome thread where those you seek to antagonize can have their back and forth with you without necessarily distrupting a more serious discussion.

There is irony in my post. The disease appears to allow for "treatment". That to me is very interesting. Is treatment, doping.

Besides I came up either the term "Badzhilla".

Steady on.

 

[bewildered]

Im way out of my league here and probably late to the party (this is from the other thread) but was the link you looked at the "Carter centre"?

If so that link was a bit ambiguous. It goes under the title "how to treat Bilharzia" but it is clearly aimed at people who live in areas where the disease is common and in the same section they talk about mass treatment even if only a % have the disease. So I think that page may have been aimed at helping those who live under constant risk of infection and reinfection rather than at someone like Froome who is no longer facing that risk.

And of course the Carter centre is all about helping poor local populations.

I suppose patswana confirmed that annual dosage was for those who face the danger of reinfection but if what i posted above makes sense then perhaps the Carter foundation isn't contradicting people here as some may have thought.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistosomiasis

Yes the wiki page for Schistosomiasis states 'Schistosomiasis is readily treated using a single oral dose of the drug praziquantel annually.[14]'

But the footnote reference is to the Carter Institute page http://web.archive.org/web/20080225...ter.org/health/schistosomiasis/treatment.html

which states 'A single oral annual dose of this medicine will prevent a child from suffering from schistosomiasis.'

As I understand it, in areas where the disease is very common, where the infection and re-infection rate is generally high, it is cheaper and more efficient to give people an annual dose as a preventative measure, rather than test people for it and then treat them, so this is a method of prevention or pre-emptive 'treatment', which is not a treatment at all.

The Carter Institute is not involved in the treatment of those who visit areas like Kenya, but rather helping those who live in areas where the infection rate is very high.

 

[Cobblestones]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistosomiasis

Yes the wiki page for Schistosomiasis states 'Schistosomiasis is readily treated using a single oral dose of the drug praziquantel annually.[14]'

But the footnote reference is to the Carter Institute page http://web.archive.org/web/20080225...ter.org/health/schistosomiasis/treatment.html

which states 'A single oral annual dose of this medicine will prevent a child from suffering from schistosomiasis.'

As I understand it, in areas where the disease is very commone, where the infection and re-infection rate is generally high, it is cheaper and more efficient to give people an annual dose as a preventative measure, rather than test people for it and then treat them, so this is a method of prevention or pre-emptive 'treatment', which is not a treatment at all.

The Carter Institute is not involved in the treatment of those who visit areas like Kenya, but rather helping those who live in areas where the infection rate is very high.

So, while Froome's statements are inconsistent with actual medical knowledge, they are consistent with Wikipedia. Seems to me the whole badzilla thing is a smokescreen hastily cobbled together from half-read Wiki pages to cover up something else entirely.

 

[Mr.38%]

"Measuring the Impact of Schistosomiasis Infection on Different Blood Parameters" (Full text)

 

[SafeBet]

Been saying the same things of the OP since the very first time I heard about Froome and bilharzia.

I used to work with political refugees coming from Africa and some of them had caught bilharzia in the previous months. As mentioned before, it's a one day treatment. You get half of the dose in the morning, half in the afternoon. The body does not suffer any particular side effect. I witnessed guys treated for bilharzia being able to run and play football the day after.

There have been cases of recurrence of the parasite. They are rare but can happen after approximately one year. Needless to say, if you know a person has had bilharzia before it's very easy to spot the symptoms or keep the situation in check even if there's no visible symptom. Another one day treatment will kill the parasite again anyway.

 

[Stradebianche]

"Measuring the Impact of Schistosomiasis Infection on Different Blood Parameters" (Full text)

Only had time for a quick glance at this,so please correct me if i have read this wrong.

One thing immediately stands out and that is that this study seems to show that bilharzia had no effect on RBC's.In fact the RBC's in the infected subject are higher than the control subject whilst other parameters are lower ?

Have we not been told that this is a "red blood cell munching" disease ?

 

[Froomstrong]

Interesting piece in the Independent pre tour brings up a couple of new statements.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-over-for-favourite-chris-froome-8679516.html

<snip>
<snip>

He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment – the last was in January and the next will be straight after the Tour. The treatment is harsh and wipes him out for a day or two. There will be some tightly crossed fingers – not a usual Sky approach – that the disease does not make the untimeliest of returns in the next three weeks."

Is it really necessary to go to Africa to get it treated?
"He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment"

As people who live in Europe could be affected while in Africa, wouldn't it be possible to be treated in Europe. I would guess that a city like London would be have a few doses in stock.

 

[Stradebianche]

Is it really necessary to go to Africa to get it treated?
"He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment"

As people who live in Europe could be affected while in Africa, wouldn't it be possible to be treated in Europe. I would guess that a city like London would be have a few doses in stock.

My thoughts exactly !

 

[Jahudor]

[double post]

 

[Jahudor]

Is it really necessary to go to Africa to get it treated?
"He returns every six months to Africa for a course of treatment"

As people who live in Europe could be affected while in Africa, wouldn't it be possible to be treated in Europe. I would guess that a city like London would be have a few doses in stock.

Very strange and dodgy indeed. It isn't necessary to receive treatment in Africa of course, but I guess Froome would claim to visit his family also.

Supposedly he can't train during and shortly after 'treatment', so I guess UCI wouldn't perform a out of competition control while he is in Kenya! We should try to find out how long he stays there for his treatments. During those periods he is free from any controls.

 

[SafeBet]

You can receive treatment for bilharzia in Milano so I presume you could get it in most major cities in Europe.