Part I: Are Stealth Infections Hurting Your Athletic Performance?

Read Time: 7-8 minutes

At a glance:

● Stealth infections are caused by highly adaptable pathogenic organisms like certain bacteria, viruses and fungi

● Stealth infections can come from a variety of sources, the most common being insect bites like ticks, mosquitos, fleas, and lice

● Symptoms of stealth infections may be mistaken for symptoms of “overtraining”, including severe fatigue, muscle weakness, joint pain (shoulders, knees, and hips), random tears and fractures, cardiovascular problems like heart palpitations, brain fog, headaches, dehydration, lack of motivation, and even depression

● Examples of stealth infections include Lyme disease (Borrelia) and co-infections like Babesia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia, and Mycoplasma as well as viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus. Even certain types of Strep can become stealth infections too

● Stealth infections evade immune system detection by changing their cell membrane structure or by hiding in or on cells, including inside red blood cells or in tough biofilms on surfaces inside the body

● These pathogens cause inflammation in the body by emitting toxins and stimulating the immune system, affecting all organs and tissues like muscles and tendons

● Additionally, the liver, mitochondria, brain, and adrenals become impaired over time, and performance capacity drops drastically

● Check out Part II to see why athletes may be at a higher risk of stealth infections, how they hurt athletic performance, and what you can do to regain your health

Stealth Infections: What Are They and Why Should You Care?

Have you noticed a slow, steady decline in your athletic performance? Or the onset of joint pain from seemingly nowhere? What about prolonged muscle soreness, needing longer periods for recovery, constant injuries, never feeling rested, blurry vision, shortness of breath, severe fatigue, or vertigo? Let’s explore what all of these symptoms have in common.

There are many possible causes and contributing factors, but one of the most underrated “performance enhancement” tactics I have seen work on my patients is investigating these symptoms for the possibility of chronic stealth infections, and addressing anything we find.

Read on to find out more in this three-part series about what stealth infections are, how they occur, why athletes may be at an increased risk, how these infections can impact your performance, and what you can do to take charge of your health if you are experiencing any symptoms of stealth infections—from mildly inconvenient to debilitating. Addressing the issue at the onset by recognizing changes in your health can help prevent a long, hard road to recovery, so let’s jump in!

What are Stealth Infections?

Stealth infections occur when pathogenic—or harmful—organisms including certain types of bacteria and viruses enter the body and lie dormant, undetected by the immune system for weeks, months, or even years before they are “activated”, causing illness.

During periods of intense stress, injuries, or exposure to toxins like mold, immune system function takes a hit and these pathogenic organisms begin to opportunistically grow out of control. This is the point at which mild or severe symptom onset occurs. As the pathogen load increases in the body, symptoms may worsen or progress if the infection is not suppressed and regulated by the immune system.

The most common stealth infection is Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi and its frequent co-infections, Babesia and Bartonella. (The term co-infections implies that two stealth pathogens were introduced to the body from the same source). Other organisms capable of causing stealth infections include Streptococcus, Mycoplasma, Ehrlichia, Epstein-Barr Virus, parasites, covid, and more. Some of these infections are so stealthy that people who test negative on blood work may still experience symptom relief when they begin conventional or alternative treatments, showing that testing is not fool-proof for stealth pathogens.

Some stealth pathogens are capable of residing on and inside host cells, while some have developed other mechanisms to “hide” from the immune system. For example, certain pathogens like the parasite Babesia and bacteria Bartonella can hide inside of your own red blood cells, while Borrelia is thought to change its cell membrane characteristics to avoid immune system detection.

Sometimes found in sticky “biofilms” within the body, stealth pathogens use these structures to help protect themselves from antibiotics and immune system recognition—think about the plaque that starts to form on your teeth when you go too long without brushing them, except deep inside your body. In addition to protection, these biofilms may allow different pathogenic organisms to share resources and survive longer.

The commonality linking all of these different stealth pathogens is that each of them can only flourish in an environment where the immune system is imbalanced already. Even if pathogens are under control with natural or conventional treatment, the symptoms often return with a vengeance. If the infection isn’t properly managed to prevent the conditions that caused it in the first place like stress, overtraining, poor nutrition, etc, it is more likely to occur again.

Additionally, these organisms are not evil, they are just responding to changes in their environment (aka your body), going from docile and dormant to pathogens on the attack when the conditions are right. This concept is known as pleomorphism (“to assume different forms”).

Organisms may “shapeshift” and their form and function can change due to a change in their terrain or environment.

While you can do your due diligence to protect yourself, exposure is essentially impossible to control, especially when traveling, working, being outdoors, or just generally participating in life. Lyme disease is often transmitted by ticks in the “nymph” stage, or ones that you can barely see with the naked eye. Most people who experience Lyme disease never even recall being bitten by a tick. Thus, it may be less important to focus on HOW stealth infections occur, compared to WHY (suboptimal immune balance), and how to prevent symptoms and diseases even if exposed.

Where Do Stealth Infections Originate From?

Transmission of stealth infections originates with biting insects. The most common is injection via biting insects including ticks, fleas, mosquitos, lice, sandflies, and others. Ticks are the most common vector for Lyme and co-infections, specifically black-legged or deer ticks and lone star ticks. Research claims it takes 24-48 hours of attachment before a tick can transmit the bacterial contents of its stomach into the bite site, causing transmission of Lyme and co-infection organisms. While this may be the currently accepted science—as we have seen within the last few years—science can change quickly and majorly, so any tick bite should be investigated regardless of how long it has been attached.

Studies show 39-53% of people with Lyme disease (Borrelia) had at least 1 co-infection like Babesia, Bartonella, and others:

23% reported 2 or more simultaneous co-infections

32% reported Babesia

28% reported Bartonella

15% reported Ehrlichia

Co-infections can complicate the treatment of Lyme

Co-infections can make symptoms worse or cause symptoms of their own [1,2]

Stealth infections originate with biting insects but can be transmitted to humans by various means, including:

● Blood transfusions: Only specific organisms are screened for when blood is donated.

● Exposure to livestock, pets, carcasses from hunting, and even roadkill: Insects like ticks are the “vectors”, or carriers of disease-causing pathogens, that can transmit them to other animals or humans. Animals like deer, cows, cats, and dogs are the “reservoirs” for the pathogens. Non-infected ticks can bite infected “reservoir” animals and become capable of transmitting disease further. Exposure to blood, bites, or scratches can lead to transmission to humans. Cat-Scratch disease is caused by the transmission of Bartonella from fleas to cats to humans.

● Outdoor activities like gardening, hiking, mountain biking, and trail running: These activities cause people to spend time in wooded, wetland, or grassland areas during warm weather, where they may come into contact with higher numbers of infected insects.

● Sexual transmission. Mounting evidence suggests several undetected pathogens like those that cause Lyme disease may be sexually transmitted. While STD testing is standard for a handful of organisms, many others are not tested for and little research exists on the topic. Theories of sexual transmission are based more on evidence from many patients’ experiences. As if we needed another reason to stay protected!

● In Utero. There is evidence that these pathogens can be passed from mother to fetus and can be generational

Symptoms of Different Stealth Infections in Athletes

● Early Lyme (Borrelia burgdorferi): Early detection and treatment are ideal. Skin rash that looks like a “bulls-eye” near the bite site, swollen lymph nodes, extended fatigue, headaches, stiff neck, flu-like symptoms, low-grade fever, chills, muscle, and joint pain

● Early Disseminated Lyme: If not treated promptly or the initial treatment fails, symptoms may worsen and Lyme may progress. Headaches, migraines, stiff neck, swollen joints, arthritis, debilitating chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, mood swings, insomnia and other sleep problems, numbness or tingling in hands, feet, or back, memory, hearing, and vision loss, digestive problems, inflammation of the heart, blood vessels, brain, and liver, skin lesions, adenopathy, and more.

● Late-Stage Lyme: All symptoms above, and additional neurological manifestations known as “Neuro-Lyme”, including seizures, nerve pain, Bell’s palsy, worsening arthritic pain, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, bed-ridden from extreme fatigue, food sensitivities, severe cardiovascular damage, heart abnormalities, increasing brain inflammation, loss of vision, a higher incidence of neurological disease like MS or Parkinsons, and more. These symptoms typically occur weeks, months, or years after the initial infection.

● Bartonella: Soft tissue muscle tears, unusual stretch marks on obliques or back, cardiovascular problems, heart palpitations, blood vessel damage, rage, disturbed sleep, dark urine, anemia

● Babesia: “Air hunger” or shortness of breath, night sweats, liver dysfunction, anemia, bruising, lowered cardiovascular output and red blood cell capacity, heart palpitations, dark thoughts

● Epstein-Barr Virus: Causes the condition “Mono” (mononucleosis), chronically swollen lymph nodes, extreme fatigue, and lethargy lasting up to months

● Blastocystis: Impacts blood vessels and ruins microcirculation to hands and feet, increasing the risk of injury and lack of coordination

● Streptococcus: There are many different types, some are beneficial and some are pathogenic. The childhood conditions PANS and PANDAS are caused by Group A Strep and symptoms include anxiety, OCD, low-grade fever, Strep throat, picky eating, tics, repetitive movements, mood swings, and feeling easily overstimulated

● General Parasites: Exposure can happen anywhere, but most commonly from traveling especially overseas, being in tight quarters, and close contact with others who may be infected. Commonly occurs from eating or drinking contaminated foods or beverages. Most parasites are microscopic and cause digestive problems like bloating, fatigue, constipation or diarrhea, dark circles under the eyes, insomnia, a persistent caught, teeth grinding at night, anxiety, or elevated nighttime cortisol. Many parasites are hard for the immune system to eradicate and they often do not show up on testing, despite symptom relief following antiparasitic treatments

● General symptoms of all stealth infections that cause inflammation: Fatigue, anxiety, depression, brain fog, lowered athletic performance, increased incidence of injuries like strains, tears, and fractures of muscles, ligaments, and bones, poor sleep, impaired digestion, swollen lymph nodes, flu-like symptoms, shortness of breath and/or cardiovascular problems, muscle pain, weakness, spasms, heaviness in limbs, random strains and tears [3,4].

There are many more pathogens than are named here—including H. pylori, Cytomegalovirus, Mycoplasma, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, and more—but the microbes listed above are some of the most common stealth infections we encounter at Vagus Clinic every day.

Your Immune System Makes All the Difference

A healthy body can have low levels of pathogens while the immune system and microbiome keep them in check. When the immune system is weak due to internal or external stress, these pathogens may multiply and cause increased symptom severity. This is also the reason why a person can feel good and bad intermittently since the pathogenic load goes up and down as the immune system attempts to eradicate the infection.

Borrelia, for example, is so stealthy that individuals who have weaker immune systems may not even experience the hallmark indicator of a “bull’s eye” rash after a tick bite. There are 20,000 - 30,000 news positive cases per year and over 300,000 people who are currently diagnosed with Lyme in the US. There are likely just as many mis- or un-diagnosed cases and only about 3 in 10 people experienced the stereotypical rash [5]. Those who don’t experience the rash also generally have no recollection of the acute phase of Lyme disease, which includes fever, flu-like symptoms, and chills. Lyme disease is often referred to as the “The Great Mimicker” because Lyme and co-infections have symptoms common to many other conditions, –ones that often don’t have a microbial origin–so most doctors don’t even think to look for hidden infections.

Oftentimes, a person whose immune system is strong enough to strong enough react immediately and present the “bull’s eye” rash will also be able to more easily overcome Lyme infections with conventional or alternative treatment. Those who don’t experience it may have weaker immune systems and be more likely to experience symptoms of mid-stage and late-stage Lyme disease months or years later.

To make matters more complex, stealth infections are often found alongside toxins like heavy metals, mycotoxins from mold, or environmental chemicals like glyphosate. Each one of these impairs the body’s nutrient status, immune system, detox mechanisms, and microbiome, making it easier for stealth infections to gain a foothold or vice versa for toxins to accumulate in the body.

The friendly organisms that make up your microbiome are part of your immune system and meant to help you stay safe from pathogen infection. The microbiome helps keep pathogens in check in many ways, including by simply out-competing the pathogens. Friendly microbes should be “crowding out” infectious organisms at all times—so they can’t gain a foothold and explode into large, symptom-causing colonies in the body.

*Note: My favourite probiotics to combat stealth infections and reset the gut microbiome are MegaSporeBiotic and HU58 from Microbiome Labs.

If the immune system goes down or our friendly microbes are struggling (due to antibiotics, toxins, stress, or poor diet), stealth pathogens have adapted ways to overcome detection and eradication by the immune system. They are truly smarter than we realize.

Takeaways

As you can see, stealth infections can clearly be a problem for anyone wanting to achieve peak performance—or even just have a good quality of life. The intention of this article is not meant to scare you from the outside world, but to empower you with knowledge and tools. This way, you can worry less about exposure—while still being cautious—and focus more on prevention and fortification of your system in case of exposure.

More than anything, it should be a wake-up call for you to keep your immune system and body in balance so your internal terrain doesn’t become favorable for these potentially destructive bugs.

How exactly can stealth infections impact performance, why are athletes potentially at an increased risk, and what can we do to take our health back into our own hands? Read Part II & Part III to find out!

Addressing stealth infections can help you regain your health for people acutely experiencing symptoms. Lowering overall the pathogenic load in the body can also be a powerful performance-enhancing tactic for relatively healthy people–and no one in the sports world seems to be talking about it yet! Luckily, our highly skilled practitioners can help you with the process.

Ready to regain your peak performance? Call or text Vagus Clinic at (416) 649-6489, or schedule your free 20-minute discovery call with one of our Health Coaches here!

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