The Presence and Impact of Bacteria and Biofilms in Chronic Skin and Systemic Diseases

Abstract

This will be an overview of our studies on biofilms and the diseases with which they are associated. Where possible, it will include the microbes that create these biofilms, their locations in the body, and their impact on the innate and adaptive immune systems. It will include all the diseases which we have recently classified as eczema in addition to those previously considered as such. It will also include psoriasis, tinea versicolor, leprosy, tertiary Lyme disease and Alzheimer’s disease, the deposition diseases (arteriosclerosis, gout pretibial myxedema), the necrobiotic granulomas (granuloma annulare, rheumatoid nodules, and necrobiosis lipoidica), molluscum contagiosum and squamous cell carcinoma in situ in pigmented transplant patients. Consequently, many chronic skin and systemic diseases have been shown to be biofilm diseases. This implies that these disorders have a large, often determinative microbiological component. Where known, the mechanism whereby these biofilms interact with the immune system will be discussed