Mycoplasma: The Hidden Enemy
By Stephen Linsteadt, NHD

For 30 years, scientists around the world have been studying the relationship between Mycoplasma and different diseases such as cancer, auto-immune diseases (arthritis, lupus, sclerodemia, etc.), multiple sclerosis, ALS, chronic fatigue syndrome, candidiasis, etc.

Mycoplasma has no cell wall and is the smallest free-living bacteria (0.2 Um) - normal bacteria range between 1.0 - 5.0 Um.). It is strictly aerobic and has a special characteristic of metabolizing glucose. It was originally classified as a virus due to its small size and as a pleuro-pneumoniae organism because it was first found to be related to pneumonia.

In 1960, Klineberg gave this bacteria the name of Mycoplasma. Due to the small size and the lack of a cell wall, this microorganism is capable of infecting a great number of cells in any part of the body and live as a parasite on the surface of the cells (Baril, 1979; Rarin, 1981). Mycoplasmas can become a parasite in plants, insects, animals, and humans, and can trigger different diseases. Once the Mycoplasma becomes a parasite in the cell, morphologic and physiologic changes are developed and it takes on the differentiation of various diseases such as pneumonia, urethritis, pyelonefphrits, as well as arthritis, lupus and other immune diseases. In cancer, the tumor cells infected by Mycoplasma are more susceptible to spreading and producing metastases in different parts of the body (Slackpoles: Cli. Exp. Metastasis 6:271: 1988). This is also true with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (especially when the symptoms are severe), Multiple Sclerosis, and ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).