Rife Treatment for Lyme Disease

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada's website, Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria borrelia burgdorferi. It is passed to humans by ticks. Symptoms are flulike with severe joint and muscle aches. In advanced cases the standard course of antibiotics does not always work, leading many Lyme sufferers to turn to alternative therapies. According to the website Electroherbalism, Rife treatment uses specific radio frequencies to destroy infectious microbes, including Lyme bacteria.

History

Royal Rife, from whom the Rife treatment takes its name, was a scientist who worked in electronics, biochemistry and aviation throughout the early 20th century. According to Electroherbalism's online biography, his work identifying viruses that cause cancer led him to develop a method of destroying them. Rife thought that if he could direct an audio vibration at the microbes, he could shatter them, much like a musical note shatters a wine glass. Rife claimed he achieved a 100 percent recovery rate using his device on cancer patients. In 1939, authorities confiscated Rife's research and effectively ended his career.

Bare-Rife Devices

The modern form of Rife's machine was developed by chiropractor James E. Bare. Bare's version of Rife's machine, also known as the Bare-Rife device, channels a radio frequency through a tube containing argon, neon or helium gas. According to Bare's online article "A Brief Introduction to Resonant Frequency Therapy," sitting near the plasma tube when radio waves are activating the gas exposes the individual to its beneficial microbe-destroying effects.

Theories/Speculation

According to proponents of Rife treatment, the Rife-Bare device may leave microbe cell walls more open, allowing the immune system to destroy them. Some individual users speculate that the machine works by stimulating immune function. Specific frequencies channeled through the plasma tube target specific types of infection. Although Lyme disease emerged in North America after Royal Rife's time, according the website Rife Laboratory Reports, he did work with the bacteria that causes syphilis, a microbe with a structure similar to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

Controversy

The National Council Against Health Fraud includes Rife devices in its list of fraudulent medical cures, although they also decry the effectiveness of medically accepted practices such as acupuncture and herbalism. In a 2000 article in the "Sydney Morning Herald," journalist Ben Hills dismissed Bare-Rife machines as a fake cancer cure that caused several deaths in Australia. Like many alternative therapies, the Rife device's effects are unsubstantiated by clinical trials.

Considerations

According to e-HealthMD's website, the standard treatment for Lyme disease is a course of antibiotics as soon as possible after diagnosis. In areas where Lyme disease is endemic, your doctor might prescribe a course of antibiotics as a preventative measure should you be bitten by a tick. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation website suggests that many people with chronic Lyme disease recover after a second course of antibiotics.