Actinobacteria

What are actinobacteria and how do they impact CIRS patients?

CIRS is first and foremost an illness about immune dysregulation. One of the most important recent discoveries in the world of CIRS is the understanding that most patients are primarily showing immune dysregulation from actinobacteria. Per Dr. Shoemaker’s research with the GENIE test, about 42% of patients are primarily getting sick from actinobacteria.

There are over 3,000 different species of actinobacteria. They can be found in soils, freshwater and ocean water sources, buildings, as well as in animals/humans. Some of these species are not harmful to humans; some are in fact highly beneficial and even necessary for maintaining a healthy human biome (including our beloved bifidobacterium that we take as probiotics). Other actinobacteria can become pathogenic and even infectious depending on the growth conditions.

We now know that there are a number of actinobacteria that seem to cause and/or contribute to CIRS. These can often be found in abundance in water damaged buildings alongside with mold, but they can also easily overgrow in dysbiotic indoor environments without active water damage.

There are at least two human habitat actinobacteria species, Cutibacterium Acnes (also known as P. Acnes) and Corynebacterium Tuberculostearicum (also known as CT for short), that seem to be the most problematic for CIRS patients. These bacteria release a number of compounds, including fatty molecules, that seem to contribute to the immune dysregulation that we see in CIRS.

Over time, exposure to these pathogenic bacteria can lead to a state of metabolic dysregulation that Dr. Shoemaker and Dr. James Ryan coined as molecular hypometabolism. This means that your cells suddenly become energy deficient, creating symptoms such as chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, blood pressure issues, brain fog and cognitive underperformance, and may ultimately contribute to the brain atrophy that we see in the NeuroQuant Morphometry and Triage Brain Atrophy reports of CIRS patients.

Skin actinobacteria and their impact on CIRS patients

If you haven’t guessed it already, yes, p. acnes is the bacteria that causes skin acne! Both p. acnes and CT are usually present in low amounts in our skin. However, over time, many CIRS patients can develop an overgrowth in the skin, sometimes even in other parts of the body such as the mouth, bladder/prostate regions, and even the sinuses (more on that below), all of which can make them pathogenic and problematic for our immune system.

We know that an overgrowth of human pathogenic actinobacteria in the skin can also contribute to molecular hypometabolism, elevation of TGF-B1 and MMP-9 in the blood, and may potentially suppress our brain’s ability to produce alpha-Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone (MSH), a neuropeptide that is critical for CIRS patients to regain control over their leaky gut, hormone dysregulation, sleep, infection susceptible, and much more.

In both our CIRS Lab patient and practitioner memberships, we are having extensive ongoing discussion around actinobacteria presence in the sinuses. We know that nasal colonization of Coagulase Negative Staph that are multiple-antibiotic resistant (i.e., MARCoNs) is correlated with suppression of MSH, but some of us are starting to suspect that p. acnes and/or CT may be creating an additional burden in some patients and may be one of the reasons why some patients stall with the Shoemaker protocol.  

We still don’t fully understand why and how this happens, but we know that living in water-damaged buildings is likely the biggest contributor to developing actinobacteria hyper-colonization for those who are CIRS susceptible (meaning, for those of us who carry certain genetic haplotypes from Class II HLA molecules). And not everyone with CIRS has problems with actinobacteria, which suggests that there may be a more complex interaction of genetics and environment that may predispose some CIRS patients to become extremely susceptible to injury from actinobacteria.

How to know if actinobacteria are making you sick?

In many ways, we are lucky to live at a time in history where we have access to testing methods and remedies to prevent actinobacteria from stalling your recovery from CIRS.

The best method to assess actinobacteria levels in your home is to conduct an Actino dust test from Envirobiomics (test number 13). This test uses a method called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify and quantify the abundance of actinobacteria species that are commonly found in water damaged and/or dysbiotic environments.  

As a bonus, this report will also provide a breakdown of cyanobacteria levels. So if you are someone who lives near a lake, dam, or bay, knowing your exposure levels to cyanobacteria can be important as they are known to negatively impact human health in the form of neurodegeneration.

As a second remedy, Envirobiomics also offers a skin test (test number 21) that can determine whether you or people who live with you (that includes family members and friends who may not have CIRS) are shedding large amounts of human pathogenic actinobacteria.

Finally, you can run a GENIE test to see if you are showing signs of immune reactivity to actinobacteria (in addition to endotoxins and mold mycotoxins, plus many many more insights!). This test is only available in the US and Canada at the moment.

What can you do if you know or suspect actinobacteria is part of your problem?

There are multiple cleaning and hygienic guidelines that have been developed in recent years to tackle actinobacteria. The good news is that managing actinobacteria exposure can be relatively inexpensive (as long as there isn’t an active water damage problem in your home of course).

The iAdaptAir from Air Oasis has been shown to be one of the most efficient methods of reducing actinobacteria burden in indoor environments. As far as cleaning, Fantastik seems to be the detergent of choice (and I can personally attest to this), which can be sprayed to a dry swiffer/microfiber cloth to wipe surfaces, including floors, tables, walls, and ceilings.

If you have trouble tolerating Fantastik, other cleaning agents such as Vinegar, eucalyptus, tea tree, and/or lavender essential oils, may also be effective for actinobacteria. If you have the financial means, an ultra HEPA sealed vacuum like the Miele C3 series can also be used to remove actinobacteria fragments.

For hygiene, most practitioners have relied on the Defense soap/shower gel. Increasingly, and per Dr. Shoemaker’s recommendations in the podcast, more people are incorporating the use of Lava Soap and Selsun Blue shampoo to help exfoliate the actinobacteria reservoirs that sit under our skin next to our sweat and oil glands. I have personally been using Lava soap and Selsun blue over the last month, and have seen very promising results (I still use a Defense shower gel but I find myself more and more not needing it in order to feel better).