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[Julie D.]

Would be curious what people thought. I know a lot of it was a history lesson, but personally I thought the history was important to understand why this hasn't been a topic of research for decades. Looks like a simple error in staining technique was to blame!
https://humanpara.org/berkeley-conference-the-development-and-validation-of-a-novel-biomarker-for-diagnosis-of-inflammatory-bowel-disease/

[John]

It's interesting to compare and contrast John Aitken's talks from 2017 and 2018.  If there is to be a regular series of conferences related to MAP, - I hope there is and the next one is in Europe - it is important conference guests focus on talking about what they have learnt since the previous talk/event and there is continuity from one talk to the next.  I didn't feel John achieved this, instead he wandered off into a very interesting talk about the history of TB and how this has dominated the thinking, and caused many of the failures, with NTM cultures.

I want to see his test published and validated.  John even said in his own talk that this was essential, but thus far, we are still waiting - despite a few promises to do so on Facebook.  Personally, I would not be comfortable encouraging people to send blood "to New Zealand" until this step is completed.  One of the biggest dangers with MAP research is shooting yourself in the foot by damaging its credibility with flimsy or flawed science.  Using an unvalidated test, which has limited scientific credibility, to drive treatment choice is in my view a serious risk.

[John]

Having now also read the transcript, it is almost completely devoid of any information about how we tackle the problem of finding the primary evidence. Aitken describes the problem, rather than presenting solutions - either ones that he has tried and failed or ones that work.  My overriding feeling and take away from this talk was that he is observing a soup of CWD bacteria in both healthy individuals and those who are sick and still cannot identify a common pattern.

[Julie D.]

Only half the transcript is done! The meat of what John has found is in the 2nd half. I think it's very significant that there is a pathogenic variant. Sometimes knowing the history as to why this hasn't been followed up and researched for decades is part of solving the problem. For example: Who knew about the Gabbitt modification on the stain and how alcohol and MAP don't mix! For 50 years they've been apparently staining these the wrong way. One simple change can make a huge difference under the microscope.