Dhru Purohit Show
Was Lyme Disease a Lab Leak? The Sinister History of One of the Fastest-Growing Infectious Diseases
24 Mar 2025
This episode is brought to you by Pique Life, Momentous, and Lumebox. When we think about disease and chronic illness, we don’t usually consider the possibility of a lab leak or a government experiment gone wrong. Today’s guest sheds light on her investigation into Lyme disease, its disturbing origins, and how it’s impacted patient treatment. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru sits down with writer and producer Kris Newby to discuss her theory on the origins of Lyme disease. She explores the possible role of weaponized ticks, the mismanagement of Lyme disease treatment, and the implications of military secrecy surrounding biological experiments. Kris also emphasizes the need for a deeper understanding of Lyme disease’s complexity and its broader impact on public health. She highlights the importance of awareness, research, and advocacy for better treatment options while sharing her personal journey with Lyme disease and how it affected her family. Kris Newby is an award-winning science writer and the senior producer of the Lyme disease documentary UNDER OUR SKIN, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was a 2010 Oscar semifinalist. Her book, BITTEN, won three international book awards for journalism and narrative nonfiction. Previously, she worked as a science and technology writer for Stanford Medical School, Apple, and other Silicon Valley companies. She is currently working on her second book. In this episode, Dhru and Kris dive into: The sinister origins of Lyme disease (00:10) What’s known so far and piecing together the facts (2:30) The discovery of Lyme, its impact on public health, and the role of Big Pharma (10:30) Theories of lab leaks and tick weaponization (17:00) Military secrecy and cover-up tactics (23:00) A congressman’s journey to investigate the origin of Lyme (28:00) Optimism for future research and treatment (30:00) Navigating tick-borne illness (32:30) Historical context of biological warfare (35:00) Connections between modern disease and bioengineering (36:20) The role of ethics and accountability (39:20) Kris’s personal journey with Lyme disease (41:20) Also mentioned in this episode: Kris’ book Bitten Lyme Disease Resources IGeneX Lab Galaxy Labs For more on Kris, follow her on Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, and her Website. This episode is brought to you by Pique Life, Momentous, and Lumebox. Right now, Pique Life is offering 20% off the Radiant Skin Duo plus a free beaker and frother when you go to piquelife.com/dhru. Optimize your energy and mental clarity with the Momentous Three: Protein, Omega-3s, and Creatine made by and used by the best. Go to livemomentous.com and enter promo code DHRU to get 20% off any order. Lumebox is offering my community $260 off their FDA-registered portable Red Light device! That's over 40% off! Go to thelumebox.com/dhru and get your Red Light device. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Chris Newby, welcome to the podcast. I want to jump right in. You have a pretty mind blowing and slightly sinister theory on the origins of Lyme disease, one of the fastest growing infectious diseases today in North America. And that theory is that Lyme isn't some natural disease. That naturally evolved rather that Lyme disease was essentially born from a cold war biological weapons program.
In other words, bioweapon facility that accidentally escaped into the public. Number one, did I get that right? And number two, why should our audience care about this conversation today?
A bunch of people got sick beginning in the late 60s around Lyme, Connecticut, which is just off Long Island near New York City. And they got sick with a really strange set of symptoms. They were both neurological and crazy joint pains, giant swollen knees like balloons. Back then, sometimes they would name a disease after where it was first discovered. So the Yale...
Rheumatologists called it Lyme disease. My theory is it was multiple organisms that got out of a military lab somehow. One of them might be the Lyme bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. The other one, according to the discoverer of Lyme disease, he told me at the end of his life, he believed that that was a weaponized germ that came out of his Cold War lab. And there was an experiment gone wrong.
So it's complicated in that... What we call Lyme disease is this spirochetal bacteria, but I think there's no proof that that was weaponized. But there is this other organism which might be related to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which Willy Bergdorfer, the discoverer, called Swiss agent. So that's complicated, but it helps to know that in the Cold War...
the military weaponized ticks, stuffing them with various viruses and bacterias to create a bioweapon that could be dropped on our enemy, make people sick with a confusing set of symptoms that couldn't be diagnosed. So you could weaken a population and tie up their medical resources before you invaded the country. So that's the premise of it. And why should we care now?
Because there were a series of experiments with these weaponized ticks during the Cold War. Sometimes the ticks with their evil germs got out. And that has a long lasting effect on the environment to both the animals and the humans.
How much of this is known and how much of this is you filling in the gaps to the best degree that you can from having your own individual research that's there? For example, this idea that America has a long history of creating bioweapons and dropping it on our enemies. Is that established and understood as truthful in our history and origin as a country?
There have been rumors. Before I came along, the weaponization of ticks was not a known entity. I feel like I've gathered enough evidence that that is established now. So the way I got that evidence was, first of all, the Lyme disease discoverer told me that he weaponized fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes during the Cold War for a a couple decades.
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