KARL’S STORY
Karl McManus was bitten on the chest by a tick in July 2007 at a wildlife park on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. A week later he developed flu-like symptoms but, due to a lack of knowledge about Lyme disease in Australia, the tell-tale signs and the potential seriousness of the tick bite were overlooked.
OUR MISSION
The current view of the Australian government is that there is no evidence for the existence of borreliosis (Lyme disease, Lyme Borreliosis or relapsing fever) in Australia. However, there is evidence of a Lyme-like disease, although the exact causative agent is not yet known. The mission of the Karl McManus Foundation is to contribute to world knowledge and to improve understanding of Australia’s Lyme-like illness, borreliosis and other tick-borne diseases.
GOVERNMENT ADVISORY BODY
KMF REPRESENTATION TO THE AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. The Karl McManus Foundation (KMF) met with the Chief Medical Officer of Australia, Professor Chris Baggoley, in November 2012. Following this meeting, a Clinical Advisory Committee was formed to provide Professor Baggoley with advice on the evidence of Lyme borreliosis in Australia.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Dr Mualla McManus – BSci(Hons) MSci, BPharm, PhD, MPSA, AACP, FPGA
Honorary Associate of University of Sydney, School of Medical Sciences
Dr. Mualla McManus is a Director of the Tick Borne Diseases Unit, School of Medical Sciences (Pharmacology), University of Sydney. Board Director of ILADS(International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society) a member of IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society USA), member of ISID(International Society of Infectious Diseases).
She is the founding director of the Karl McManus Foundation (www.kmf.org.au) only charity funding research into tick borne diseases in Australia. Proprietor of Gold Cross Pharmacy in Redfern NSW. She was pivotal in the formation of the Clinical Advisory Committee on Lyme disease advising the Chief Medical Officer of Australia. She graduated from Monash University with Honours in Immunology, MSci. in cancer biology from University of Melbourne, B.Pharm from Monash University, PhD in neurosciences from University of Sydney. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Garvan Institute, Sydney. She has published in peer review journals on the impact tick borne diseases on the immune system and its ramification on testing. She is active in research into tick borne diseases, advocating for patients and liaising with all stake holders to get a better understanding of tick/arthropod borne diseases in the world.
Dr. Armin Schwarzbach
Medical Doctor and a specialist for laboratory medicine from the laboratory ArminLabs, Augsburg, Germany.
Dr. Schwarzbach is the founder and CEO of ArminLabs, Augsburg/Germany and is specialized in diagnostic tests and treatment options for patients with tick-borne diseases for over 20 years now.
Dr. Gull Herzberg
Bsc(Hons), MBBS, FRACGP
Gull is an Integrative Medical Practitioner based in Bellingen NSW. His focus on the needs of the people who consult him paramount, he is a passionate patient advocate, a strong team player, always encouraging an open-minded patient-centred approach to medicine. His inclination to apply Occam’s razor while simultaneously employing “complementary” investigative and therapeutic avenues led him to consider Tick Borne Disease as another possible contributor to his patients’ disease.
Barry Spanger
Barry Spanger has been involved in the operation and management of businesses for over 40 years.
In 1999, Barry’s wife Taube became ill with what was finally diagnosed with Lyme Disease, and in 2007 he sold his main business to spend more time caring for her.
Over the years of his Wife’s illness, Barry become interested in the work being undertaken by Mualla McManus, through the Karl McManus Foundation. Earlier this year, he was pleased to be able to formally associate himself with the organisation, by accepting an invitation to become a Director.
EMERITUS DIRECTORS.
Prof. John Shine
Garvan Institute, Sydney
Recipient of 2010 Prime Minister’s Science Prize. Executive Director of the Garvan Institute 1990-2011. Prof of Medicine and Prof of Molecular Biology, The University of New South Wales.
Prof. Graham Johnston
Department of Pharmacology, The University of Sydney. Prof. of Medicinal Chemistry.
I study natural and synthetic chemicals that influence brain chemistry in relation to Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, epilepsy, insomnia, memory disorders, myopia, schizophrenia and stress.
Prof. Ken Ho
Chair of Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Centres for Health Research, Wooloongabba QLD 4102. Prof. of Medicine. Endocrinologist – world-renowned growth hormone researcher.
PATRONS.
Phillip Adams, AO
Phillip is an Australian farmer, broadcaster and public intellectual.
He currently hosts an ABC radio program, Late Night Live, four nights a week, and writes a weekly column for The Australian. He has been a successful advertising executive and film producer, and has served on many boards including Greenpeace Australia, Ausflag, Care Australia, Film Victoria, National Museum of Australia, both the Adelaide and Brisbane festivals of ideas, the Montsalvat Arts Society and the Don Dunstan Foundation.
Barry Humphries, AO
Barry Humphries, AO, CBEBarry is an Australian comedian, satirist, artist, and author.
Humphries is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film producer and script writer, a star of London’s West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and an accomplished landscape painter.
“Our mission is to contribute to world knowledge and to improve understanding of Australia’s Lyme-like illness, and other tick-borne diseases”