Denying Chronic Lyme Disease

Controversy over Lyme disease has sharply divided the medical community, resulting in two competing standards of care that disagree on most aspects of the disease, including diagnosis and treatment.

The center of the debate is over the existence of chronic Lyme, also referred to as "persistent infection," which means that some Lyme bacteria can tolerate and survive antibiotic treatment.

The view enforced by IDSA is that Lyme disease is easy to diagnose and simple to treat with a limited course of antibiotics. According to the IDSA guidelines, chronic Lyme does not exist and long-term antibiotic treatment is not warranted. The IDSA guidelines were developed in close coordination with the CDC and are followed by most physicians and used by insurers to determine limits on coverage.

The alternative paradigm, represented by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), maintains that Lyme disease is a serious national medical problem of epidemic proportion that needs to be researched, diagnosed and treated more aggressively and often requires long-term treatment beyond the limits set by IDSA. The ILADS guidelines recognize chronic Lyme disease and recommend that the "duration of therapy be guided by clinical response, rather than by an arbitrary treatment course."

You can read the rest @
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/33098-lyme-disease-guidelines-panelists-engage-in-coordinated-propaganda-campaign

I used to live and work within 25 miles of Lyme, CT, and I frequently sailed past its alleged source (the former bioweapons lab on Plum Island). I have met several people who suffered from chronic Lyme Disease, or at least they said they did and had the symptoms to possibly prove it.

This whole controversy reminds me of Agent Orange, Gulf War Syndrome, Morgellon's Disease, etc. People obviously are sick from something, but because medical science cannot (or chooses not to) explain what's happening to them they are told they are NOT sick ... or that they are crazy.

WTF ???

By the way, if Lyme bacteria cannot be detected in chronic sufferers, perhaps there is a co-infection with a yet undiscovered organism ... or perhaps the initial infection triggers an auto-immune response which causes the symptoms. Is anyone looking?