Few docs recognize “chronic” Lyme disease
Excerpted from Reuters ( Posted: 10/22/2010 )
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Despite lots of media attention, “chronic” Lyme disease is only recognized by a small group of doctors in Connecticut, where the tick-borne infection was first discovered.
That’s according to a new statewide survey, reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, that found just two percent of doctors in Connecticut said they had diagnosed and treated the controversial chronic version of the disease.
If you are online a lot, “you think every doctor in Connecticut believes in chronic Lyme,” said Dr. Henry Feder, of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, who worked on the study.
“What the poll shows is that’s not true,” he added.
Most medical groups agree that Lyme disease should be treated with antibiotics only for a few weeks, but some doctors and patient groups argue that longer treatments, lasting months or even years, may be necessary if symptoms linger.
For the full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101022/hl_nm/us_lyme_disease_1
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