VIDEOS: CDC perpetuates myths about Lyme disease, testing, treatment
Excerpted from the Poughkeepsie Journal: (06/30/2013)
In presenting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s point of view (“Valley View: Long-term antibiotics not warranted for Lyme treatment” June 16), Dr. Lyle Petersen propagates myths about Lyme disease. Let’s examine these myths followed by the facts from the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.
Myth No. 1: “Most people with Lyme disease, if diagnosed and treated early, will recover quickly after a short course of antibiotics. Nevertheless, some patients will have persistent symptoms after treatment.”
Fact: Based on a study of more than 4,000 Lyme disease patients, it is clear that a large number of these patients are not “diagnosed and treated early.” They do not notice a tick bite or a “bulls-eye” rash and they do not receive prompt antibiotic therapy. These patients go on to develop chronic Lyme disease with a constellation of life-altering musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiac symptoms that can be devastating. Even worse, they are rejected by the CDC and the infectious disease establishment represented by the Infectious Diseases Society of America because they do not fit the narrow Lyme disease definition.
Myth No. 2: “Laboratory testing is helpful for patients in the later stages of disease when done correctly and performed with proven methods.”
Fact: The Food and Drug Administration-approved commercial laboratory testing for Lyme disease is abysmal; studies have shown that the sensitivity of this testing hovers around 46 percent for later-stage Lyme disease. The commercial tests miss more than half of patients with later-stage Lyme disease and should not be used for diagnostic testing. Yet the CDC and the IDSA continue to promote these inaccurate tests as a way to exclude patients with clinical Lyme disease symptoms.
For the full story and video: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013306300067
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