Lyme Handbook

Lyme disease is the fastest growing infectious disease and it is now epidemical in the Northeast, Middle West, and Northwest regions of the United States. The number of reported cases has doubled in (the) last decade and the infection scale has become larger than HIV. Aside from hepatitis C, Lyme Disease may be the second largest infectious disease in this country. Worldwide, it is also rapidly spreading in Canada, Europe, and Asia.

– Dr. QingCai Zhang

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Excerpted from Darien News (  Posted: 12/31/2009 )

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year 20,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported. Because of misdiagnosis and lack of reporting, it is estimated that the number of Lyme disease sufferers could be as high as 200,000 people each year, making it more prevalent than West Nile or AIDS. Since 1991, the number of those infected with Lyme disease has doubled, and the CDC has classified it as Commonly misdiagnosed, Lyme disease is endemic not just in the Northeast, but increasingly in every single U.S. state and it is growing in numbers worldwide. Its diagnosis and treatment have divided the medical community, stripping doctors of their licenses and leaving patients suffering for years.

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Excerpted from Andy Wilson’s  interview with Dr. Burgdorfer (discoverer of the Lyme spirochete).

Andy Wilson: How do you feel about the controversy in the Lyme world?

Dr. Burgdorfer: The controversy in Lyme disease research is a shameful affair. And I say that because the whole thing is politically tainted. Money goes to people who have, for the past 30 years, produced the same thing—nothing. Serology has to be started from scratch with people who don’t know beforehand the results of their research.

There are lots of physicians around who wouldn’t touch a Lyme disease patient. They tell the nurse, “You tell the guy to get out of here. I don’t want to see him.” That is shameful. So [this] shame includes physicians who don’t even have the courage to tell a patient, “You have Lyme disease and I don’t know anything about it.”

For the complete interview: http://stanford.wellsphere.com/lyme-disease-article/lyme-discoverer-willy-burgdorfer-breaks-silence-on-heated-controversy/704251

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Mission Statement:

This site aims to provide an easy to use reference guide for navigating the considerable amount of Lyme related information available on the net.  It is updated often, so please check back occassionally for new and/or updated information.

One final note:

 I try to make it clear when I am opining to prefix my op-ed posts with “COMMENTARY”.  I think it is important that readers differentiate between my views and those of Physicians and Scientists.

I am also cognizant that many of the site’s readers have “Lyme Fog” so I try to make it clear and concise, and above all else, easy to use. Any comments for improvement are greatly appreciated.

I have gathered Lyme information from scores of chronically sick Lyme patients over the past decade so I have a pulse on our collective feelings, anger, and ills, as well as the horror stories we all experienced with Doctors; hospitals and insurance companies.
As such, our stories and emotions about this disease can get extreme. But, the most important thing is to help others get properly educated so that they might avoid the devastation we experienced and are still experiencing.

Regards,
Rob