Comments on Superbug: Unintended consequences: C. diff death after exten...

Treating any disease can be dangerous, whether it&...

2010-08-29T22:34:33.186-05:00

Treating any disease can be dangerous, whether it's Lyme, Syphilis, Tuberculosis, or HIV. People with all sorts of conditions have died from medical intervention-does that mean we should stop treating everyone with a disease?

The consequences of Lyme can be brutal -losing the ability to walk, drive, work, play, attend school, take care of a family. Many people lose their homes, as they can no longer work and insurance will not cover their treatment.

IDSA guidelines say chronic Lyme does not exist, despite ample evidence published in credible peer-reviewed journals for years that has documented its existence in animals and man. Numerous scientists and physicians, and professional organizations disagree with IDSA's "take" on Lyme.

According to two reports at the IDSA conference this year, the majority of treatment guidelines for all diseases are based on opinion, not evidence. Evidence-based medicine - it may be cost-saving upfront, but what occurs down the line when the taxpayers must support all the patients left permanently disabled because they didn't receive adequate treatment due to guidelines? The public must consider this quickly: Lyme disease is a huge epidemic. How long before we have millions supported by the government because we didn't take note that Lyme treatment recommendations are based on one side of the science?

http://www.peh-med.com/content/5/1/9

http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/ebmstatefactor.pdf

A large number of patients report getting better after long-term antibiotic therapy. I personally know Lyme patients who were in wheelchairs, who can now walk and have resumed their lives, after extended antibiotic treatment. Since it's accepted that latent syphilis, also caused by a spirochete, may need months to years of antibiotic treatment, where's the big surprise about Lyme patients responding to the same?

Patients should be allowed treatment options, it should be their choice. Acne patients are prescribed antibiotics for years and nobody bats an eye. To deny treatment to patients suffering from Lyme disease- such a serious bacterial infection- is cruel and inhumane.

Liz Schmitz
Georgia Lyme Disease Assoc.
http://www.GeorgiaLymeDisease.org

Clearly the threat of antibiotic treatment risk ex...

2010-08-16T22:41:35.440-05:00

Clearly the threat of antibiotic treatment risk exists for use of antibiotics for all bacterial infections, not just Lyme Disease. What is interesting is that these risks are rarely brought up for antibiotic treatment for other bacterial infections, including long term prescriptions of antibiotics for conditions such as acne. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection and it has an etiology of cure with a short term course of antibiotics for the majority of patients. In some cases, and in cases where Lyme Disease is past it's early period of infection into secondary or tertiary Lyme Disease, a short course doesn't cure it and longer antibiotic treatment is needed. The Lyme bacterial infection affects numerous parts of the body, including joints and the neurological system, both difficult to treat with antibiotics. Lyme disease is not a benign infection and can cause joint complications and in some cases,disability, blindness,neurological problems including meningitis, brain lesions and seizures, heart problems and other serious consequences.
People are routinely treated with long term antibiotics for all sorts of bacterial infections such as ear infections, all based on clinical diagnosis, and Lyme Disease should be no different. It is true that the risks of antibiotic treatment have to be evaluated, but certainly the risks and problems of Lyme Disease as well have to be evaluated in terms of the risk associated with treatment.

Hi Maryn, Glad that you decided to cover this. An...

2010-08-08T12:56:04.647-05:00

Hi Maryn,

Glad that you decided to cover this. Another case worth looking at is:

Patel R, Grogg KL, Edwards WD, Wright AJ, Schwenk NM. Death from inappropriate therapy for Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis. 2000 Oct;31(4):1107-9.

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/318138

It can be very hard to communicate that prolonged and inappropriate therapy is not risk-free. We always weigh risks and benefits when prescribing any medication. If there is no benefit (as is certainly the case here), the risk, which is always non-zero, predominates.

Tough topic to cover. It has a long history, from ...

2010-08-04T18:13:18.900-05:00

Tough topic to cover. It has a long history, from death threats to researchers (no kidding) to public demonstrations to fierce arguments on blogs.

I'm a firm believer in the IDSA guidelines, because they are evidence based (new evidence always welcome). And I think the creation of alternative realities is not so very different than what the anti-vaccination community has done. That includes those willing to prey on people's fears by selling unproven remedies that can harm you. Infections from indwelling catheters placed for chronic antibiotics, complications form anesthesia and antibiotic allergic reactions need to be added to the list of potential things that can go wrong.