Lyme disease has arrived. Why hasn’t a reliable treatment?

Lyme disease has arrived.  Why hasn't a reliable treatment? by Mary Beth Pfeiffer

This excellent Op-Ed published May 11, 2018 in the Globe and Mail written by Mary Beth Pfeiffer reviews many critical issues related to Lyme Disease: 
Click on link above to access full article.

'Of paramount concern amid this invasion is that the standard treatment for Lyme disease used in Canada and other countries – a short course of antibiotics – leaves a significant share of patients ill for weeks, months and sometimes years. This treatment is based on care guidelines developed in the United States that new research suggests are flawed. Until the medical establishment stops denying a problem exists, more people will suffer.'

'At this crucial juncture, Canadians would do well to learn from the mistakes of the U.S. model of Lyme disease care, which has cost patients dearly in delayed diagnoses and inadequate treatments. Since 2000, when the first treatment guidelines were issued in the United States, Lyme disease has been framed as an infection that is straightforward to both diagnose and treat. It is not.'

​'the U.S. guidelines have set the standard for – have essentially dictated – management of this epidemic. Yet, at least 20 scientific publications since 2012 have reported that the way Lyme disease is treated, with 10 to 28 days of antibiotics, may not be working. The pathogen survived in infected monkeys and mice and in test tubes when exposed to an array of antibiotics used in people.'

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More about the Author:
Mary Beth Pfeiffer
Investigative Journalist
Author: Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change, Island Press, April 2018
http://amzn.to/2iXup1u

Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change documents the human contribution to the dangerous spread of Lyme disease to dozens of countries and multitudes of people. In a book based firmly in science, author Mary Beth Pfeiffer shows ticks climbing mountains and crossing borders as temperatures rise and ecosystems altered. As important, Pfeiffer challenges medical dogma that has left many untreated. "Lyme"makes a powerful case for action to combat ticks, address patient pain, and recognize humanity's role in creating an epidemic.

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