Yet another media source has published the latest Lyme story with the headline: "Long-term antibiotic treatments don't work on Lyme Disease." It's a media hay day, but for Lyme sufferers, it's a media hell-day.
According to this new story, researchers in The Netherlands tested a total of 281 subjects suffering from chronic Lyme Disease by giving antibiotics for up to 14 weeks. You can see the published medical study here. This article, and hundreds more like it, state that the subjects, all of whom had been diagnosed with Lyme, did not report improvement after the initial two week period. The researchers therefore concluded that extended periods of antibiotics do not provide any more benefit than a short-term dose of antibiotics.
Logic like this will lead you to buy the nearest decrepit bridge.
Here are some of my issues with this:
1) Were any of these 281 patients tested for co-infections? According to Dr. Daniel Cameron, it is very rare for people to only have Borrelia. If co-infections aren't treated, Borrelia can not be effectively fought. Co-infections are the norm. See here for his blog. Dr. Cameron also states that, "Typically, clinicians do not test for co-infections when Lyme disease is suspected." According to Dr. Richard Horowitz, "The existence of these co-infections — so-called because they are often transmitted along with Lyme disease — explain why some people with Lyme remain chronically ill even after treatment: while the Lyme is identified and treated, these other infections are not. In addition, testing for co-infections is often unreliable, as it is for Lyme disease, so co-infections often go undiagnosed."
2) Lyme morphs. Dr. Eva Sapi has made a name for herself while helping countless others with her discovery of biofilms and cysts (round bodies) and herbals such as Samento and Banderol that can help to dissolve these thin layers so that the Borrelia can be killed.
3) Twelve weeks? Really? Many of these patients had been sick for years already. Lyme pervades the organs, the joints, the hide-away places and it takes more than a quick fix to eradicate it. I've never heard of someone with chronic Lyme who was cured within 12 weeks.
4) Three antibiotics? Most Lyme Literate doctors are switching up the antibiotics. Recently, researchers have discovered that pulsing antibiotics helps to fight what they have termed Persister Cells.
5) Persister Cells: Check out this research. Maybe this can explain why this population wasn't cured in twelve weeks. According to a Scientific American article, persister cells "are bacteria that have gone into a dormant state, ceasing the types of cellular activities that antibiotics typically thwart. Previous research has shown that when persisters of other bacterial species are removed from a bath of antibiotics, they begin to grow again."
6) ILADS has published a list of over 700 peer-reviewed studies that show evidence of chronic Lyme. See the list here.
7) Politics and financial trails. Why is this study coming out now? The National Clearning House has just eliminated IDSA's guidelines for treating Lyme Disease. The verbal and legal sparring between ILADS and IDSA continues as researchers find more evidence that Lyme Disease is the fastest growing infectious disease and cannot be easily cured when not immediately caught. For more on the IDSA vs. ILADS debate, read this article.
What does this mean for Lyme sufferers and doctors who treat Lyme?
The fight for awareness continues. I live in a Lyme-endemic area yet there are doctors in my vicinity who know very little about treating Lyme Disease. In fact, one recent doctor, upon hearing me talk of a Herxheimer's Reaction, looked on in horror as she announced, "But that's an anaphylactic reaction." Oops.
Those of us with children are wary of telling nurses and doctors that our kids are on long-term antibiotics for Lyme. After years, we have found medical practitioners who are knowledgeable and trustworthy enough to treat us. But even these doctors are endangered by policies that would make it inconceivable to give more than a two-week supply of antibiotics. Furthermore, insurance doesn't unilaterally cover all costs.
A recent Boston Globe editorial attempted to discredit a legal movement to get insurers in Massachusetts to cover expenses attributed to chronic Lyme Disease. The opinion-based piece argues that "the proposed mandate isn’t backed up by existing science." Right back at you. Check out over 700 pieces of evidence.
And don't tell my children that our country is so far behind that we don't recognize Lyme Disease when the evidence--double-blind, placebo-controlled studies--exists. There's a reason that Lyme Disease is called the new AIDS. How many more years will it take until the science, the treatments and the medical community unite to actually cure people inflicted with Lyme?