Home Delivery

Panel to revisit 'chronic Lyme disease' guidelines

BY DELTHIA RICKS | delthia.ricks@newsday.com

May 3, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

A prestigious organization, representing doctors who specialize in treating infectious disorders, is convening a new panel of experts to settle legal action that claimed national guidelines failed to address patients with so-called chronic Lyme disease.

The charges were at the core of an antitrust investigation launched last year by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. He said diagnostic and treatment guidelines developed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America ignore some patients' complaints that chronic - or persistent - Lyme exists and that long-term antibiotic therapy is needed.

A small cadre of doctors adheres to that theory, which is dismissed by mainstream medicine.

Blumenthal also charged conflicts of interest, saying panelists who produced the guidelines were aligned with health insurers who promote shorter periods of care.

Dr. Donald Poretz, president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, said his organization consented to revisiting the guidelines because it wants to turn the page on a disturbing chapter. Nevertheless, Poretz said, he and other infectious disease experts stand by the 2006 guidelines.

"The important thing is that the guidelines are unchanged at the moment," Poretz said Friday. "They're the best that modern science has to offer."

Some advocacy groups for people affected by Lyme support prolonged, intravenous antibiotics. Poretz told Newsday antibiotic overuse can lead to liver, kidney and bone marrow toxicity.

"Antibiotics are one of the greatest discoveries of mankind but we're finding that more and more bacteria are becoming resistant and this is a great concern."

Studies point to a rise in MRSA, a drug-resistant staph that experts say kills more people in the United States than HIV.

Experts say 95 percent of Lyme disease cases are cured within 10 to 28 days with oral antibiotics. Lyme is caused by the bite of the deer tick, which carries a bacterium. Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and sometimes a skin rash.

Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine, a sponsor of numerous Long Island forums for people affected by Lyme disease, said he is pleased the infectious diseases society is revisiting its guidelines. He thinks some patients need longer antibiotic treatment, and doctors should not be inhibited by current standards.

"We have literally hundreds of cases of tickborne diseases, many of which go undiagnosed," Romaine said, adding Manorville, Shelter Island and Fire Island are areas especially affected.