THE CROCK OF CHRONIC LYME DISEASE

My apologies for not writing in so long. There are many things I read that I want to blog about, but then I watch television.

I want to get right back on the train with a round of applause for one of the best articles I have ever read in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their critical appraisal of “Chronic Lyme Disease” (and I LOVE the quote marks) was short and sweet, and there are so many takeaway messages.

The first, of course, is that there is NO good evidence of any such entity in the medical lexicon. What I mean to say is, it is NOT A RECOGNIZED INFECTIOUS DISEASE! Here’s a quote from the Infectious Disease Society of America website:

an extensive review of scientifically rigorous studies and papers available to date, has determined that there is no convincing biologic evidence to support a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease after completion of the recommended treatment

But don’t tell the chowderheads at so-called “support groups” like this one. They are all over the country (even in places where Lyme is NOT endemic), composed of rich people, and have NOTHING BETTER TO DO but use the internet to obsess over their pathetic lives.

Apparently, for the believers, you do not even need to have a positive antibody test against Borrelia burgdorferi to make the diagnosis., because it might not be valid unless done by a “specialty laboratory”, which is, of course, a scam, since they are performing tests that are not even validated or supported by the FDA, and are using criteria that are based only on their own fantasy values.

This is the second takeaway message: that there’s a sucker born every minute. In this case, the sucker is the poor sap (or self-important “expert” patient) who seeks out the “Chronic Lyme specialist” (laugh heartily, men-of-science) for weeks, months, even YEARS of chronic antibiotic therapy which is proven to do NOTHING except cause complications of side effects and catheter infections (one resulting in DEATH, according to the article).

The article goes on to discount every theory that the “Chronic Lyme” fraudsters purport. But the most disturbing part of the article comes near the end. Here’s a quote:

The attorney general of Connecticut has begun an unprecedented antitrust investigation of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which issued treatment guidelines for Lyme disease that do not support open-ended antibiotic treatment regimens

An attorney general is actually pursuing legal action against an academic society because they disagree with his unscientific view of a bogus clinical entity that is disproved by science. Saying I am shocked and nauseated does not begin to describe my true feelings. How is this possible in 2007? Why are lawyers pretending to be scientists??? Does this guy own a bunch of these “specialty” clinics or something?

That’s the final takeaway message: science is now being dictated to by people who have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about, and aren’t interested in real research.

Thank you Henry M. Feder, Jr., MD er al, and the Ad Hoc International Lyme Disease Group for the article of the year!!