FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
FAMOUS WRITER AMY
TAN APPLAUDS LYME DOCTORS
SPECIALISTS FROM AROUND THE
WORLD GATHER AT CONFERENCE
Philadelphia,
PA November 20, 2003
— Best-seller
writer, Amy Tan, captivated an audience of Lyme physicians over the weekend
with dramatic details of her mission to discover what had caused her extreme
pain, fatigue and even hallucinations over a period of four years. At this
year’s International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Conference
in Philadelphia, Tan (The Joy Luck Club) thanked ILADS professionals
for diagnosing the Lyme disease which ten physicians had been unable identify.
As more doctors become
educated about Lyme, the disease is becoming the focus of one of the most
acrimonious rifts the medical community has seen since disputes over the
diagnosis of AIDS in the early 1980s. ILADS physicians believe initial
laboratory testing for Lyme is generally poor and that late-stage and
complicated cases of Lyme disease may require long courses of antibiotics
to be treated effectively.
Still, other physicians
hold to the belief that Lyme disease is easily diagnosed and quickly treated.
At the conference, it was announced that the ILADS Lyme disease diagnostic
and treatment guidelines will be released in the next several months.
A changing of the
guard also took place. Steven Phillips, MD of Ridgefield and Wilton,
Connecticut, is the new president of ILADS. Yale-trained, and with
articles published in Infection and in the American Medical Journal, Dr.
Phillips has been an outspoken advocate for Lyme disease patients. His
expert testimony for the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New
York has helped to pass legislation about Lyme disease.
For
more information about the conference go to www.ilads.org
| CONTACT |
|
| Christi
O’Connor |
(415)
883–2491 |
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