FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE:
MISSED LYME CASES
MEAN MISSED LIVES
TICK-BORNE DISEASE FREQUENTLY
MISDIAGNOSED
Palo
Alto, CA August 25, 2003
— The evidence is now piling too high to be ignored. Lyme disease is
proving to be far more widespread—and far more devastating—than
previously believed by the medical establishment. The often-misdiagnosed
tick-borne pathogen is causing a wide variety of physical and mental conditions
with life-threatening symptoms, and evidence is growing that Lyme can be
transmitted from person to person, both sexually and pre-natally.
The Centers for Disease
Control recorded 19,000 cases of Lyme nationwide in 2002, but the CDC
also says that the actual number of cases may be ten times higher. Experts
believe 90 percent of Lyme cases are missed because either the physicians
or the tests employed are insufficiently sophisticated. Most doctors are
taught to look for the tell-tale “bulls-eye” rash produced by
Lyme-infected tick bites, but that rash appears in less than half of all
Lyme infections, and many patients don’t even recall being bitten.
And the individual Lyme tests usually conducted by physicians are less
than reliable.
“We recently
detected Lyme in 97 new patients,” said Dr. Nick Harris, CEO of IGeneX,
a Lyme testing lab in Palo Alto. “During the same time period, the
CDC reported only 34 cases of Lyme in California. Most labs utilize insufficient
Lyme tests, and the CDC needs to change its testing criteria to accept
the more advanced results that labs like ours provide.”
Lyme typically announces
itself with flu-like symptoms, headaches, fatigue, swollen joints and
muscle pain. Even when Lyme is properly diagnosed, it is often improperly
treated. Three to four weeks of antibiotics is the standard treatment,
but the Lyme pathogen can survive that brief course of treatment by “hiding”
in the cells and body tissues. The International Lyme and Associated Disease
Society (ILADS), a medical organization dedicated to Lyme research and
awareness, now recommends six to eight weeks of antibiotics to prevent
the tough infection from coming back.
If not dealt with
promptly, Lyme can become a chronic and disabling disease. Thirty-nine-year-old
Charise Ott of Orange County, California contracted Lyme eight years ago
and repeatedly tested positive for the disease, but was told by eleven
different doctors that she didn’t have it. By the time she was properly
diagnosed and treated, the damage was done. Ott now suffers from serious
cardiac problems and irreparable retinal damage that may lead to blindness.
And her eight-year-old son was recently diagnosed with Lyme she passed
on to him during childbirth. Both are finally under long-term antibiotic
treatment.
Some experts have
believed for several years that many cases of arthritis, chronic fatigue
syndrome and multiple sclerosis are actually misdiagnosed manifestations
of Lyme disease. But the neurological devastation of Lyme is now also
considered a possible cause of many mental illnesses, including clinical
depression, manic-depressive syndrome, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder
and uncontrollable rages. A recent European study shows that psychiatric
in-patients are nearly twice as likely as the average population to test
positive for Lyme, and the National Institutes of Health is currently
sponsoring a major study of neuropsychiatric Lyme disease in an effort
to illuminate specific changes in the brain.
“Lyme disease
is like an injury of the brain,” said Robert Bransfield, MD, a psychiatrist
in Red Bank, New Jersey. “Lyme disease often strikes an entire families
and the result is a higher incidence of divorce, family dysfunction, and
domestic violence. Patients are less able to think things through, and
tend to act impulsively. A mother may suddenly lash out at her child and
a husband may lose control and abuse his wife.”
Bransfield says young
people are the most likely to act out. “I’ve seen so many straight-A
kids whose grades suddenly start to slip. Then they rebel against the
family and start fighting with their peers. However, these kids generally
improve after treatment with antibiotics.”
“Lyme produces
a micro-edema, or swelling in the brain,” said Bernard Raxlen, MD,
an ILADS expert. “This affects your ability to process information.
It’s like finding out that there’s LSD in the punch, and you’re
not sure what’s going to happen next or if you’re going to be
in control of your own thoughts.”
Physicians nationwide
describe business executives, attorneys, realtors, honor roll students
and parents who suddenly are unable to function normally because of confusion,
disorientation, loss of concentration and severe anxiety. Symptoms vary
in intensity, and stress is a key trigger factor. Family problems, job
losses or illnesses can send Lyme patients into emotional crisis.
“My patients
come in to talk about their marital problems and are surprised to learn
that they are linked to an organic illness,” says Virginia Sherr,
MD, a psychiatrist in Lyme-prone eastern Pennsylvania. Ninety percent
of Sherr’s patients test positive for Lyme disease.
ILADS physicians
say these symptoms can be alleviated or reversed with long-term oral or
intravenous antibiotic treatment, but stress the importance of early diagnosis
and treatment.
For more information
go to www.ilads.org
| CONTACT
INFORMATION |
| Media
Contact |
Lyme
Disease Expert |
| Christi
O’Connor |
Dr.
Nick Harris |
| Medallion Media |
IGeneX Reference
Laboratory |
| (415) 883–2491 |
(650) 424–1191 |
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