How Many People Have Chronic Lyme Disease?
Those of us with chronic Lyme have been forced to educate ourselves, and find each other for support and encouragement. And we usually find each other through support groups or internet forums, but always based on the terrible pain and various symptoms, even though many never receive a clinical diagnosis of Lyme. Do we feel crazy? It is hard not to when the conventional medical world call us delusional. Well, they can’t deny the severity of our condition for much longer thanks to two significant events
The first event involves research evidence that has not been publicized, presumably because the “powers that be” are desperate to keep their strangle-hold on research dollars and vaccine deals.
While the IDSA cling to their treatment guidelines and wrestle with the CT Attorney General over conflict of interest, science is marching forward, and Dr. Luft at Stony Brook has discovered evidence that must certainly change the status quo forever.
Dr. Luft found that out of the 20 isolated strains of spirochetes (B burgdorferi ) that his staff meticulously collected from the heart of Lyme territory,
there are six strains that don’t infect humans at all, and ten strains caused nothing more than a rash.
But the amazing fact is that only four of the twenty can leave the skin to infect the entire body. This means that there are six strains of Bb that cause the EM rash but do not cause “Lyme disease”.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) the federal agency who is responsible for tracking diseases in this country, is so far out of touch with reality that they still report on their website that ”A key component of early diagnosis is recognition of the characteristic Lyme disease rash called erythema migrans. This rash often takes a bull’s-eye appearance and is observed in about 80% of Lyme disease patients.”
So, we are supposed to believe that the CDC has a pulse on this raging epidemic…and they have reported that in 2007 there were 27,444 cases ( or 274,440 if you extrapolate using the CDC’s own disclaimer).
I leave it to the reader to contemplate the true number of people who are infected with Lyme disease. If there are cases of infectious Lyme occurring without a rash, how many thousands of people have been turned away?
One might think that this discovery would lower the numbers, but in reality, it shows that the record keepers are measuring the wrong thing. If you take away the basic requirement for involvement in any of the “sanctioned studies” you lose all of your resulting data.
The CDC says 80% report a rash, International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society ( ILADS) publish that less than 50% report a rash, and Lyme Disease Association (LDA) agrees with ILADS that less than 50% report a rash.
Unfortunately, most Lyme clinicians continue to rely on Dr. Burrascano’s Guidelines which have not been updated since 2005, when evidence of the EM was diagnostic of Lyme (certain infection). So if treatment success is measured using people who may not have had the infectious strain of Lyme, it is no wonder that so many are “cured” with only a few weeks of antibiotics.
The second significant event involves the scientific study released by Viral Genetics recently in their October 18, 2008 press release.
As Viral Genetics was searching for a cure for HIV, they inadvertently found a process to help unlock some of the mystery driving the medical debate about Lyme disease.
In many ways, the research conducted by Viral Genetics should end any lingering question about the validity of chronic Lyme disease. See Post on Viral Genetics.
We should look forward to the day that will surely come, as other scientific teams make use of the technology unveiled by Viral Genetics, that a vaccine and cure will be discovered.
Although the technology is not ready to implement in any meaningful way for those of us suffering today, it does hold a world of promise for the ultimate understanding of why some people develop chronic Lyme and others do not. It also holds a promise for diagnosing Lyme disease by other means than the standard antibody titers, that should be able to target the many, many infections that develop within the body – each unique.
One thing is certain. As understanding of Lyme disease continues to grow beyond the field of IDSA’s tainted leadership, all of the rules are going to change.
This is great new and frightening news.
An accurate diagnostic test for Lyme disease will help sick people receive better treatment sooner, but it is also certain to show that the true number of people infected with Lyme disease has grown so great that the statistics will surely stagger the nation.
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