Long-Term Antibiotics Won't Fight Lyme Disease

SUNDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Long-term antibiotic treatment of
people with Lyme disease has not proven to be effective, and use of the
drugs for more than four weeks may even be dangerous, according to new
expert guidelines.

The updated Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment guidelines were
released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

The guidelines also note that 95 percent of cases of Lyme disease are
cured within 10 to 28 days of treatment with oral antibiotics.

Major changes in the guidelines, originally published in 2002, include:

The addition of information on human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA)
and babesiosis, two diseases transmitted by the same tick that
transmits Lyme disease.
Recommendations of a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline for
certain high-risk people who've been bitten by a tick by don't have
symptoms of Lyme disease.
More information about so-called "chronic" or post-Lyme syndromes. This
refers to patients who report a variety of non-specific symptoms --
such as generalized pain, joint pain, or fatigue -- after they've been
appropriately treated with antibiotics.
The updated guidelines are expected to be available shortly on the IDSA
Web site at http://www.idsociety.org and to be published in the Nov. 1
issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

"We worked to make the guidelines as comprehensive as possible based on
a thorough review of all credible scientific literature," lead author
Dr. Gary P. Wormser, chief of the division of infectious diseases and
vice chairman of the department of medicine at New York Medical
College, said in a prepared statement. Wormser was chair of the expert
panel that developed the updated guidelines.

Lyme disease is transmitted by the black-legged deer tick. The disease
has been reported across the United States, but the majority of cases
occur in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states.



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