Lyme Disease Patients Denied Treatment Following New 2006 IDSA Guidelines: Connecticut Attorney General Launches Anti-Trust Investigation

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Christine Cibula
Phone: 858-755-3223
cc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lyme Disease Patients Denied Treatment Following New 2006 IDSA
Guidelines:
Connecticut Attorney General Launches Anti-Trust Investigation

Ukiah, CA - November 29, 2006 - In an unprecedented move, Connecticut
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a Civil Investigative
Demand (CID) on the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA)
following the October release of the 2006 IDSA Lyme Disease Treatment
Guidelines. The Attorney General is investigating possible anti-trust
violations by the IDSA in connection with exclusionary conduct and
monopolization in the development of the Lyme guidelines. "These
guidelines may have a serious anticompetitive effect, insofar as they
prevent competing forms of diagnosis and treatment," he says.

The new guidelines deny the existence of chronic, infectious Lyme
disease and list as "not recommended" most of the conventional
medical treatments prescribed by physicians as well as alternative
treatments often chosen by patients. Even some nutritional supplements
should not be an option, they state. Dr. Daniel Cameron, a New York
internist and Lyme specialist, worries that the IDSA guidelines do not
offer an answer for the thousands Lyme patients left with a poor
quality of life after their three- or four-week treatment. "How can
we, as scientists and physicians, turn our backs on all the things we
do not yet know about this complex emerging disease and its long-term
effects on individuals and our communities?" he asks.

Clinical guidelines now determine the legal standard of care that
physicians must follow in treating patients. The Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) provide a link to the IDSA guidelines on their official
website. Many patients treated under IDSA guidelines continue to be
sick and disabled. The guidelines are being used by insurers to deny
treatment reimbursement and by medical boards to revoke physician's
licenses. However, patient advocates say that access to care under the
guidelines will be the central issue as the guidelines prohibit the
exercise of clinical discretion.

Lorraine Johnson, an attorney and the executive director of the
California Lyme Disease Association (CALDA), stated, "It is important
to keep in mind that these guidelines were drafted by a private medical
society. This is a private organization mandating matters of public
medical treatment policy in a restrictive, exclusionary and closed
manner." The IDSA refused to allow patient or chronic
disease-treating physician input into the guidelines through the Lyme
Disease Association (LDA) and the International Lyme and Associated
Diseases Society (ILADS), although both organizations requested to be a
part of the process.

According to the CDC, Lyme disease is the leading cause of all
vector-borne illness in the US. During the last twenty years, the
annually reported number of adults and children diagnosed with Lyme
disease has increased 25 times, reaching 23,305 cases in 2005. However,
under-reporting is generally believed to be ten-fold.

CALDA joins the LDA in applauding Blumenthal's action. Pat Smith,
president of the LDA, explained that since the 2006 guidelines claim
that Lyme disease is easily treated with 21 to 28 days of antibiotics,
health insurance companies use them to deny treatment reimbursement to
people with chronic Lyme disease who sometimes need extended treatment
and patients nationwide are having claims denied. "In the last two
months I have received hundreds of emails from patients and almost
18,000 people have signed our petition," she said.

The new IDSA guidelines do not acknowledge that complex bacteria like
Lyme disease spirochetes can survive in the body and the brain, evading
the immune system and short-term courses of antibiotics, nor do they
acknowledge any other professional diagnostic or treatment guidelines
such as those published by ILADS, which discuss chronic disease testing
and treatments. After the guidelines were published, ILADS requested
their immediate retraction, saying that the guidelines committee
selected research that agreed with their opinion and ignored opposing
views. Of 18,537 articles about tick-borne diseases listed on National
Library of Medicine website, the committee looked at only 400, the
letter said.

"Many recommendations in the IDSA guidelines are based on the weakest
evidence, namely opinion rather than scientific fact," said San
Francisco physician Raphael Stricker, MD, president of ILADS. "The
guidelines will make doctors afraid to diagnose or treat Lyme disease,
and this chilling effect will harm patients and patient care."

A patient-run website called Lyme News summarizes the current crisis
from the patient perspective. They say the new IDSA Guidelines
"guarantee people will not be diagnosed and treated in time, empower
insurance companies to deny treatment coverage, and threaten your
physician's ability to treat." They have organized a Lyme Rights
Protest against the new 2006 IDSA Guidelines at Westchester Medical
Center/New York Medical College on Thursday, November 30, 2006 from
12-3PM. Go to www.LymeNews.org for details.

To review and/or sign the LDA petition, go to
http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/referral/Petitions/Petition.php?id=1.


A copy of the ILADS retraction letter is available at
http://www.ilads.org/press_releases.html
Choose October 25, ILADS Demands Retraction of IDSA Lyme Guidelines]


About California Lyme Disease Association (CALDA)
CALDA, an affiliate of the Lyme Disease Association, is a non-profit
corporation that acts as the central voice for all tick-borne disease
issues in California and a supporting voice for national issues.
Through advocacy, research and education of the public and health care
professionals, CALDA seeks to prevent tick-borne diseases, encourage
early diagnosis, and improve the quality of healthcare provided to
people with tick-borne diseases. CALDA publishes the Lyme Times, a lay
journal that is distributed nationally and internationally. For more
information, visit www.lymedisease.org

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