Finally IDSA slowly acknowledge treatable chronic persistent Lyme Disease

I burst into tears when I read this research abstract from John Hopkins University. IDSA's Paul Auwaerter co-authored this article. New treatments needed to treat what they have held all along to be non-treatable late Lyme. Some antibiotics more effective than others etc. There's hope that we might get some help! It's good news but it will take some time to filter down.

http://canlyme.com/?p=6122

Abstract
Although antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease is effective in the majority of cases, especially during the early phase of the disease, a minority of patients suffer from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). It is unclear what mechanisms drive this problem, and although slow or ineffective killing of Borrelia burgdorferi has been suggested as an explanation, there is a lack of evidence that viable organisms are present in PTLDS. Although not a clinical surrogate, insight may be gained by examining stationary-phase in vitro Borrelia burgdorferi persisters that survive treatment with the antibiotics doxycycline and amoxicillin. To identify drug candidates that can eliminate B. burgdorferi persisters more effectively, we screened an Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library consisting of 1524 compounds against stationary-phase B. burgdorferi by using a newly developed high throughput SYBR Green I/propidium iodide (PI) assay. We identified 165 agents approved for use in other disease conditions that had more activity than doxycycline and amoxicillin against B. burgdorferi persisters. The top 27 drug candidates from the 165 hits were confirmed to have higher anti-persister activity than the current frontline antibiotics. Among the top 27 confirmed drug candidates from the 165 hits, daptomycin, clofazimine, carbomycin, sulfa drugs (e.g., sulfamethoxazole), and certain cephalosporins (e.g. cefoperazone) had the highest anti-persister activity. In addition, some drug candidates, such as daptomycin and clofazimine (which had the highest activity against non-growing persisters), had relatively poor activity or a high minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) against growing B. burgdorferi. Our findings may have implications for the development of a more effective treatment for Lyme disease and for the relief of long-term symptoms that afflict some Lyme disease patients.

It's a small step. Next they need to realize the testing is unreliable!

Our findings may have implications for the development of a more effective treatment for Lyme disease and for the relief of long-term symptoms that afflict some Lyme disease patients.


That is a step in the right direction. Then we can move onto the research and def trying to develop a reliable test. Let's hope the medical community will join in the efforts in minimizing the long term and neuro effects of the disease. We need to have more dr on board.

Post Edited (BarnGurl) : 7/5/2014 4:02:11 PM (GMT-6)