It was July 2003 that I set out on a journey to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to visit Edwin J Masters, the doctor involved in hand-to-hand combat with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over the existence of Lyme disease in the Southern United States. Working with a few intrepid colleagues, Dr. Masters managed to generate powerful evidence for Southern Lyme, though his evidence was continually undermined.
For two days straight I sat with Dr. Masters in his oversized basement, reviewing document after document showing how data had been massaged to undermine patients and cast doubt on their disease. Ed Masters' story sheds light not only on Lyme disease but also the dangers we all face when medicine is politicized and studies are undermined.
The heroic Dr. Masters died on June 21 2009. In his honor, I'll spend several days retelling his sprawling, riveting, and most important tale.
``I was living in two worlds,'' Masters said. ``I would go to conferences and present to academic experts, and they would say, ``Hmmm, that's Lyme disease. Then I would go back home to Missouri and the people from the CDC would tell me I was misdiagnosing all these patients. Diagnosis of Lyme disease based on the rash was controversial only in Missouri, and nowhere else in the world.''
Psychology Today Blog: Rebel with a Cause: The Incredible Dr. Masters, Part III
"I am not comfortable with the CDC's position that Missouri is the hole in the donut, and that somehow Missouri is a magical, `Lyme-free' zone and that these observed Missouri spirochetes have nothing to do with human disease." --Dr. Ed Masters, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Thank you Pam, Because of you, Dr. Masters though gone, will be able to tell his story for a long time.
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
part "3" was posted, and i broke it all up in 1st comment area again.... please read it there. it will make you boil with anger on the work he did, and what they wrote up and EXCLUDED from it all...
gave my feedback comments ...
Pam,
Another riveting chapter on Dr. Masters' fight on working on lyme disease, and others taking only what THEY WANT and dealing with 100% of the facts.
As a lyme patient of 40 years this Christmas, it is so DISGUSTING reading how we've been thrown to the sharks, CDC, and IDSA, infectious disease society of america, as well as the health insurances refusing to pay their "fair share" for our lyme/co-infection diseases!!
Looking more to this well-written article Pam; so glad you got to spend precious time with this magnifient lyme researcher!!
Dr. Masters you are/will be missed by all for the HUGE contributions you've given to all of us lyme/co-infection patients.
TO DR. MASTERS' FAMILY:
My heartfelt sympathies to all of you for "sharing your husband, Dad, grandpa, brother, uncle, etc" with the lyme/co-infection patients.
I've read many comments from DR. MASTERS PATIENTS; all were very pleased with his treatment in helping them get into REMISSION !! The the million dollar word to us lyme patients!
REST IN PEACE DR. MASTERS!
BettyG, Iowa lyme activist
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Thanks, Pam!!
Posted by Nicole_Denise (Member # 20620) on :
Great article Pam! But a small part of me wishes I hadn't read it!
I am so mad, I can hardly think! Just think- what if the CDC had listened to Dr Masters, instead of creating bogus reports to support their own position!
It makes me so mad! I don't know how the CDC gets away with this!
To further an idea from the article, if the CDC had tried to do with with HIV, there would have been a huge backlash!
Medicine is supposed to be about the patient!
If ILADs is so wrong, than why are all the patients on their side?
I want to say more, but I think my blood pressure has reached it's upper limit... Posted by Pam Weintraub (Member # 15718) on :
Read the conclusion of the Ed Masters story
He was a tempting target: "With my data, nothing fit anymore --not the tick, not the microorganism, not the serology," Ed Masters said. "One person told me, `Masters, they were having a big old fine party, and you're the turd in the punchbowl. You spoiled it.'" And so he had.
![[cussing]](graemlins/cussing.gif)
![[toilet]](graemlins/toilet.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)