HUNDREDS OF DOCTORS TREATING LYME DISEASE WITH EXTENDED USE AND MULTIPLE ANTIBIOTICS by Dr C., MD, MPH
There are a handful of hot button issues surrounding Lyme disease that are sure to ignite a firestorm of debate within the medical community; among them is the duration of time required to effectively treat the disease.
The Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) has long insisted that a maximum antibiotic course of 21 days is sufficient to eradicate the Lyme bacterium, while the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) recommends a longer course of therapy with duration dependent on response to therapy. [1]
So, what treatment approach are physicians adopting in their own clinical practices? And how frequently are they prescribing multiple antibiotics to treat the disease? A recent study by Tseng and colleagues, published in the August issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, aimed to answer those questions: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26223992
They discovered, after reviewing insurance claims data, “that the use of extended courses of antibiotics and multiple antibiotics in the treatment of Lyme disease has increased in recent years.” . . .