Antiscience and ethical concerns associated with advocacy of Lyme disease.

[hedgehog]

4. I very strongly suspect that Chronic Lyme Disease is an

autoimmune disease triggered by the bacillus that remains even after the bacillus is cleared. The symptoms and the controversy echo those of the Chronic Fatigue saga. This is not to say the disease isn't real, but scientists are going to have to go beyond the simple model of infection. It doesn't help that so many of the symptoms are subjective. Too many in medicine don't believe in anything that can't be quantified by a lab test.

There was some research twenty years back suggesting that Rheumatoid arthritis was triggered by a specific infection, but no one has seen the source because the virus or bacteria is cleared by the body before the autoimmune reaction kicks in. This was speculative, but the evidence was that RA was found in pre-Columbian America, but not seen in Europe until about 1600 when it was reported as a new, epidemic disease!

It's very possible that antibiotics do help even if it is an autoimmune disease. I use a topical antibiotic to keep my rosacea in control. Another antibiotic is used to treat the dry eyes of Sjorgen's syndrome.