Originally published August 19 2014
Scoop on Lyme disease and progress
by Lindsey Alexander
(NaturalNews) On May 22 and May 23 members from the Lyme disease community held a protest at the headquarters of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in Arlington, Virginia. Members from the chronic Lyme community held a sign of 722 names of those who wished to have been at the protest, but were otherwise too sick to attend. The matters bringing about this protest included an alleged act of negligence by part of the IDSA board during Lyme disease voting procedure. The scandal that was reported in 2008 involved an investigation of the IDSA, followed by an anti-trust settlement agreement which the IDSA allegedly again violated.
A research team known as Norvect works to bring specialists and researchers from all over the world together to spread new insights on growing health concerns worldwide. A doctor from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made it to the most recent seminar in Norway, along with many other researchers and visitors. A well-known pathologist named Alan MacDonald attended, along with an IGeneX laboratory specialist who gave an educating speech.
Testing controversies
The IGeneX group is a laboratory and diagnostic team that has its own method of detecting Lyme disease. They have been sending test results to doctors for Lyme diagnosis for many years, finding patients to be positive for Lyme where IDSA guidelines would consider them negative. IGeneX has only been able to do this by not restraining their procedure in following the limited guidelines issued by CDC and IDSA. Unfortunately, most physicians and institutions are legally unable to accept IGeneX test results.
Because of these legal issues that impede medical treatment, one Governor signed into law a mandatory policy that allows doctors to treat patients with lasting Lyme disease. Peter Shumlin signed legislation that requires the Vermont Board of Medical Practice to send out a memo to all clinicians stating that they will not censure physicians for using alternative methods to treat patients with chronic Lyme disease or related illnesses.
The IDSA has been said to have never validated the science behind their guidelines. Because of this, chronic Lyme patients have been unable to receive medical care that is a matter of urgency, as it has been known to be a fatal disease.
It was Dr. MacDonald who found over a decade ago that the Lyme spirochete is similar to the Syphilis spirochete bacterium in that there is a late stage form of the disease. Both can cause dementia, among other conditions. Though Syphilis at one point was called the Great Invader, Lyme is called the Great Imitator.
This was an important finding since the majority of physicians, along with members of the CDC, believed that by following a basic course of antibiotics, Lyme disease would be cured. This is known not to be the case as it lingers and falls dormant, and can lead to arthritis and neurological illnesses if gone unchecked.
The protest brought much heat onto the IDSA as they at one point were pressured to turn off their phone line. During the event they refused to answer questions from the media. A Fox 5 reporter was even escorted from the building.
The CDC recently released a conservative estimate that 300,000 new cases are occurring every year. This is indeed a public health crisis. Patients, and now the general public, understand how critical open-ended diagnostic criteria are for Lyme disease and associated illnesses.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.igenex.com/Website/
http://vtdigger.org
http://lymedisease.org/news/tag/dr-alan-macdonald
http://norvect.no/conference-2014/program/
http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org
About the author:
Lindsey Alexander, contributor of health news and information
Lindsey Alexander, contributor of health news and information
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