TOUCHED BY LYME: Rash of Lyme stories in national media
The New York Times, August 11: The “Room for Debate” section showcased seven different essays, offering divergent views of the Lyme disease controversy in a feature called “Deconstructing Lyme disease.” Authors include Richard Horowitz, Richard Ostfeld, Amy Tan, Monica Embers, Brian Palmer, Lyle Petersen, and Eugene Shapiro/Gary Wormser.
Jane Brody of the New York Times also took on the “often misdiagnosed and mistreated chronic Lyme disease
In the July 1 issue of The New Yorker, Michael Specter reports on “The Lyme Wars.” After publication, NPR’s Terry Gross interviewed him about it on Fresh Air. It’s an important article (though I wish Specter had been more skeptical of the IDSA’s information—or should I say misinformation?)
Check out responses to Specter’s article by Pamela Cocks and Jennifer Crystal.
Beth Daley, environment reporter at the Boston Globe, has running a occasional series on Lyme. Click here and here.
In an essay published by CNN online in July, science journalist and “Cure Unknown” author Pam Weintraub describes her family’s nightmare with Lyme and helps set the record straight on the disease.
I’ve been keeping tabs on national coverage of Lyme disease for the past eight years. The burst of Lyme coverage in recent months is unprecedented. Have we finally reached some sort of tipping point?The major publications cited above are only part of the picture. Individual news stories about Lyme disease, in countless smaller publications, have helped set the stage for this.
Many of those lower-profile stories came about because individual Lyme patients contacted their local newspapers, TV or radio stations, asking for coverage of what was happening to them. I think it’s fair to say their efforts have paid off.
I encourage you to familiarize yourself with these stories, and leave comments on the publications’ websites. Every effort helps keep up the momentum.
TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s VP for Education and Outreach. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.
