NEWS: Can you tell the tick from the poppy seed?

The New York Times article “New Infection, Not Relapse, Brings Back Lyme Symptoms, Study Says” published on November 14 sounds like it is about a study about the cause of chronic Lyme disease. But it’s not. None of the patients in this small sample (17) had chronic Lyme disease. Nor was this a study about the persistent cognitive impairment, pain, and fatigue symptoms of chronic Lyme that force 25% of chronic Lyme patients onto disability. The study looked at people diagnosed with an EM rash, promptly treated, and restored to health, who over a 10year period, developed another EM rash and required treatment. Hardly, surprising in an endemic area, like New York and certainly not “big news.” Also not disputed is that most (not all, but most) patients diagnosed on EM can be successfully treated. But a study of patients with EM or recurring EM is not a study of patients with chronic Lyme disease. And you cannot compare apples to oranges in a study like this. Patients were justifiably outraged when the NY Times said the study challenged the notion the Lyme disease can become a chronic illness.