At the beginning of the month, we published information about a study led by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) concerning whether Lyme disease actually exists on the continent.
In the study, lead researcher Professor Peter Collignon AM states, “Australia doesn’t appear to have ticks capable of hosting the bacterial species that causes Lyme disease. Lyme disease diagnosed in Australia is acquired overseas.”
Professor Collignon said some patients and advocacy groups claimed Lyme-like illnesses to label chronic, debilitating symptoms, often following a tick bite.
“This has led to patients believing that prolonged antibiotic therapy, including intravenous antibiotics, may cure their diseases – but such treatments can be dangerous,” he said.
“Antibiotic resistance resulting from the unnecessary and prolonged use of broad spectrum antibiotics is a major problem. Treating patients with so-called Lyme-like disease with prolonged intravenous or oral antibiotic therapy is unjustifiable and unethical, and is likely to do much more harm than good.”
This drew a comment from the natural health website, ProHealth, which featured the research article Sunday.
According to the Editor’s Note:
Accurate studies are essential for diagnosing and developing effective treatments for Lyme disease. However, medical databases are replete with studies that are inaccurate, biased and based on personal and corporate interests, rather than science. Patients, doctors and researchers must be discerning when researching Lyme disease, as much of the research is flawed and based upon faulty science.
The research article is one such example, as Lyme disease has been proven to exist and may even be epidemic in Australia. Evidence for this is found in the multitude of cases diagnosed by Lyme-literate doctors in Australia. Further, long term antibiotics have been proven to be effective for treating chronic Lyme in thousands of patients. For accurate information about Lyme disease in Australia, we highly recommend the book: Lyme Disease in Australia: Fundamentals of an Emerging Epidemic by Nicola McFadzean, ND.
The divide concerning Lyme disease continues, even on the other side of the planet.
More articles and interviews on Lyme disease:
- Lyme disease expert talks diagnosis, treatment and ‘chronic Lyme’
- Lyme Madness author, Lori Dennis, for the full show
- Canada: Lyme advocates, it’s time to get V-O-C-A-L
- Lyme disease cases near 10,000 in Pennsylvania
- Taiwan reports imported Lyme disease case, infected in US
- Lyme discovery: Borrelia bacteria hides inside parasitic worms, causing chronic brain diseases