Eli5: Why is there such a big controversy about the existence of chronic lyme infections?
In: Biology
Some people who are infected with Lyme Disease report ongoing symptoms of fatigue, aches, and difficulty thinking. There is no good evidence that the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease persists in these people, so it’s not correct to call their condition “Chronic Lyme Disease.” Instead, doctors prefer “Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome” to indicate that whatever is going on, it’s not because of a continued Lyme Disease infection. There is also copious evidence that extended anti-bacterial treatments does nothing to help with PTLDS compared to a placebo.
PTLDS falls into a big bucket of conditions that includes Long COVID and Fibromyalgia where patients report symptoms that are difficult for the doctor to observe directly (like pain or fatigue), have no apparent root cause, and have not been seen to respond to any treatment. A cynic would say that people reporting these conditions are just being “sensitive” and medicalizing the physical difficulties of ordinary life. People who claim these conditions and their allies say that view is trivializing real and debilitating conditions and getting in the way of research or innovation that may help us understand and cure them.
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