The Infectious Disease Society of America is in bed with big insurance-- and their disinformation campaigns about Lyme disease (not to mention Gulf War and Morgellons)--- has damaged hundreds of thousands of Americans-- condemning them to wastebasket diagnoses.
They openly promote a false test for Lyme disease (a test that UNDERESTIMATES the full extent of the epidemic) so that big insurance does not have to pay for extended treatment.
They act even more arrogant now that Attorney General Blumenthal is investigating their wrongdoing...
The IDSA adds insult to injury by openly lying about the scientific evidence that has repeatedly proven chronic infection with the spirochete-- hence the need for long term therapy and more research.
Here's their most recent set of lies and misinformation directed at Senator Kennedy:
March 21, 2008
The Honorable Edward Kennedy
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Kennedy:
I write on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
regarding the Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education, and
Research Act of 2007 (S.1708). IDSA supports efforts to prevent Lyme
disease, including efforts to educate the public and medical community
about best practices in this area. However, the Society must oppose
passage of the bill in its current form.
IDSA and its membership of more than 8,000 infectious diseases
physicians and scientists are sympathetic to the plight of individuals
who seek treatment for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.
Unfortunately, we have serious concerns about the proposed composition
of the federal advisory committee the bill would establish as it
likely will promote non-scientifically-based advice about Lyme disease
to federal decision-makers.
IDSA is widely recognized as the pre-eminent authority on the
treatment of infectious diseases (ID) in the United States. First and
foremost, IDSA's goal is to ensure the best quality in patient care
and to protect the public's health and safety. To this end, we believe
it is critically important that the bill's sponsors and those Members
of Congress who are considering sponsorship be fully apprised of the
widespread consensus within the medical and scientific community about
the appropriate treatment of Lyme disease, as well as the medical
community's concerns about unproven, potentially harmful treatments
for so-called "chronic" Lyme disease that are advocated by a small,
but vocal, group of physicians and their patients. A recent review (N
Engl J Med 357:14; October 4, 2007), published in the New England
Journal of Medicine, which gave an evidence-based assessment of
chronic Lyme diagnoses and the recommended treatments, substantiates
our concerns.
A fundamental problem with S.1708, as drafted, is the bill's repeated
references, overt and implied, to a condition that has been described
inaccurately as "chronic Lyme disease". Lyme disease is a tick-
transmitted infection that can cause symptoms such as muscle and joint
pain, fevers, chills, fatigue, and difficulties with concentration or
memory loss. Some patients may continue to experience these non-
specific symptoms even after a course of antibiotic therapy has killed
the Lyme disease bacterium. A small group of physicians have diagnosed
such patients as having "chronic" Lyme disease. Many of these so
called "chronic" Lyme diagnoses have been based on laboratory tests
that are neither evidence-based nor approved by the Food and Drug and
Administration.
Even more troubling, physicians that diagnose "chronic" Lyme disease
often advocate treating patients with repeated or prolonged courses of
oral or intravenous antibiotics that have no proven value other than
an anti-inflammatory response in some individuals. The unnecessary use
of antibiotics may cause harmful adverse events in these patients as
well as spur the development of antimicrobial resistant bacteria--
adding to an existing public health crisis. Such diagnoses and
treatments are not supported by IDSA's clinical practice guidelines
(last revised in 2006), nor are they supported by new Lyme disease
guidelines published by the American Academy of Neurology (revised in
2007), nor by publications from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the American College of
Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, nor by the vast
majority of experts in the field of infectious diseases medicine in
this country and abroad.
The premise for prolonged antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease is the
notion that some spirochetes can persist despite conventional
treatment courses, thereby giving rise to the vague symptoms ascribed
to chronic Lyme disease. Not only is this assertion microbiologically
implausible, there are no convincing published scientific data that
support the existence of chronic Lyme disease. The New England Journal
of Medicine article stated unequivocally "that there is little or no
benefit associated with additional antibiotic treatment for patients
who have long-standing subjective symptoms after appropriate initial
treatment for a properly diagnosed episode of Lyme disease."
As a substitute to the establishment of a new federal advisory
committee that is slanted toward individuals with an unorthodox and
potentially dangerous viewpoint, IDSA proposes requesting the
Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies to conduct a
review of Lyme disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention methods,
particularly addressing diagnostic standards, the adequacy of current
treatment guidelines, treatment options for post-Lyme disease
disorder, effectiveness of current prevention methods, and the
controversies associated with chronic Lyme disease. If at the end of
its review, the IOM deems a federal advisory committee to be
beneficial to federal decision-making, IOM should set clear and
specific mandates and objectives for the committee, as well as make
recommendations for the composition of the committee that will assure
impartial and scientifically sound deliberations.
For more information on Lyme disease and the recommendations by the
vast majority of experts in the field, please visit websites for IDSA
(www.idsociety.org), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(www.cdc.gov), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lyme Disease), the American
Academy of Neurology (www.aan.com), or the American College of
Physicians (www.acponline.org).
I thank you for taking the time to understand our concerns on this
legislation. If you have any questions or need any further
information, please feel free to contact Michael Ochs, IDSA Government
Relations Associate. Mr. Ochs may be reached at (703) 740-4790 or via
e-mail at
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Donald M. Poretz
President
United States
