Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines To Be Reviewed, Does this sound familiar????

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" Blumenthal launched an anti-trust investigation in 2006 to determine if

members of the respected Infectious Diseases Society of America had let

financial interests influence its guidelines for treating the disease, "

" Blumenthal has said in the past that he was concerned that the guidelines

could prompt insurance companies to deny payment for long-term antibiotic

treatment, "

" Blumenthal said today he had delved into the personal investment holdings

as well as professional business arrangements of scientists who wrote the

guidelines and found that there may have been conflicts, though he did not name

specific researchers. "

Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines To Be Reviewed

By HILARY WALDMAN | The Hartford Courant

1:10 PM EDT, May 1, 2008

The controversial treatment guidelines for _Lyme_

(http://www.courant.com/topic/us/connecticut/new-london-county/lyme-PLGEO1001002\

06100000.topic) Disease

will be subjected to an independent review under an agreement announced today

between Connecticut Attorney General _ Blumenthal_

(http://www.courant.com/topic/politics/richard-blumenthal-hpp4069.topic) and

the organization

the sets the guidelines.

The treatment standards came under sharp criticism after experts concluded

that in most cases Lyme Disease is simple to treat and that a 30-day course of

oral antibiotics should be sufficient to cure it. Advocates on the other

side of the highly contentious debate argue that the researchers ignored

conflicting evidence that Lyme Disease is difficult to diagnose, can persist

for

years and require treatment with antibiotics, sometimes intravenously, for six

months or longer.

Blumenthal launched an anti-trust investigation in 2006 to determine if

members of the respected Infectious Diseases Society of America had let

financial

interests influence its guidelines for treating the disease, which is named

for the Connecticut town where it was first identified.

Blumenthal said today he had delved into the personal investment holdings as

well as professional business arrangements of scientists who wrote the

guidelines and found that there may have been conflicts, though he did not name

specific researchers.

" What happened in this process, what made it so flawed, is it excluded

information,'' Blumenthal said. " The cause of that excluding of evidence was

financial concern.''

The treatment guidelines will remain in place while the review, which could

take up to a year, is done.

Since Blumenthal began his investigation two prominent medical groups, The

_American Medical Association_

(http://www.courant.com/topic/health/medicine/american-medical-association-ORCIG\

000016.topic) and the American Academy of

Neurology, have published findings that agree with the infectious disease

society's guidelines -- that there is no compelling evidence to support

long-term

use of antibiotics for long-term symptoms that some believe are connected to

Lyme Disease.

Blumenthal has said in the past that he was concerned that the guidelines

could prompt insurance companies to deny payment for long-term antibiotic

treatment,

(http://www.courant.com/news/custom/topnews)

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