Future looks brighter for Lyme disease care

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised their estimates for the number of Lyme disease cases, saying there are 10 times as many.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law protecting doctors who prescribe longer courses of antibiotics to Lyme disease patients.

Studies in animals and humans show that Lyme can persist in the body after the short-course antibiotic treatment that is commonly prescribed.

For patients who have to deal with Lyme, the changes signal a medical community that is more accepting of the disease's lingering effects and government institutions that are more willing to allow alternative treatments.

"The winds," says Dr. Richard Horowitz, medical director of the Hudson Valley Healing Arts Center, "are starting to change."

Horowitz believes that in the coming years, research will reveal that a vast number of other conditions commonly viewed as being distinct — such as arthritis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — are linked to Lyme.

Dr. Kenneth Liegner, a Pawling-based internist, said treatments will also depend on better tests.

Researchers at Columbia University have begun to study a test that measures immunological signs of early infection, compared to established tests that look for markers that develop after the infection has been present for a number of weeks.

"It's still going to be slow until there are clinically better treatments and better diagnostics," Liegner said. "But we are on the cusp of far better diagnostics. Those things are encouraging."

John Ferro: 845-437-4816; jferro@poughkeepsiejournal.com; Twitter: @PoJoEnviro

TIPS

Avoid brush and tall grass.

Tuck shoes and pants into socks to keep ticks out. Wear light colors to see ticks.

Do frequent tick checks. Removing ticks within 24 hours is the best chance to prevent pathogens from infecting your body.

Ticks die when they dry out. Throw clothes into a hot dryer for 20 minutes.

Remove ticks with pointed, tick-removal tweezers. Disinfect the bite area before and after removing the tick.

Source: Journal research