Doctors and Patients Have the Right to Choose Treatment

In March 2010, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice (MBMP) voted to adopt a

moratorium on investigating physicians who treat chronic Lyme with long-term antibiotics.

Stating that the science for diagnosis and treatment of chronic Lyme is unsettled, the Board agreed to a 5-year period in which to allow science to answer unresolved questions.

Read the resolution

Lyme Disease Resources for Healthcare Professionals

International Lyme an Associated Diseases (ILADS) website

What Every Primary Care Physician Should Know about Lyme Disease - International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society

Lyme Disease Symptoms

Lyme Disease: The Big Picture (printable fact sheet)

The Management of Ixodes scapularis Bites in the Upper Midwest

Lyme Disease Test Kits - Potential for misdiagnosis

Borrelia burgdorferi escaping from bloodstream (video)

CDC: Caution Regarding Testing for Lyme Disease

National Guidelines Clearinghouse

Conflicts of Interest in Lyme Disease: Laboratory Testing, Vaccination, and Treatment Guidelines

Active Infection: Clinical Definitions and Evidence of Persistence

Lyme disease treatment recommendations, by David Volkman, Ph.D., M.D.

Epidemiologic Assessment of IDSA Guidlines, by Daniel Cameron, MD, MPH

MN Dept of Health Statistics

Lyme Disease by county 2010

Anaplasmosis rivals Lyme disease as record numbers of Minnesotans become ill from tick-borne diseases in 2010

Large numbers of Minnesota ticks carry disease organisms

Prevalence of Lyme Arthritis

More in Research Archives, Links, Videos, News

MLA offers scholarships to healthcare professionals who take the ILADS physician training.

Inquire here for details.



Centers for Disease Control: Lyme Disease Diagnosis

Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, objective physical findings (such as erythema migrans, facial palsy, or arthritis), and a history of possible exposure to infected ticks.

Validated laboratory tests can be very helpful but are not generally recommended when a patient has erythema migrans.

When making a diagnosis of Lyme disease, health care providers should consider other diseases that may cause similar illness.

Not all patients with Lyme disease will develop the characteristic bulls-eye rash, and many may not recall a tick bite.

Laboratory testing is not recommended for persons who do not have symptoms of Lyme disease.

Evidence-based practice is the integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision making process for patient care. Clinical expertise refers to the clinician's cumulated experience, education and clinical skills. The patient brings to the encounter his or her own personal and unique concerns, expectations, and values.  David Sackett D, 2002