From Foxnews.com, 8 September 2000:

No evidence chronic Lyme disease exists, scientists say

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters Health) - The authors of a scientific
evaluation of Lyme disease—the bacterial infection that is passed
to humans from deer ticks in parts of the United States—conclude
that there is no strong evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists,
and that long term treatment of Lyme disease patients with
antibiotics does not help them.
         The issue of whether symptoms of Lyme disease can linger even
after a course of antibiotics has caused controversy in recent
years, with physicians on both sides of the debate forcefully
stating their positions. Some doctors say that long term treatment
of Lyme disease patients with antibiotics is the only way to treat
them properly.
         But now, a group of scientists representing the Infectious
Diseases Society of America have said that there is little
evidence to support the need for long term treatment. They
recommend that a two to four week course of antibiotics is
treatment enough to rid the body of the bacterium that causes the
disease, Borrelia burgdorferi.
         Dr. Gary P. Wormser, co-author of the guidelines, presented a
summary of the findings at the society's annual meeting here.
         "It is our hope that these guidelines will improve prevention,
recognition and treatment of Lyme disease, and reduce the
incidence and severity of the disease, and the frequency of
misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment,'' he said in a statement.
         After his presentation, Wormser addressed the controversy over
chronic Lyme disease in an interview with Reuters Health. 
''Chronic Lyme or "post-Lyme disease syndrome'' is an ill-defined
entity,'' he said. People who are thought to have the condition
seem to be a mixture of "some patients who have symptoms that
appear to be lingering post their episode of Lyme disease, which
will eventually recover spontaneously, other patients who may
become infected with other deer tick-borne (diseases), and some
patients who probably have conditions that are being confused
with...Lyme disease such as fibromyalgia or other underlying
illnesses,'' he said.
         "There has been no evidence to date that there are residual
Borrelia organisms in such patients, and there are no treatment
studies that have been published and been done in a controlled,
scientific way, that would suggest that prolonged therapy is
beneficial for such patients,'' he added.
         So why do some people feel better after the long course of
antibiotics? "If the patient gets better with the antibiotic it
could either be due to a real effect of the antibiotic, or an
antiinflammatory effect of the antibiotic. For example, it is well
known that tetracyclines, can be used even to treat rheumatoid
arthritis, because they have a fairly impressive anti-inflammatory
effect. It could also be due to natural recovery that just took a
little longer, or to another condition that is going through a
natural waxing and waning.''
         The National Institutes of Health is currently undertaking a
study to look at people who think they have chronic Lyme disease,
the researcher said, which means that "we're coming closer to
finding out the results of fairly well controlled treatment
trials—but my guess is that it may not resolve the controversy.''

No evidence chronic Lyme disease exists, scientists say, FoxNews, 8Sep00
http://www.foxnews.com/health/0908/h_rt_0908_8.sml

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