Kenneth Liegner, MD, Internal and Critical Care Medicine, is a distinguished member of ILADS with an active clinical practice specializing in Lyme Borreliosis & Related Disorders, in Armonk, NY. Dr. Liegner began by presenting some background information describing his research and clinical experiences, followed by the simple, yet compelling statement, “Walk a mile in my shoes.”
Dr. Liegner, a highly regarded expert in his field, then proceeded to escort the audience on a virtual tour through his well-documented studies and clinical findings, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the persistence of and serious consequences associated with chronic Lyme disease. Liegner demonstrated evidence of live spirochetes in patients (including biopsy/autopsy photographs) and the subsequent damage caused to organs, including the brain, when patients were not given adequate treatment. The presence of Lyme spirochetes had been confirmed in studies by using various tests from a number of labs and by numerous related clinical findings.
Dr. Liegner presented additional case histories showing treatment improvement in patients and then relapses when treatment was discontinued. Some of these patients (including children) eventually died from chronic persistent Lyme disease and associated complications, including Martin Eisenhardt, whose wife Mary Lou presented testimony to the NY General Assembly in 2001 in an attempt to draw more attention to the severity of Lyme disease.
Dr. Liegner also shared a 2001 video clip of Vicki Logan in the end stages of her battle with chronic Lyme disease. She was thanking Dr. Liegner for his dedication and caring, two qualities for which he is known for throughout the patient community, and also for giving her a better quality life when no one else would. She stated just prior to her death, “I hope [the story of] what happened to me will benefit others who wind up in the same situation.”
Steven Phillips, MD, Internal Medicine, from Wilton, CT, is the past President of ILADS and a member of the ILADS Guidelines Working Group. He has an active practice in a highly endemic area of the country and has testified as an expert witness in Lyme related hearings across the country. Dr. Phillips presented study after study documenting persistence of Lyme disease after treatment that were not cited by the IDSA during the formulation of their Guidelines. His discussion of independent peer-reviewed literature (both animal and human studies) included some studies by the IDSA guideline authors themselves, indicating persistence of spirochetes and continuing symptoms after treatment and the need for additional treatment.
Phillips concluded his powerful scientific presentation with multiple studies demonstrating re-treatment benefits, leaving no doubt about the need for additional treatment for some patients, something he has demonstrated as beneficial in his own clinical practice. He also proposed new wording for the IDSA Guidelines that reflect the evidence available from 25 studies proving the existence of chronic Lyme disease.
Raphael Stricker, MD, published author and past President of ILADS, from San Francisco, CA, addressed some of the most basic common and damaging myths perpetuated by the IDSA Guidelines. His extensive documentation successfully put to rest several IDSA flawed theories, including some of the most egregious and harmful.
Dr. Stricker provided scientific and clinical studies proving Lyme disease is not “easy to diagnose” and “easy to treat” and that persistent infection following a short course of antibiotic therapy is not “highly implausible”, which are the IDSA’s unsupported theories that have been responsible for destroying many lives. He addressed a common scare tactic often used by the IDSA concerning the alleged and exaggerated “danger” of prolonged antibiotic therapy for chronically ill patients. Stricker spoke on the limitations of the two-tiered testing system, stealth pathology and treatment considerations relating to early and late stage Lyme disease. Charts, included in his written testimony, brought to light some of the systemic errors and misleading statements in the IDSA Guidelines, including exaggeration, circular reasoning, small sample sizes, data selection exclusion and the author’s reliance on their own so-called expert opinion to the exclusion of all additional evidence.
The IDSA Supporters- Those invited to the hearing in support of the Guidelines (many were the original IDSA Guideline authors) have claimed for years they do not know what causes continuing Lyme symptoms in Lyme patients after their recommended treatment fails, however, they feel it is not caused by active infection and there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease.
Holding tight to their theory has not helped patients who suffer, but it does please the insurance industry and partially shields the IDSA authors and others from the back lash that would be felt if they were to wavier from their floundering and unsubstantiated position.
Some IDSA’s theories presented to explain why so many people remain ill and become disabled or die after receiving their recommended treatment includes:
a.) People in the community (advocacy groups, media publicity, sympathetic physicians and prominent individuals in society) are able to convince patients they are still sick when they really aren’t (functional somatic syndrome);  |