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| Daniel
J. Cameron, M.D., M.P.H |
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I
first became interested in Lyme disease in 1988 after
caring for my first three patients with chronic Lyme
disease. I
began seeing a lot of patients with persistent and recurrent
Lyme disease. It was also around this time that Alan
Steere, M.D. [the Yale rheumatologist who first reported
on Lyme disease in 1975], published a report on encephalopathy
among Lyme disease patients in the November 1990 New
England Journal of Medicine. I was already seeing
patients with Lyme disease and began discussing the fatigue,
memory and concentration problems with other physicians
on a regular basis. At that time I didn’t have an understanding
of the epidemic nature of chronic Lyme disease. In fact,
it wasn’t
until the Spring of 1992 that I completed my first follow-up
study, that I understood how may people with Lyme disease
developed persistent and current symptoms.
I was seeing a lot of the chronic Practice, and I was referring
many of them to specialists. But most doctors were unaware
of how to treat chronic Lyme disease. It became increasingly
obvious that we were dealing with a infection that becomes
chronic, but no one was doing anything about it. You had
patients that felt that Lyme disease would never be cured,
and a medical community that believed that Lyme disease
was a psychiatric diagnosis. A lot of doctors weren’t willing
to deal with the chronic nature of Lyme disease.
One of the most disturbing things about these early years
is that you could tell we were confronting a disease that
would affect vast numbers of people, but physicians were
behaving as if nothing was happening. I was alarmed at the
lack of caring I saw. Very few people were advocating long
term or repeated antibiotic use.
Something that’s very heartening to see is that several
people who became involved with Lyme disease since the late
1980's have formed a Lyme and Related Diseases Society (ILADS).
I stay involved because I know so many people who are chronically
sick. |
