Lyme Disease Practice and Research

Guidelines listed on Pubmed

Dr. Cameron has worked with a team of 17 experts in Lyme disease to develop and publish a treatment guideline for Lyme disease. Treatment Guidelines are listed on Pubmed.

Rationale Lyme disease treatment guidelines

Practice treatment guidelines serve as a guide for doctors for the appropriate treatment. Using the best available evidence, the International and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) expert panel identified and develop practice recommendations for Lyme disease.

Click here to download Full text of ILADS published evidence based guidelines now available in PDF. Chief Author: Dr. Cameron.

Highlights Guidelines

Practice treatment guidelines serve as a guide for doctors for the appropriate treatment. Using the best available evidence, the International and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) expert panel identified and develop practice recommendations for Lyme disease.

Please forward reprint requests and other inquiries to: The International and Associated Diseases Society, or via e-mail: Lymedocs@aol.com

Guidelines introduced at conference

• Title presentation Primary changes in ILADS Evidence-Based Practice Treatment Guidelines.
• Cameron DJ, Gaito A, Harris N, Bach G, Bellovin S, Bock K, Bock S, Burrascano J, Dickey CE, Horowitz R, Phillips S, Merr-Sherrer L, Raxlen B, Sherr V, Smith H, Smith P, Stricker R. International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), Bethesda Maryland
• Objective: These guidelines build upon the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) 2000 Practice Treatment Guidelines for Lyme disease to incorporate the growing body of evidence of the complexity of persistent and recurrent Lyme disease.
• Limitations of IDSA guidelines: The IDSA Lyme Disease Practice Guidelines concluded there was no evidence that chronic Lyme disease existed as a separate diagnostic entity and there is no data to support prolonged and repeated treatment.
• Data Sources: English-language articles published 1975 to 2002 identified through MEDLINE and bibliographies.
• Major Additions in the ILADS Guidelines:

1. Laboratory testing is meant to contribute to rather than to supersede physicians' judgment.
2. Clinical judgment is necessary to identify individuals who may benefit from antibiotics to avoid preventable persistent, recurrent, and refractory Lyme disease.
3. Empiric treatment should be considered as routine treatment of patients for whom Lyme disease is a likely diagnosis.
4. The previously recommended practice of stopping antibiotics to allow for a delayed recovery is no longer recommended for patients with persistent, recurrent and refractory Lyme disease.
5. Duration of therapy should be guided by clinical response rather than any arbitrary 30-day treatment course.
6. A reasonable course would be to continue therapy to treat Lyme disease, after clinical and laboratory abnormalities are resolving and symptoms have resolved.
7. Indications for retreatment should be broadened from meningitis, heart block, and arthritis to include symptomatic presentations.

• Conclusions: The ILADS Practice Treatment Guidelines revises and expand use of clinical judgment and empiric treatment.