WHY LYME DISEASE PERSISTS

Report #6937; 10/21/96

Doctors usually treat arthritis caused by Lyme disease with massive intravenous doses of the antibiotic, ceftriaxone, for one month. This cures less than 75% of those treated. A recent report in the medical journal, Rheumatology International, tells us why (1)

The bacteria that causes Lyme disease can live both inside and outside human cells. Massive doses of antibiotics can kill the Lyme spirochetes outside cells, but not those inside cells (1). A study in the medical journal, Infection, shows that people unsuccessfully treated for Lyme arthritis continue to excrete the Lyme spirochete in their urines (2). These experiments help to explain why short term-treatment with antibiotics fails to cure Lyme and other infectious arthritides. It takes long-term treatment with antibiotics to cure a sexually transmitted arthritis caused by mycoplasma. The vast majority of doctors feel that rheumatoid arthritis cannot be treated with long-term antibiotics. However, several recent papers show that antibiotics can help to lessen the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.

Lyme disease is caused by a tick bite. Several days later, the person may feel sick and a bull's eye: a red dot surrounded by a red circle, forms at the site of the bite. If a person is treated with the antibiotic, doxycycline, at this point, he has a 99% chance of being cured. However, if he is not treated, the bull's eye disappears and the patient gets better. However, many months later, the person can develop joint pains or nerve damage. At this point, he may not be able to be cured. All tick bites followed by illness should be treated.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News