Treatment Guidelines

Peer Reviewed Treatment Guidelines:

ILADS Guidelines: (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society)
Guidelines for the Management of Lyme disease
November 1st, 2006 - 13 pages

Joseph J. Burrascano Jr, MD
Diagnostic Hints and Treatment Guidelines for Lyme and Other Tick Borne Illnesses  (Advanced topics include symptom checklists, diagnostic hints, antibiotic recommendations, supportive measures, co-infection treatment, advanced treatment options) September, 2005,  Fifteenth edition - 33 pages

Evidence Based Guidelines for Lyme Disease (from National Guidelines Clearinghouse) 2004 17 pages

Highlights of the Lyme Guidelines

• Since there is currently no definitive test for Lyme disease, laboratory results should not be used to exclude an individual from treatment

• Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis and tests should be used to support rather than supersede the physician’s judgment

• The early use of antibiotics can prevent persistent, recurrent and refractory Lyme disease

• The duration of therapy should be guided by clinical response, rather than by an arbitrary (i.e., 30 day) treatment course

• The practice of stopping antibiotics to allow for delayed recovery is not recommended for persistent Lyme disease. In these cases, it is reasonable to continue treatment for several months after clinical and laboratory abnormalities have begun to resolve and symptoms have disappeared

• Research and clinical evidence has demonstrated universally in chronic Lyme patients a syndrome of multiple tick-borne pathogens.  Co-infection results in a more severe clinical presentation, with more organ damage, and the pathogens become more difficult to eradicate.  Co-infection must be addressed along with Lyme borreliosis infection.

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