New York and Vermont may soon have new laws allowing doctors to keep Lyme disease patients on antibiotics—far beyond the short course the government recommends.
Treatment is one of the most contentious issues in the fraught field of Lyme disease. Lyme is caused by a bacterial infection, and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is curable with just a few weeks of antibiotics. But an estimated 20% of people treated for the disease continue to have symptoms. Advocacy groups maintain that Lyme can persist beyond the standard course of antibiotics—and that long-term drugs are often needed to manage the illness.
The CDC disagrees. "Repeated studies have not shown that patients who receive prolonged courses of antibiotics do better in the long run," says Christina Nelson, an epidemiologist with the CDC, adding that long-term antibiotics increase the risk of other serious health complications.
The New York bill passed unanimously in the state assembly Monday. It will now go to the state senate. If enacted, it would protect New York doctors from being disciplined for breaking from CDC recommendations, permitting them to give patients antibiotics as they see fit. Such open-ended treatment can include intensive, long-term implanted IV drips.
The bill acknowledges two additional issues that are controversial in the ongoing debate about Lyme: First, it gives a nod to "chronic Lyme"—Lyme disease that persists beyond antibiotics—the existence of which is still being intensely debated. It also asserts that doctors could make a diagnosis of Lyme by means different from the CDC-recommended laboratory tests and procedures.
Vermont passed a similar bill in March, which is now under review by the state senate. If either of these bills passes into law, it could pave the way for similar laws elsewhere in the country.
Nationwide, more than 300,000 cases of Lyme were diagnosed last year.
Read more about Lyme and how to protect yourself with Why One Man Volunteered To Have 8 Blood-Sucking Ticks Attached To His Knee.