there is a tremendous misunderstanding regarding the vector (carrier) that transmits Lyme disease. Again, the familiar tick vectors called the deer tick (Ixodes dammini) and black-legged tick (also commonly called deer ticks) (Ixodes scapularis) are more prevalent and spread wider than reported. These ticks are not the only vector able to transmit Borrelia species. Several other tick species including the Lone Star ticks (Ammblyoma americanum), western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus), wood ticks or American dog ticks (Dermacentor variabilis) and the Brown dog tick (dogs are the only host for these ticks) can transmit it, too. Unfortunately, health officials are not reporting this critical information and thus, the public and medical community are not informed about this.

The standard therapy of 4 -6 weeks of antibiotic treatment is not sufficient to treat chronic Lyme disease. Chronic Lyme disease is often a life-long illness. Months, years, and often indefinite antibiotic therapy may be necessary to manage the disease. Ignorant physicians often use the standard treatment and consider the patient cleared of Lyme disease afterwards. Often these patients are not treated long enough to clear the stubborn Borrelia from the body. So, when the standard regimen of antibiotics is finished, the patients relapse with Lyme symptoms soon after the residual Borrelia reemerges. Unfortunately, the relapse is often not recognized by doctors and the patients are misdiagnosed with a different disorder. Not only does treatment be directed at the infection; it must also manage inflammation, help eliminate the BLPs produced, support the immune system, and many other associated problems such as hormone deficiencies.

Wrong diagnosis leads to wrong treatment. Another critical point that needs to be highlighted is that Lyme ignorant physicians often administer medication that is contraindicated in patients with Lyme disease. The therapy most often prescribed that is extremely contraindicated is the use of steroidal anti-inflammatories; usually the glucocorticosteroids (such as prednisone). Lyme patients suffer with many painful inflammatory symptoms. MDs, not knowing that the patient has Lyme disease, think it is appropriate to treat these patients with steroids to reduce the pain and inflammation. Unfortunately, steroidal therapy is very deleterious to Lyme patients because it suppresses the patient’s immune system causing it to tolerate the presence of Borrelia instead of attacking and killing it. This harmful treatment significantly diminishes the prognosis of Lyme patients; it prolongs the course of the disease and makes it more severe in the long run.