http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-HealthBeat-Lyme-Disease.html?_r=1&oref=sloginPresident Bush's recently revealed treatment for Lyme disease makes him part of an unfortunate trend: The tick-borne infection is on the rise, with cases more than doubling in the past 15 years.
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Furious patient groups say the guidelines prompted some insurers to quit paying for some patients' only relief -- and that the recommendation instead should have been there's not enough data to know what works. Diane Blanchard, co-president of Time for Lyme, points insurers to still other guidelines, from the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, doctors aligned with the patient groups who back more antibiotics.
''The last thing many of us want to do is ingest an antibiotic,'' says Blanchard. ''We are basically sitting on our hands watching this disease expand its ill effect ... and doing very little except for taking sides, and essentially that's not helping anyone.''
>>Dr. Eugene Shapiro...
is the "Karl Christian Rove" of LD doctors.