protest made the pr newswire...yippeeee

[Guest guest]

Patients Protest Honoring of Steere, M.D. at American Lyme Disease

Foundation (ALDF) Gala

NEW YORK, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- An organized protest of Lyme disease

sufferers and Lyme community representatives has been scheduled as a Vigil

outside The Hotel Pierre, 2 East 61st Street, New York City, on June 1, from

5:45 to 7:30 PM. The hotel is the site of an ALDF gala honoring

Steere, M.D. Protest participants indicate that Steere's school of

thought, which states that Lyme disease is " overdiagnosed and overtreated, "

promotes narrow, ethically suspect viewpoints and medical guidelines which

ignore a growing body of scientific evidence and patient tragedy.

Steere, who has been credited with " identifying " Lyme disease a quarter

century ago, has aggressively insisted that most cases of Lyme disease can be

successfully treated with only 30 days of antibiotics, and if symptoms

persist, they are probably caused by " something else. " His guidelines are

popular with insurance companies and widespread dissemination of these

guidelines has created an atmosphere in which Lyme disease patients have had

difficulty getting diagnoses and adequate treatment, particularly in advanced

or " late " stages.

Disagreeing physicians, researchers and patients have suffered serious

adversity. Insurers routinely discontinue or limit insurance coverage for

lyme disease, citing Steere's guidelines. Protesters assert that

accelerating physician harassment has led to loss of licenses, censure, or

restriction of medical practice due to fear of sanctions if Steere's

guidelines are not followed. They assert that the pool of doctors willing to

treat Lyme disease has shrunk to a critical level and many lyme disease

patients are unable to find or sustain adequate treatment.

Lyme disease patients continue to suffer a multitude of disabling symptoms

such as brain damage, memory or cognitive difficulty, blindness, crippling

arthritis and even death. Many have suffered debilitating chronic effects

for years despite insistence that short-term antibiotics cure Lyme disease.

In a new turn of events several of these patients have filed complaints for

investigation of Steere by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in

Medicine.

The Lyme community will hold a solemn Vigil to express publicly their

indignation at the honoring of this physician who it is felt has caused

adversity and suffering to so many lives. Patients will gather outside The

Hotel Pierre and " show and tell " how their lives have been affected by the

academically stringent guidelines promulgated by Steere.

Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection, rivals AIDS as the fastest growing

infectious disease in the US. With over 16,000 cases reported in 1998, the

actual figure may easily be 10 times that according to the CDC. Although

publicized chiefly on the East coast, Lyme disease occurs nationwide as well

as worldwide and is endemic in states across the USA.

" Steere's Lyme disease guidelines remain predominant primarily due to

political and historical directive and not from rational science, clinical

experience and patient perspective. The honoring of this individual who

holds academic status over patient welfare cannot be condoned. " - Rita L.

Stanley, Ph.D., patient advocate.

SOURCE Voices of Lyme

CO: Voices of Lyme

ST: New York

IN: HEA

SU:

05/31/2000 06:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com