Re: South's version of Lyme 11-22-99

[Guest guest]

Okay, My question is wht have I not responded to the antibiotics, I'm southern,

got the disease in Tennessee. I have had Lyme disease going on 2yrs.

Sheryl

[ ] South's version of Lyme 11-22-99

> South's version of Lyme 11/22/99Sorry if this is a repeat, Pepi

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> Monday, November 22, 1999

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> Story last updated at 2:53 a.m. on Monday, November 22, 1999

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> Felz sits in his office at the Medical College of

Georgia holding samples of Lone Star ticks that were found in , Ga., and

a question mark. Felz has recently concluded in a study that some ticks in the

Augusta area with genetically the same DNA react differently when tested. He

said it is possible the Southeast has its own version of Lyme disease that's

more difficult to confirm.

> -- News Service

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> South's version of Lyme

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> News Service

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> AUGUSTA -- The tick-borne ailment Lyme disease might be different

and more difficult to detect in the Southeast than in New England and the

Midwest, according to a new study by Georgia researchers.

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> " Something here is unique, " said Felz, a family medicine

physician at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta who has studied the

blood-sucking insects for almost a decade.

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> Felz and four other doctors recently completed a three-year study

focusing on 23 adults who were bitten by ticks and developed the " bull's-eye

rash " associated with Lyme disease.

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> " We studied a cluster of patients with tick bites and a very vivid

rash that looks exactly like Lyme disease anywhere else, " he said. " However,

when you do sophisticated testing, only 30 percent have symptoms of Lyme disease

as it's usually diagnosed. "

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> Therefore, he said, it is possible the Southeast has its own

version of Lyme disease that's harder to confirm.

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> Lyme disease is named for Lyme, Conn., where it was discovered in

1975. It starts with the tell-tale bull's-eye rash and often is followed by

fatigue, chills, fevers and joint pain that can last for weeks.

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> If left untreated, Lyme disease can damage the heart and nervous

system. Its potential for injury is one of the reasons Felz and his colleagues

want to know more about the ailment.

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> " There is some kind of tick-transmitted illness here that acts

like Lyme disease but only fits the laboratory pattern 30 percent of the time,

at least when you apply a test that was designed for New England and the

Midwest, where Lyme disease is more common, " he said.

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> Ticks feed by injecting a barbed, harpoonlike rod into the skin.

The rod, called a hypostome, also serves as a pump. The insects secrete a

substance called cementum that anchors them to their victim.

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> Felz said it is possible Southern ticks are transmitting an

organism that creates a rash similar to Lyme disease, but might not be Lyme

disease.

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> Therefore, he said, it is possible Lyme disease is overdiagnosed.

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> " We think this is a variant of Lyme disease genetically, and that

the organism that causes Lyme disease has a different DNA content, " he said.

" It's like a close cousin -- related, but not identical. "

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> All patients in the study responded properly to antibiotics used

to treat the disease.

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> " It's reassuring that with antibiotic treatment this syndrome is

completely reversible, " Felz said. " All patients had a favorable outcome to

antibiotic therapy with no manifestations of complications or spreading of Lyme

disease to vital organs. "

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> The results of the three-year study are the focus of an article

this month in the Archives of Dermatology, a division of the Journal of the

American Medical Association.

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> Felz's collaborators were: Francis W. Chandler Jr. and W.

Rahn at Medical College of Georgia; H. Oliver Jr. of Georgia Southern

University; and E. Schriefer of the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention.

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[Guest guest]

> Okay, My question is wht have I not responded to the antibiotics, I'm

southern, got the disease in Tennessee. I have had Lyme disease going on

2yrs.

Not all Lyme responds to the same abx, Doxy and Amox did nothing for me.

However Zith, Ceftin and now Flagyl have. Have you been on different abx?

Pepi