AG Takes on MDs Over Lyme Disease (Business New Haven 11/27/06)

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AG Takes on MDs Over Lyme Disease

Blumenthal subpoenas national doctors group over treatment guidelines

by Liese Klein

In an unprecedented move, the state attorney general has waded into the

controversy surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease by

launching

an antitrust probe into the practices of a national doctors' group.

Attorney General Blumenthal announced on November 16 that he had

issued a subpoena to the Virginia-based Infectious Diseases Society of America

(IDSA) over its recently issued Lyme disease guidelines.

The organization, which represents 8,000 disease specialists, says Lyme

disease can be diagnosed from a discrete set of symptoms and recommends

treatment

with a limited course of antibiotics.

" These guidelines may have a serious anticompetitive effect, insofar as they

prevent competing forms of diagnosis and treatment, " Blumenthal says.

The IDSA was singled out because it convened a panel without representatives

from the " Lyme-literate " community, which advocates a much broader

definition of Lyme and long-term, intravenous antibiotic treatment for ailment.

The

IDSA has countered that long-term antibiotic treatment can be harmful and breed

resistant " superbug " bacteria.

The IDSA guidelines will discourage doctors from using alternate diagnoses

and treatment, Blumenthal says, adding, " That possibility has profound and

important implications for insurance coverage. "

The IDSA has not received any kind of subpoena in recent memory but is

" cooperating fully, " says spokesperson Olson.

" We stand behind the method we've used to develop those guidelines, " Olson

says. " They are based on science - they represent what our experts believe are

the best that science has to offer. "

" Our guidelines are voluntary, " Olsen adds. " No guidelines can be a

substitute for a clinician's judgment. "

Blumenthal's move drew kudos from activists who want a broader definition

and more wide-ranging treatment of the ailment, which was named for the town of

Lyme.

In a related matter, on November 16 the state's Medical Examining Board met

to hear the case of New Haven pediatrician Ray , who may lose

his license for prescribing antibiotics to treat Lyme for two children he

hadn't examined.

The board will meet again next month to consider ' case, says Bill

Garrish, spokesman for the state's Department of Public Heath.

' case has attracted nationwide media coverage and Lyme activists have

started a legal defense fund for the doctor.