CNN jumps on the CDC wagon, too

Many Lymies have been scratching their heads lately, wondering if it's just fortuitous that an unusual number of articles, press releases, and TV news stories about Lyme have shown up in the last two months. Substantial pieces have been published in periodicals such as the New Yorker, Boston Globe, NY Times, Fresh Air (NPR show) and now this one, below, from CNN.

I suppose it could be just synchronicity, but as a long-term Lyme sufferer, I'm hoping it's more. Is it actually possible that all the patience, the hard work, the published research, medical conferences, letters to the editors, pleas to HMO's by late-stage Lyme victims has finally paid off? Has the ILADS contingent finally gotten an actual foot-hold in the Lyme debate? Are we, our families, and our devoted LLMDs (Lyme-Literate MDs) who have all been enduring the sisyphean task of fighting for the right to treat Lyme and Co's with evidence-based medicine, really going to result in policy changes, or is it the same old soft-shoe? Why did the CDC decide to make such a splashy PSA about something they've been estimating for years, namely that the probable number of new Lyme infected US citizens each year is a factor of 10 greater than the reported number (i.e. 300,000 instead of 30,000). 

Maybe this time, the guild of infectious diseases doctors and the insuarance companies they advise will be forced to lift the 'cone of silence' legitimizing Late-Lyme patients' demands for effective treatment options, money for research, and better, more accurate tests. 

Or, is this a much more Machiavellian move? Some LLMDs and late-Lyme patients (LLPs) speculate cynically that this scary CDC admission is just the preamble to an announcement of a new Lyme vaccine that could garner untold millions in revenue to Big Pharma and to the medical consultants who helped develop it. Sound too paranoid for you? Well, don't forget that a few years ago US Sen. Blumenthal (then Atty. Gen. of the State of Massachusetts) brought an action against the IDSA, on behalf of the citizens of the great state of Massachusetts, alleging among other things, that a significant number of members of the IDSA (Infectious diseases Society of America) Lyme contingent suffer conflicts of interest due to affiliation with those who stood to significantly profit were such a vaccine brought to market.  

I had originally intended to just post this link. Sorry. I got on a roll. 

Here's the CNN link. 

-Bob

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/health/lyme-disease-missed-symptoms/index.html?hpt=hp_t3