https://www.lymedisease.org/bmj-response-ilads-lyme-guidelines/LYMEPOLICYWONK: The BMJ publishes our response to article dissing ILADS guidelines
the bmj
The BMJ (formerly called the British Medical Journal) is a weekly, peer-reviewed publication based in the UK. It’s regarded as one of the world’s leading medical journals.

On May 26, The BMJ published an article entitled Lyme borreliosis: diagnosis and management, by Professor Bart Jan Kullberg and others.

In it, the authors give the back of the hand to the Lyme guidelines of the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS).

They state that the ILADS guidelines “have not provided any credible clinical or scientific evidence to support prolonged antibiotic therapy. Their designation as ‘evidence-based guidelines’ belies their anecdotal nature and lack of coherent and evidence-based guidance.”

I am a co-author of the ILADS guidelines, along with Dr. Elizabeth Maloney and Dr. Daniel Cameron. The three of us take huge exception to that characterization.

This week, The BMJ published our response to Professor Kullberg. Here’s what we said:

Dear Editor,

As authors of the International Lyme and Associated Disease (ILADS) guidelines, which address the usefulness of antibiotic prophylaxis for known tick bites, the effectiveness of erythema migrans (EM) treatment and the role of antibiotic retreatment in patients with persistent manifestations of Lyme disease,[1] we are appreciative that Kullberg et al included our recommendations in their State of the Art Review in the British Medical Journal.[2] However, their assertions regarding the credibility of our guidelines cannot go unchallenged.

We encourage readers to study ILADS guidelines and render their own judgment regarding their validity. The guidelines were transparently produced under the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) system and conform to the National Academy of Medicine standards for trustworthy guidelines and until its recent demise were listed on the National Guidelines Clearinghouse. They were rigorously peer-reviewed and published in a journal not controlled by our medical society.

More at this link: https://www.lymedisease.org/bmj-response-ilads-lyme-guidelines/
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Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver