https://www.lymedisease.org/touched-by-lyme-cdc-serves-up-same-old-wrongheaded-lyme-advice/

TOUCHED BY LYME: CDC serves up same old wrongheaded Lyme advice

On the face of it, the CDC-sponsored webinar—Lyme Disease Updates and New Educational Tools for Clinicians—seemed like a good idea. I mean, don’t we WANT doctors to have the latest information about Lyme and other tick-borne infections?

Alas, the word “updates” in the title is a complete misuse of that term. A more accurate description would be “regurgitating obsolete, harmful ways to deny appropriate diagnosis and treatment to Lyme patients while ignoring pertinent recent research.”

I recently watched the hour-long presentation with increasing dismay as the CDC’s earnest-sounding presenter, Grace E. Marx, MD, MPH, meticulously emphasized such points as:

A tick must be attached 24-36 hours before it can transmit Lyme. (Fact: There’s no grace period for tick bites. Let’s quit implying that there is.)
In the US, almost all cases of Lyme occur in 15 states and the District of Columbia. (Fact: Lyme has been found in all 50 states and is on the rise. See also: How much does the CDC undercount Lyme disease? It depends on where you live.)
After a tick bite, a single dose of doxycycline can prevent Lyme disease from developing (Fact: A single dose of doxy after a tick bite only prevents rash—not Lyme disease)
“Pretest probability”
Dr. Marx spent a lot of time telling doctors that they should not even test for Lyme disease if the “pretest probability” is low. Like if you are not in one of those previously referenced 15 states or the District of Columbia. Thus, people in low-incidence states should NOT be tested for Lyme disease—period.

Dr. Marx mentions that pregnant woman can be treated for Lyme disease. But she fails to point out that the infection can pass from mother to unborn child. After long denying such a possibility, the CDC recently acknowledged that maternal-fetal transmission can, in fact, occur. But you wouldn’t know it from this “update.” (See: CDC allows possibility of mother-fetus Lyme transmission)

more at this link:
https://www.lymedisease.org/touched-by-lyme-cdc-serves-up-same-old-wrongheaded-lyme-advice/
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Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver