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"long Lyme" isn't well defined, but you're probably thinking of chronic lyme [1]. This article refers to PTLD.

The distinction matters. Chronic lyme is quackery that encourages people to pursue aggressive long-term antibiotic treatment for a non-existent persistent bacterial infection. Often these are people who have never been infected with Borrelia in the first place.

The article directly contradicts the persistent (undetectable) bacterial infection "chronic lyme" theory.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_Lyme_disease



Agreed. Long Lyme certainly exists. I appear to have it as do numerous acquaintances. I wrote "appear to have it" because a blood test for Borrelia returns negative. However, just two weeks ago a doctor told me that Borrelia can evade a blood test by infecting the nervous system. That was news to me so I found this from NIH in the USA. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8870494/ Borrelia can cross over to the CNS. Lovely.


> I wrote "appear to have it" because a blood test for Borrelia returns negative. However, just two weeks ago a doctor told me that Borrelia can evade a blood test by infecting the nervous system.

The theory of persistent infection hasn't really held up. There were a few researchers who claimed to have some evidence, but it hasn't really been replicated. It's largely been dismissed from mainstream research.

Sadly, it's still a favored theory in many alternative medicine communities. It's also a really contentious topic. There's a long history, including Lyme researchers leaving the field after receiving death threats following publication of research that didn't agree with the alternative medicine theories.

> That was news to me so I found this from NIH in the USA. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8870494/ Borrelia can cross over to the CNS. Lovely.

To be clear, that article is about CNS penetration of the infection, not persistence of the infection.


Is there a reason you refer to alternative medical communities in response to my comment? Considering I made no reference to using alternative medicine, what does it have to do with my comment? Do you have an agenda? I know that I don't have one and neither did my comment.


This is the bias that people have

They only trust the small sample of evidence that science provides, and dismisses the vastly unknown space that their science cannot comprehend


"Science" is simply a structured methodology that uses tangible evidence to substantiate hypothesis. How exactly would that framework be unable to "comprehend" something like Lyme?

This quote seems apt here: "You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine."


What symptoms? How can you say your symptoms are from long Lyme, and not something else, or just getting old?





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