CHRONIC LYME PATIENTS VALIDATE

The January 2nd, 2012 issue of Discover magazine outlines a recent study led by one of Time for Lyme’s grantees, demonstrating that chronic Lyme disease is a distinct and identifiable condition.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and post-treatment Lyme disease (in which symptoms persist after antibiotic treatment), also referred to as chronic Lyme disease, have spent decades fending off challenges that their debilitating exhaustion and cognitive problems were simply imagined. But a 2011 study provides tangible evidence that their conditions are real and distinct entities.

Immunologist Steven Schutzer of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey examined samples of cerebrospinal fluid, the clear liquid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, from patients with each syndrome. In identifying the contents of that fluid, he documented different sets of proteins for each group of patients, potential biomarkers that distinguish between the two conditions and healthy “control” patients. Dr. Schtuzer states “At lease now we know we’re not just speculating about the differences between chronic fatigue syndrome and post-treatment Lyme”.

Click here for the article in Discover Magazine.