For all its commonality and coexistence with our daily lives, Lyme is heavily misunderstood and often purposefully denied, in particular the chronic form of the disease. Chronic Lyme disease, also referred to as late-stage or persistent Lyme disease, has become one of the mostly hotly debated and divisive issues in the scientific and medical communities in history, matched only by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
It has reached such a fever pitch in fact, that the debate has spilled out of research laboratories and medical agencies and into small town hospitals and medical offices as well as local, state and federal politics.
The chronic Lyme debate is not just the fodder of hospital boardrooms and the gleaming ivory towers of the NIH and CDC. It is an issue that is important to and effects millions of individuals, with millions of more at risk in the future.
The fact that many barely even know that Lyme exists, let alone the tsunami of controversy and debate hiding behind its famous moniker is a direct result of a consistent and aggressive anti-patient propaganda campaign that has been going on for decades by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the CDC. The most obvious question is why? The answer is simple: money.
All of the hysterics and campaigning against the existence of chronic Lyme stems back to the collusion between the deniers and their connections to patents on Lyme-related products as well as close relationships with both the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Many of the chronic Lyme deniers also have significant financial stake in regards to federal grant money.
Those suffering from chronic Lyme are seen as an obstacle to financial gain and “thrifty budgeting” rather than sick and in need of help. A sad state of affairs seen far too often when money and medicine meet.
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