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Lyme Disease TreatmentLyme Disease InfoThe treatment of Lyme disease with modern medicine is straightforward and very effective. Treatment within the first three weeks of infection is most effective and almost always results in a full cure. After the first three weeks, treatment still usually cures the disease, but the cure rate diminishes with time. Most Lyme disease patients will receive one of three oral antibiotics: amoxicillin, doxycycline, or the more expensive cefuroxime axetil. In some advanced cases when neurological or cardiac abnormalities are severe, oral antibiotics are replaced with intravenous ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, or penicillin. Intravenous treatment is more expensive and is only recommended for such cases. Neither type of antibiotic treatment has been proven more effective if administered for more than twenty eight days. As already mentioned, treatment is most successful soon after infection. Later stages of Lyme disease are usually treated successfully, but not in all cases. Some patients, albeit a small percentage, experience the symptoms for months or years after the initial infection. Treatment approaches at this point are a matter of debate. Some physicians believe that several courses of antibiotics are sometimes necessary in persistent cases. This theory is not clinically proven however. Long-term treatments have been speculated to be more effective than standard length treatments, but also have not been clinically proven and are seldom prescribed because of possible side effects, including death. Other physicians maintain that no bacterial infection persists after standard antibiotic treatments. The symptoms are not caused by continued infection, but may be a delayed autoimmune system response. Pregnant women infected with Lyme disease need not worry about treatment harming the fetus. Studies have found no negative effects for proper treatment. However, some documented cases show that untreated Lyme disease may harm, even kill, the baby. Some people believe that antibiotic treatment should be received by all victims of tick bites. While some physicians routinely prescribe such treatment, it has not been proven to provide a significant benefit to the patient because the risk of infection is only one to three percent, unless the tick was attached for more than forty-eight hours. It is instead recommended to monitor the bite site closely for thirty days after the bite. If an erythema migrans rash develops, antibiotic treatment is necessary. While new research or old tradition may yield other forms of treatment - and the internet is bountiful with alleged treatments - the only treatment recommended by the Center for Disease Control and the Infectious Disease Society of America is antibiotics. Filed under: Lyme Disease Treatment |
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