Treatment for Lyme Disease
 Treatment for Lyme disease is simple: antibiotics. In the majority of
cases, a 30-day course of an appropriate antibiotic cures the disease.
Sadly for others, the treatment either doesn't work or comes too late.
If the disease persists, there may be irreversible damage to joints. The
chronic pain is so debilitating, many people can no longer work. In the
worst case scenario, the infection invades the central nervous system and
the brain, setting off depression, mood swings, confusion, and even
paralysis.
Pediatric rheumatologist Bradley
Bloom, MD, treats young victims of Lyme disease: "With prompt
treatment, most children do well." Bloom also follows
the few patients who don't do so well. Bloom and New England Medical
Center colleagues, Patricia Wyckoff, PhD, Cody Meissner, MD, and Allen
Steere, MD, recently completed research on possible neurological problems
as a result of Lyme disease. "In adults, symptoms show up as memory
loss," says Bloom. "For children, neurological changes might be
more subtle and harder to detect. Parents may not pick up on poor school
performance or moodiness, thinking it's just typical juvenile
behavior."
Promising developments
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