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State Representative Bob Dettmer
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4124
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
NEWS COLUMN
The Fight Against Lyme: An Update
By Bob Dettmer
State Representative
District 52A
The thousands of Minnesotans battling Lyme disease have one less thing to worry about. Patients are now free to decide with their doctors on the best means of treatment. In March, the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice (MBMP) agreed to not investigate physicians who use long-term antibiotic therapy to treat chronic Lyme disease for the next five years.
Minnesota has a growing Lyme problem. The state ranks 8th nationally in number of cases, and more than 1,200 people were diagnosed in 2008. The number of Lyme cases could actually be much higher since the disease can be so tricky to diagnose.
Lyme patients have been struggling for easier access to the treatment they need for many years, and the Minnesota Lyme Action Support Group first brought the problem to my attention more than two years ago. Earlier in the session I wrote about a bill I co-authored with Rep. John Ward that would provide protection for doctors who treat patients with long-term antibiotics. Fortunately, at this point that legislation is no longer necessary. During the next five years the MBMP will further study Lyme and use the findings to reevaluate the current treatment guidelines.
Around the country doctors have been brought up on disciplinary charges by medical boards for using treatment techniques different from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (ISDA) guidelines. The guidelines, that the MBMP followed, only allow doctors to prescribe 28 days of medication to Lyme patients. Some doctors have been suspended or even lost their licenses for straying from these guidelines.
Treating Lyme disease can be complicated, and in most cases four weeks of medication is not enough. It can take months, or even years, of antibiotic therapy to fully cure Lyme. Fortunately no Minnesota doctors have been disciplined for prescribing long-term antibiotics, but the possibility has made seeking treatment difficult for many Lyme victims in the state. Patients have been forced to travel long distances to find doctors willing to treat chronic Lyme, because the disease is so complex and difficult to diagnose and doctors fear reprisal when choosing how best to treat patients.
I am encouraged by the MBMP decision, and I am pleased whenever a solution is reached without passing legislation. Minnesota has taken a step in the right direction in the fight against Lyme, and this is a major victory for patients and their advocates in our state. Minnesotans fighting Lyme have enough to worry about, but getting the medical care they need no longer has to be one.
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