Madison Area Lyme Support Group

Please see the letter below to the TBDWG announcing yet another propaganda paper published by Paul Auwaerter

——— Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: tickbornedisease@hhs.gov, chris.smith@mail.house.gov
Cc: (98 Undisclosed recipients)
Date: July 14, 2019 at 8:50 AM
Subject: Lyme disease often misdiagnosed, resulting in unnecessary antibiotics

To: the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group,

Please see the letter below addressed to Dr. Paul Auwaerter who “speaks with great authority” in his recent interview with Healio.

-Carl Tuttle

Letter to Auwaerter:
——- Original Message ———-
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: Paul Auwaerter <pauwaert@jhmi.edu>
Cc: psax@bwh.harvard.edu, jli@bwh.harvard.edu, cbusky@idsociety.org, tkobaya5@jhmi.edu, jmstiglich@healio.com, infectiousdisease@healio.com
Date: July 14, 2019 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Lyme disease often misdiagnosed, resulting in unnecessary antibiotics

From the Healio article:  (July 11, 2019)

https://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/emerging-diseases/news/online/%7B07d6fa1f-bd9a-479a-981b-6a46f2ceec6d%7D/lyme-disease-often-misdiagnosed-resulting-in-unnecessary-antibiotics?utm_source=selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=infectious%20disease%20news&m_bt=1150918335004

Lyme disease often misdiagnosed, resulting in unnecessary antibiotics

Kobayashi T, et. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2019;doi:10.1093/ofid/ofz299.

“Many patients seen for infectious disease evaluation of Lyme disease usually have multiple, longer standing complaints such as fatigue and musculoskeletal pain yet have been treated with antibiotics when there is not good evidence they have an active infection,”

Disclosures: Auwaerter reports serving on a scientific advisory board for DiaSorin.

July 14, 2019

The IDSA Foundation
1300 Wilson Boulevard Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22209
Attn:  Paul Auwaerter, vice chair of the IDSA Foundation

Dear Dr. Auwaerter,

The Healio article doesn’t mention how the hard fact of “not infected” was established; do you have some revolutionary test we don’t know about yet?

I would like to call attention to the following publication coauthored by Dr. Paul Mead of the US Centers for Disease Control formally announcing that serology is wholly inadequate for the management of Lyme disease.

Direct Diagnostic Tests for Lyme Disease

Clinical Infectious Diseases, ciy614, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy614

Excerpt:

“These serologic tests cannot distinguish active infection, past infection, or reinfection. Reliable direct-detection methods for active B. burgdorferi infection have been lacking in the past but are needed and appear achievable.”

From the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group 2018 Report to Congress: (Page 40)

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/tbdwg-report-to-congress-2018.pdf

“Metagenomic sequencing of DNA/RNA and proteomics can be used to identify tick-borne pathogens in clinical samples.”

Dr. Auwaerter… I would like to suggest that part of the grant money in the “search for infectious cause of Alzheimer’s disease” be directed toward organizing a nationwide proficiency test program to find out if there are any methods already available to detect Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia miyamotoi, Borrelia mayonii, Borrelia lonestari, Borrelia hermsii, and Borrelia turicatae (known pathogens in the U.S.) in simulated blood or plasma samples.

I believe that Milford Molecular Diagnostics may have this capability right now so doesn’t it make sense to focus on direct detection methods as soon as possible or are we going to promote outdated serology from DiaSorin for the next decade?

A response to this inquiry is requested.

Sincerely,

Carl Tuttle

Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

Cc: Paul E. Sax, MD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, Open Forum Infectious Diseases