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State Society Opposes Lyme Disease Treatment Bill

A bill endorsing long-term antibiotic treatment for lyme disease has drawn opposition from the Pennsylvania Medical Society because the treatment is unproven, according to Mark A. Piasio, MD, MBA, president of the State Society. 

In written testimony to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Health and Human Services Committee, Piasio cited an article in the “The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal” that reported that prolonged courses of high doses of antibiotics is not effective and may actually be harmful. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that short-term antibiotic treatment can be helpful but longer courses can lead to serious complications. 

“If we want to do what’s best for the patient, we had better be sure that we prescribe the right treatment that’s been clearly proven. Until then, this bill holds great potential of putting patients at risk,” Piasio wrote. 

The State Society also opposes any legislation that would dictate medical treatments. 

“The medical community must have the flexibility to prescribe treatments as new medications and procedures are discovered and then proven,” Piasio wrote.  

House Bill 798 also would create a lyme disease education and prevention task force. The State Society would support this provision if did not require that two physician members of the task force be members of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), which supports long-term antibiotic therapy for the treatment of lyme disease. According to the article in “The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal,” ILADS provides inaccurate information about lyme disease on its website. 

The State Society would like to see three physician members, with no more than one affiliated with ILADS.