Man treated for Lyme disease after 10-month struggle

Kentucky residents may have heard about one man’s search for correct treatment of his Lyme disease that nearly lasted for an entire year. According to the news source, an associate professor of music business at Berklee College of Music in Boston became infected with the disease while attending a conference in Spain. Two days after washing a tick off of himself while showering, his symptoms included a bull’s eye-looking rash on his foot where the tick had been, a fever, a cough and headaches, which he said caused ‘severe anxiety.”

The man searched for a doctor in the U.S. who would properly identify and treat his disease for 10 months. American doctors were initially unable to diagnose the man because the testing method for the disease used domestically, the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) followed by a Western blot, only identifies infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, the most common tick species.

The C6-based ELISA test searches for infections caused by up to 18 tick species, but that test is only offered in Europe. When the professor traveled there for that test after a doctor’s suggestion, the results were positive. However, that doctor refused to give him a prescription for the necessary IV antibiotics because he was skeptical of the results. After seeing other doctors and being prescribed medicine by one of them that caused kidney and liver failure, the man found a doctor who prescribed him the antibiotics he needed.

In instances where someone has suffered from a surgical error, misdiagnosis or another form of negligence at the hands of a medical professional or institution, a medical malpractice attorney might be able help that person win damages through civil litigation. That compensation would be intended to cover the victim’s medical expenses and could also account for income lost while unable to work as well as pain and suffering.

Source: Medical Daily , “Man’s 10-Month Lyme Disease Stint Exposes Holes, Confusion With Treating It In The US“, Anthony Rivas, July 08, 2014