ILADS Burrascano Jr. - ADVANCED TOPICS IN LYME DISEASE October, 2008 (+)

DIAGNOSTIC HINTS AND TREATMENT GUIDELINES FOR LYME AND OTHER TICK BORNE ILLNESSES

Sixteenth Edition Copyright October, 2008
JOSEPH J. BURRASCANO JR., M.D.
Board Member, International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society

WHAT IS LYME DISEASE?
I take a broad view of what Lyme Disease actually is. Traditionally, Lyme is defined an infectious illness caused
by the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). While this is certainly technically correct, clinically the illness often
is much more than that, especially in the disseminated and chronic forms.
Instead, I think of Lyme as the illness that results from the bite of an infected tick. This includes infection not
only with B. burgdorferi, but the many co-infections that may also result. Furthermore, in the chronic form of
Lyme, other factors can take on an ever more significant role- immune dysfunction, opportunistic infections, coinfections,
biological toxins, metabolic and hormonal imbalances, deconditioning, etc. I will refer to infection
with B. burgdorferi as "Lyme Borreliosis" (LB), and use the designation "Lyme" and "Lyme Disease" to refer to
the more broad definition I described above.