O n the face of it, the CDC-sponsored webinar Lyme Disease Updates and New Educational Tools for Clinicians seemed like a good idea. I mean, don’t we WANT doctors to have the latest information about Lyme and other tick-borne infections?
Alas, the word “updates” in the title is a complete misuse of that term. A more accurate description would be “regurgitating obsolete, harmful ways to deny appropriate diagnosis and treatment to Lyme patients while ignoring pertinent recent research.”
I recently watched the hour-long presentation with increasing dismay as the CDC’s earnest-sounding presenter, Grace E. Marx, MD, MPH, meticulously emphasizes such points as:
“Pretest probability”
Dr. Marx spends a lot of time telling doctors that they should not even test for Lyme disease if the “pretest probability” is low, like if you are not in one of those previously referenced fifteen states or the District of Columbia. Thus, people in low-incidence states should NOT be tested for Lyme disease—period……..Join or login below to continue reading.
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