TOUCHED BY LYME: Arkansas takes baby steps to recognize Lyme disease
The Arkansas Health Department made headlines last week for actually acknowledging two cases of Lyme disease in their state. It’s the first time they’ve admitted such a thing in 10 years. And, according to state officials, the prior two cases were not acquired in Arkansas.
You may remember a blog I wrote about six months ago, called “No Lyme in Arkansas? Baloney!” In it, I discussed a family whose daughters had multiple tick bites followed by fevers, flu-like symptoms, joint pain, bull’s-eye rashes—and positive Lyme tests.
Yet, the girls couldn’t get treated for Lyme in their state.
Why? Because according to state health officials and the federal Centers for Disease Control, there’s NO LYME in Arkansas. Therefore, their positive tests were deemed to be false positives.
The girls’ mother, Alarie Bowerman, found a doctor in another state willing to treat her very ill and suffering daughters. Then, she tried to get state health officials to pay proper attention to locally-acquired Lyme disease.
She started by attracting the interest of TV station KNWA of Fayetteville. Last September, a reporter elicited this quote from a department spokesman:
“We don’t have Lyme disease in Arkansas. We have the ticks that transmit Lyme disease but we don’t have any recorded cases of Lyme disease.”
(Of course, the argument that Arkansas ticks somehow just magically don’t spread Lyme disease falls down when you look at canine cases. 282 dogs have acquired it in the state over the last five years.)
True, the health department only counts human cases. And yes, it’s technically accurate that there have been no recorded cases of Lyme disease in humans in Arkansas since 2007.
But that says more about the dysfunctional way that Arkansas and the CDC track Lyme cases than about the true incidence of the tick-borne illness. (The Arkansas Lyme Foundation has identified 150 cases of Lyme in the state—and they’re just getting started in that effort.)
The state’s circular reasoning goes something like this:
Because there’s no Lyme here, you can’t get Lyme here. Thus, there’s no reason for you to even be tested for it in the first place. If you do happen to twist your doctor’s arm for a Lyme test, we declare any positive results to be false positives. Because, don’t you remember? There’s no Lyme here.
Now, Arkansas health officials have finally changed their tune—slightly.
They recently announced that the state has seen its first two cases of Lyme disease in a decade. Those cases just happen to be Alarie Bowerman’s daughters. This mom kept calling health officials, sending them copies of her daughters’ records, etc. And eventually, her persistence paid off.
The Arkansas Health Department even sent out a press release about it. But the press release is a tepid endorsement of the risk of Lyme disease in the state, going heavy on words like “rare” and “low incidence.” And it quotes state epidemiologist Dirk Haselow as saying: “We know that Lyme is rare here, and we encourage doctors and patients to consider other diagnoses first.”
(Okay, let’s get this straight. Known tick bite, known Lyme symptoms, positive Lyme test. But Arkansas doctors are advised to try out a bunch of other diagnoses before even thinking it could possibly be Lyme? Whaaaat? Sorry, guys, that makes no sense.)
A glimmer of hope in the press release: Haselow says Arkansas is “committed to finding cases of Lyme when they do occur.”
If that statement is true, that’s certainly a (baby) step in the right direction. Kudos to Alarie Bowerman and other Arkansas Lyme advocates for everything they are doing to keep the momentum going.
PS: Bowerman reports that her daughters’ health continues to improve under the care of their out-of-state Lyme practitioner. That’s the kind of feedback I like to hear!
Click here for the website of the Arkansas Lyme Foundation
TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, Vice-President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org. On Twitter, she’s @dorothyleland.
I am a cousin to Alarie Bowerman and her family. It is totally shameful that they have had to go out of state to get the girls treated. What is this? Have we gone back to the Dark Ages? Why are physicians that have sworn “to do no harm” ignoring these seriously ill patients and denying them care? Are they so controlled by someone in power that they are willing to lie and risk lives? Even children’s lives?? Who is behind this big cover up? Dept. of Health? Game & Fish? Tourism? The people we have elected to run our state? The fact that educated people would purposely be a part of this cover up makes me very ashamed and shocked at my state! State of Arkansas you are dealing with human lives here and if that doesn’t make you think twice, just remember this; everyone will have to answer for their actions to the Ultimate Judge someday. I would not want to be in your shoes!
Vicki Fultz Lawrence
I had to go to the Mayo to get diagnosed with Lyme Disease after having endless visits locally without success. I also see a Dr out of state, which I had to find on my own 4 months later. I have several Dr’s locally that I was the 1st Lyme patient and currently they have several more. There are several problems but don’t think Lyme Disease is not in every state because it is. There needs to be more education and testing. And Dr’s should not be afraid to register cases or treat in fear of license. The fact that the CDC denies so many cases are really Lyme Disease is horrible. I personally had 150 of the 300 symptoms. I was misdiagnosed several times after farther testing didn’t result what the local Dr’s thought. Lyme Disease is real. Lyme Disease mimics so many different illnesses. Sadly it is a real issue and needs to be addressed, taken seriously and help us who suffer so badly.
Thank you, Nina White
There are 6 of us who know each other face-to-face in the Cody area, yet face-to-face each and every doctor in Wyoming DENIES Lyme’s existence AT ALL. One of us has died, and 1 is almost blind… the rest of us (except 1 whose family across the country pools resources to fly her to Washington, DC) are out of money, so we just have no medical treatment.. at all. If I wasn’t so sick and tired, I’d be disgusted.
I too believe I have Lyme disease but you cannot really rely on the medical system or doctors, who for the most part, do not want to recognize the illness or treat the disease. Looking healthy doesn’t mean you are healthy. Doctors took an oath that doesn’t carry much weight.Knowing all this put me on a search for answers and I was able to help myself with other sources with much success. I have a protocol that I use which put me on a healthy path.
I got a tick bite in Arkansas in 1985 and have given my life to Lyme. My sister-in-law dropped dead at age 53. She had been symptomatic since her teens. Two years later, her widowed husband was properly diagnosed and successfully treated. Arkansas should acknowledge and try to avoid the horror my family has experienced. I’ll never go back.
So sorry to hear – I am in Ark and cannot get diagnosed. Every dr says, Oh, we don’t have that here.
We just lost a dear friends’ wife due to this. We are now advocates for natural wellness support. Had we know about the amazing support available when she was 1st diagnosed perhaps she would not have had to suffer so much or even possibly still be here. Ningxia Red, Inner Defense, Thieves! Powerful immune support without a page of side effects!
I too believe I have Lyme disease but you cannot really rely on the medical system or doctors, who for the most part, do not want to recognize the illness or treat the disease. Looking healthy doesn’t mean you are healthy. Doctors took an oath that doesn’t carry much weight.Knowing all this put me on a search for answers and I was able to help myself with other sources with much success. I have a protocol that I use which put me on a healthy path.