Lyme Patient Advocates Denounce Intellectual Conflicts of Interest for Seven IDSA Guidelines Review Panelists
The Mayday Project—a volunteer organization comprised of those touched by Lyme disease—wants to know the answer to the question: How can certain members of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) review panel, those with entrenched intellectual conflicts of interest, be trusted to revise the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease?
On March 9, IDSA released a project plan to update its Lyme disease treatment guidelines; guidelines The Mayday Project believes already harm patients who are routinely misdiagnosed and unable to obtain medically necessary treatment due to the restrictions imposed by those guidelines. The IDSA plan provides a period for public comment, which ends April 24.
Mayday co-founder Josh Cutler says, “What’s most disturbing is that the 2015 IDSA review group contains members who are not coming to the task from neutral positions.”