Mothers Against Lyme: Request for Correction of Factual Error in IDSA/AAN/ACR 2020 Guidelines for Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease

[Canlyme Note: The Lyme disease guidelines of the IDSA, AAN, and ACR are simply a further example of their continued assault on scientific peer reviewed evidence. Science is ignored and their intentional misinformation becomes intrenched, causing untold harm to millions of sufferers globally including pregnant women and fetuses. Canadian infectious disease physician, William R Bowie continues to support and participate in authoring these intentionally misleading guidelines.  His association with the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine and the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease of Canada mars their respective credibility, therefore funders should reconsider their philanthropic donations in that they actively promote him as an expert.  This 30 plus year assault on science and evidence has got to stop.]

Mothers Against Lyme press release:

“Mothers Against Lyme, a group of advocates concerned about the impact of Lyme disease and its co-infections on pregnant women, children and families, is calling for retraction of a statement in the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2020 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease that contributes to misdiagnosis and harm to pregnant women and children who are congenitally infected.

On October 20, Mothers Against Lyme sent a retraction request letter to the editors of the journals that published the guidelines and the leadership of the sponsoring organizations. Copies were sent to the clinical practice guidelines committees of the sponsoring organizations and the co-authors of the guidelines. The guidelines were published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Neurology, Arthritis Care & Research, and Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Page e12 of the guidelines “Treatment of Lyme Disease” section states:

“To date, Lyme disease in pregnancy has not been found to result in congenital infection or a syndrome of congenital abnormalities, and no additional treatment or monitoring of the mother or infant is recommended beyond the standard of care.”

According to the letter, the statement “To date, Lyme disease in pregnancy has not been found to result in congenital infection” is not true.

40 peer-reviewed articles

The letter cites more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, including a systematic review co-authored by a CDC epidemiologist, that provide evidence of congenital infection with Lyme disease.