Resources for Lyme Disease for Healthcare Professionals and Patients

Below are some important web resources that can help the healthcare professional stay informed, and inform his or her patients.

The Centers for Disease Control

The Centers for Disease Control provides extensive and authoritative information for both professionals and patients. Here you will find discussion of epidemiology, signs and symptoms, testing, treatment, and prevention. Highlights of CDC resources include:

• Educational materials, brochures, and fact sheets designed for patients, including children’s resources. Fact sheets are available in English, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese, and Tagalog. Do you maintain a website for your practice? The CDC provides a code for a free Flash widget you can post to your site.
• Quest Diagnostics Lyme Disease Health Trends Report reveals the spread of Lyme disease by geography.
• Extensive discussions for healthcare professionals on treatment and testing, as well as a 52-page manual on tick-borne diseases of the United States. There are also four expert-commentary videos on Lyme carditis, southern tick-associated rash illness, PCR testing, and testing procedures to minimize false-positive and false-negative results.
• The CDC has a wide-ranging discussion of post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome and “chronic Lyme disease,” as well as related guides to help patients understand and make informed choices about conflicting health-related information.
• A page of statistics, graphs, and maps provides a fascinating look at the spread of Lyme disease over the past two decades.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials for people with Lyme disease can be searched on clinicaltrials.gov using the search term “Lyme”.

Free Major Research and Review Articles

• A clinically focused overview of Lyme disease from the New England Journal of Medicine
• Steere AC, Strle F, Wormser GP, et al. Lyme borreliosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016;2:16090. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2016.90.
• Eickhoff C, Blaylock J. Tickborne diseases other than Lyme in the United States. Cleve Clin j Med. 2017;84:555-567.
• Berende A, ter Hofsteded HJ, Vos FJ, et al. Randomized trial of longer-term therapy for symptoms attributed to Lyme disease. New Engl J Med. 2016;31:1209-1220.

The Infectious Disease Society of America

The IDSA presents materials on Lyme disease for patients, professionals, policy officials, and the press. Highlights include:

• Practice guidelines on assessment, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.
• A practice parameter on treatment of nervous system Lyme disease, from the American Academy of Neurology and endorsed by the IDSA.
• A video describing the issues with a chronic Lyme diagnosis, intended for patients.