The Assault On Chronic Lyme Concept

https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(17)31290-1/fulltext

The above is authored by Phillip Baker, in the June 2018 edition of The American Journal of Medicine. I believe Baker is a predecessor of A. Marques who currently heads the NIH Lyme Team. You will recall that Marques is an integral part of the NIH ME/CFS research effort.

I had posted earlier in a thread I cannot recall that there has been a concerted effort to delegitimize the concept of chronic Lyme. I think this piece reflects that narrative.

ME/CFS patients may identify with some of the attacks.

Incidentally, I think this is a marked change from the mid '90's when the approach seemed to suggest patients diagnosed with Lyme that ran chronic were mistakenly diagnosed as such. Instead, a common refrain was that they really had CFS or Fibro. For the last 15 years or so the strategy seems to have shifted to discrediting the entire notion as an entity, and reducing the patient symptom manifest as pretty much in line with what happens to a large part of the typical population

In narratives such as this, to me, the patient experience is diminished; the roles of symptoms' degree, or aggregate impact, seem absent. The idea of the disease itself - as it is being defined by this group - is being dismissed. So, too, in effect, are patient advocates, who are labeled as a small but vocal minority.

Sound familiar?