Experts around the world agree that chronic Lyme diagnosis and treatment is inappropriate. While there is substantial peer reviewed literature regarding the social phenomenon of “chronic Lyme disease,” there has been relatively little commentary accessible to the public.
Below are educational articles by doctors and scientists, presented for a lay audience. More commentaries are listed in our papers section.
Medical education for doctors and medical professionals can be found in our Lyme CME section.
We’ve also gathered stories from former quacks who became advocates for science.
Dr. Rachel Pearson, MD: The Challenge of ‘Chronic Lyme’
Dr. Lawrence Zemel, MD and Dr. Paul Auwaerter, MD: Treating ‘chronic Lyme disease:’ Is it medical fraud?
Dr. Edward McSweegan, PhD:
- Lyme Disease: Questionable Diagnosis and Treatment
- La maladie de Lyme: diagnostic et traitements douteux
- When Worlds Collide- Lyme Disease
- Lyme Disease and the Politics of Public Advocacy
Dr. Peter Lipson, MD:
- Lyme disease—who is credible?
- Fake diseases, false compassion
- How not to think
- Define the disease first
Dr. Harriet Hall, MD:
- Does Everybody Have Chronic Lyme Disease? Does Anyone?
- In Praise of Uncertainty
- Who Is Amy B. Scher?
- Bogus Treatments for Bogus Diagnosis Are Killing Patients
- What Does ND Mean?
Panel of Yale professors: Discussion of the propaganda film Under Our Skin
Dr. Vincent Iannelli, MD:
- What is a Lyme-Literate doctor?
- Quacks and Consequences
- What Ever Happened to the Lyme Disease Vaccine?
Dr. Karen Ravin, MD: Debunking myths surrounding Lyme disease
Dr. Lori Handy, MD: Lyme Disease: Facts & Fiction
Dr. Henry M. Feder, MD: Long-Term Lyme Disease Unsubstantiated
Dr. David Scales, MD:
- Lyme Disease, Climate Change, and Science (or the Lack of It)
- In France’s Battles Over Lyme Disease, Lessons in Science Communication
- 7 Things I Learned While Reporting On Lyme And Other Tick-Borne Diseases
- What I’ve learned reporting about Lyme Disease, a contested illness
Dr. Stephen Salzberg, PhD: Long-Term Antibiotic Use For Lyme Disease Doesn’t Work, Study Finds
Dr. Jonathan Howard, MD: Neurologist explains chronic Lyme false assumptions
Dr. John Halperin, MD: Lyme Documentary Misleading, Perhaps Irresponsible [Review of Under Our Skin]
Dr. Steven Luger, MD: The Lyme Disease Expert web site
Dr. Andrea C. Love, PhD: In the Lyme Light: Beyond The Tick Bite (Part 1 | Part 2) 🔊
Dr. Nikki Stamp and Pixie Turner: (Un)Well 05: Bee Stings: The Bees Knees? 🔊
Dr. Samantha Ahdoot, MD: Lyme Disease 101
Dr. Allen Steere, MD: Interview with NPR
Dr. Chad Hayes, MD: Citations Needed: The curious “science” of integrative medicine
Dr. Lucy McBride, MD: The health risks of supplements and alternative medicine
Dr. Ross Boyce, MD: Destroying the Village in Order to Save It: Collateral Damage in the Battle Over Lyme Disease
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, MD:
- Addressing ‘alternative facts’ about Lyme disease
- featured in “3 surprising facts about Lyme disease“
- featured in “Don’t let the hype around Lyme disease lead to unnecessary treatment, warns U of A researcher“
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, MD and Dr. Stan Houston, MD: Addressing ‘alternative facts’ about Lyme disease
Dr. J. Marc Girard, MD: An example of pseudoscience: Chronic Lyme disease
Dr. Susan O’Connell, Consultant Medical Microbiologist: Re: Lyme Wars
Dr. Laura Helmuth, PhD: Why Is Romney Campaigning on Medical Quackery?
Dr. Steven Novella, MD:
- The NEJM Takes On Lyme Quackery
- The Chronic Lyme Conundrum
- Chronic Lyme Disease – Another Negative Study
- Jarisch-Herxheimer and Lyme disease
- Connecticut Legislature Intrudes on Debate Over Chronic Lyme Disease
- CT Politicians Protect Lyme Quackery
- Chronic Lyme Disease
- The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, episode 203 (podcast, transcript) 🔊
Dr. Mark Crislip, MD:
- Lyme: Two Worlds Compared and Contrasted
- More Lyme ‘Guidelines’
- Lyme Testimony
- Lyme Testing
- Lyme Treatment Update
Dr. Sunil K. Sood, MD: Lyme disease often misdiagnosed, resulting in unnecessary antibiotics
Dr. Karen Roos MD: Neurologic Complications of Lyme Disease
Dr. Phil Baker, PhD:
- Julia Bruzzese and the need for media responsibility
- When do symptoms mean Lyme disease?
- Does Chronic Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Exist?
- Book review of “Beating Lyme”
- Reviews of “Under Our Skin” and “Under Our Skin 2: Emergence”
- Letter to the editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal regarding the conspiracy theories promoted by Mary Beth Pfeiffer
- The pain of “chronic Lyme disease”: moving the discourse in a different direction
- Chronic Lyme disease: in defense of the scientific enterprise.
- Straight Talk About Chronic Lyme Disease
- Book Review: Beating Lyme: Understanding and treating this complex and often misdiagnosed disease
- Many other commentaries as executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation
Dr. David Gorski, MD:
- Chronic Lyme disease: Fake diagnosis, not fake disease
- Deaths and complications due to treating the fake disease known as “chronic Lyme disease”
- Kris Kristofferson: The latest celebrity quackery victim
- The Chicago Tribune, “chronic Lyme disease,” and demands for false balance
- Still more evidence that Morgellons disease is most likely delusional parasitosis
- Your Friday Dose of Woo: Applied kinesiology, but only more woo-ful [Discussion of Dietrich Klinghardt]
- What naturopaths say to each other when they think no one’s listening
Dr. John Snyder, MD: Lemons and Lyme: Bogus tests and dangerous treatments of the Lyme-literati
Anonymous infectious disease doctor in Australia: Letter about “Lyme-like illness” in Australia
Dr. Leonid Schneider, PhD:
Dr. Erin Welsh, PhD and Dr. Erin Allmann Updyke, PhD: This Podcast Will Kill You: Lyme Disease: I’d like to check you for ticks 🔊
Dr. Sydnee McElroy, MD: Sawbones Podcast: Lyme Disease 🔊
Dr. Kathleen Degnan, MD and Dr. Anne H. Norris, MD: Tick-Borne Illnesses, Lyme Disease, and Summer Fever, in conversation with Kendal Williams, MD 🔊
Dr. Joseph H. Friedman, MD: When the doctor is crazier than the patient
Dr. Albert Fuchs, MD: Prolonged antibiotics don’t help in Lyme Disease
Dr. Richard J. Hamill, MD: Doc, Justin Bieber Has Lyme Disease And I Think I Do Too! What To Do When Your Patients Come To You With Somatic Complaints That They Attribute to Microbial Exposure 📺
Dr. Daniel A. Solomon, MD: Lyme and Other Tickborne Disease: Clinical Challenges in Diagnosis and Treatment 📺
Dr. Dirk Vogelaers: Lyme disease: An example of a real disease that is misused by quacks 📺
Dr. Stephen Barrett, MD of Quackwatch:
- Some Notes on Nonstandard Lyme Disease Tests
- Romney Campaign Embraces Lyme Quackery
- Be Wary of “Fad” Diagnoses
- Index to “Fad” Diagnoses
- Index of Lyme-related government actions
Dr. Brad McKay, MBBS: Does Lyme disease exist in Australia?
Dr. Martin J. Blaser, M.D.: Lyme disease treatment is source of contention
Dr. Dustin Ballard, MD: The Marriage of Contested Illnesses
Dr. Sam Telford, Sc.D:
- No, Lyme disease is not an escaped military bioweapon, despite what conspiracy theorists say (Washington Post shareable link)
- Por qué la enfermedad de Lyme es un asunto serio y no un arma biológica, como afirman conspiracionistas
Dr. Sam Telford, ScD, Dr. Michael Jacobs, MD, Dr. Jim Butterick, MD, and Dr. Michael Loberg, PhD: Visiting physician’s statements about Lyme disease require correction
Dr. Gerald Weissmann, MD: “Chronic Lyme” and other medically unexplained syndromes
Dr. Daniel Summers, MD:
- Predator Doctors Take Advantage of Patients With ‘Chronic Lyme’ Scam
- Real Housewife, Fake Disease
- Once more unto the breach: chronic Lyme disease
Dr. Heather Sher, MD: The Grace of Denial (LymeScience comment, paper mirror)
Dr. Mark Borigini, MD: Don’t Get Ticked Off Over Chronic Lyme Disease
Dr. Mark Drapkin, MD: Lawmakers overreach in casting themselves as infectious disease specialists
Dr. Eugene D. Shapiro, MD and Dr. Gary P. Wormser, MD: The ‘Chronic Lyme Disease’ Label Isn’t Helpful
Dr. Gary P. Wormser, M.D. and Dr. Raymond J. Dattwyler, MD: Myths and Reality of Lyme Disease
Dr. Usha Nellore, MD: Lyme disease: Not the epidemic that MPT film claims
Dr. Alex Carignan, MD, Dr. Karl Weiss, MD, Dr. François Boucher, MD, and Dr. Louis Valiquette, MD (French-Canadian): La maladie de Lyme: nouveau bastion de l’antiscience (Lyme disease: new bastion of antiscience)
Dr. Robert Strang, MD: Nova Scotia’s health system has a handle on Lyme
Dr. Paul Frankish, MD: Lyme disease update and recent controversies
Dr. Bonnie Henry, MD and Dr. Muhammad Morshed, PhD: Lyme disease in British Columbia: Are we really missing an epidemic?
More: Experts affirm science of Lyme disease in Canada
Dr. Lyle R. Petersen, MD: Long-term antibiotics not warranted for Lyme treatment
Dr. Todd Gleeson, MD: Lyme Disease: Diagnosis and Management in Military Treatment Facilities (slides, talk transcript)
Dr. Mark Hoofnagle, MD:
Dr. Matan Shelomi, PhD, Professor of Medical Entomology: What are the typical long term symptoms of Lyme disease?
Dr. Richard S. Bedlack Jr., MD, PhD: Podcast and paper debunking attempts to connect Lyme to ALS 🔊
Dr. Matthew Sims, MD, PhD and Dr. Nicholas Gilpin, DO: Beaumont HouseCall Podcast: The Ticks & Lyme Disease episode 🔊
Dr. Jeremy Devine, MD: Bill C-442 and “Chronic Lyme Disease”: the parallels with “chronic brucellosis”
Skeptical Raptor:
- Chronic Lyme disease – is there any scientific evidence supporting it?
- Lyme disease vaccine on the way – if only the anti-vaxxers stay away
- Chronic Lyme disease treatments – unproven and dangerous
Dr. Paul Auwaerter, MD:
- Videos on Lyme disease (see third video)
- Politics, Sound Science, and Lyme Disease: IDSA Guidelines Upheld
- Point: Antibiotic Therapy Is Not the Answer for Patients with Persisting Symptoms Attributable to Lyme Disease
- Life After Lyme Disease
Dr. Michael Melia, MD and Dr. Paul Auwaerter, MD: Time for a Different Approach to Lyme Disease and Long-Term Symptoms
Dr. Karmela K. Chan, MD: Commentary: a disturbing conversation
Dr. Daniel Kaswan, MD: Is It Lyme Disease or Something Else?
Dr. David Robert Grimes, PhD: Fundraising appeals for the desperately ill are moving, but evidence is crucial
Erin Foeri, PharmD candidate: Caution advised in use of alternative medicines for chronic Lyme disease
Aaron Hentoff, MPH student: White Tears: Chronic Lyme Disease
Dr. Kent Sepkowitz, MD:
- Doctors Do Know Things Patients Don’t Know
- Still in the Lyme Light: Politicians and Hollywood enter the debate over “chronic Lyme disease.’
- Thank Anti-Vaxxers for Lyme
- Mitt’s Bizarre Lyme Disease Offensive
Dr. Todd Murray, MD (son of Polly Murray and one of the first recognized Lyme patients): Comments on “Maybe it’s Lyme”
Dr. Ric Arseneau, MD: Symptoms attributed to Chronic Lyme Disease
Dr. William G. Wilkoff, MD: Ticked off
Scott Gavura, pharmacist: Avoid prolonged antibiotics for “Chronic Lyme”
Dr. Edzard Ernst: Lyme disease (imagined and real): an easy target for charlatans
Dr. Michael Kruse, MD and former medic:
- Elizabeth May, Do More Scientific Research Before You Discuss Diseases
- Elizabeth May’s Lyme Disease Bill Needs Science, Not Emotion
Colin Blenis, RN, DNP student: No Easy Answers for Lyme Disease: Chronic Lyme is not a Real Diagnosis
Dr. Alan Barbour: Let Scientists Do Their Jobs (New York Times Editorial)
Dr. Lawrence Zemel, MD: Law Would Allow Risky Treatment For Lyme Disease
Dr. Erin Welsh, PhD and Dr. Erin Allmann Updyke, PhD: Lyme Disease: I’d like to check you for ticks
Dr. Omar Abu Saleh, MBBS: Help in the fight against Lyme disease
Dr. Henry Masur, MD: IDSA: Our Lyme disease treatment guidelines were rigorously researched
Dr. Eric R. Brenner, MD: Long-term Therapy for Lyme Disease — or Not?
Dr. Brandon Beaber, MD: Multiple sclerosis is not Lyme disease
Dr. Leyla Sanai: The snake-oil salesmen who prey on schizophrenics
Dr. John Farber, MD: What is normal- part 2
Diana Ernst, RPh: Chronic Lyme Diagnosis Leads to Potentially Fatal Drug Reaction
Dr. Julie Kardos, MD and Dr. Naline Lai, MD: Lyme disease: It’s back
Dr. Beth Santmyire-Rosenberger, MD, PhD: Lyme Disease
Dr. Ronald Rubin, MD: A Young Man with a New Skin Lesion of the Right Shoulder
Dr. William Bebout, MD: The Desperation for Cure – The Role of Quackery in Modern Medicine
Dr. Edsel Salvana, MD: No Lyme, no reason: Why the Philippines has no Lyme disease
Dr. Henrik Vogt (Norwegian):
- Kampen om årsaken (The Battle for the Cause)
- Hva betyr “kronisk borreliose”? (What does “chronic borreliosis” mean?)
- Nei, Justin Bieber har sannsynligvis ikke borreliose (No, Justin Bieber probably doesn’t have Lyme disease)
Dr. Mats Reimer (Swedish):
- Kronisk borrelia smittas via media (Chronic Lyme disease infects via the media)
- Finländsk public service desinformerar om borrelia (Finnish public service misinforms about Lyme disease)
- Ovetenskap om borrelia på Norska Vetenskapsakademin (Ignorance about Lyme disease at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences)
Prof. Dr. med. Heidelore Hofmann (German): „Antikörper sind kein Beweis für eine Borreliose“ (“Antibodies are not evidence of Lyme disease.”)
Dr. Jarmo Oksi (Finnish):
- Totta ja tarua borrelioosista (True and fairy tale about Lyme disease)
- Borrelioosin diagnosointiin tarvitaan lääkäriä eikä internetiä (Diagnosing Lyme disease requires a doctor and not the Internet)
Dr. Marc Gozlan (French): « Maladie de Lyme chronique » : le danger des traitements prolongés par antibiotiques (“Chronic Lyme Disease”: The Danger of Prolonged Antibiotic Therapy)
Dr. Cédric Lemogne and Dr. Pascal Cathébras (French): Non, vous n’avez pas la maladie de Lyme! (No, you do not have Lyme disease!)
Dr. Yves Hansmann (French): VIDEO. «La maladie de Lyme peut être handicapante si elle est traitée tardivement», explique le professeur Hansmann (“Lyme disease can be disabling if treated late,” says Professor Hansmann)
Pr. Marc Gentilini (French): Le vrai scandale de la maladie de Lyme (The true scandal of Lyme disease)
Dr. Jean-Claude Desenclos (French): L’élaboration des recommandations de prise en charge de la maladie de Lyme : un nécessaire questionnement éthique (Development of management guidelines for the management of Lyme disease: an ethical dimension is needed)
Pr. François Bricaire and Pr. Marc Gentilini (French): Halte aux fantasmes sur la maladie de Lyme! (Stop fantasies about Lyme disease!)
Dr. Pierre Kieffer (French): Le point de vue d’un praticien (The point of view of a practitioner)
Dr. Daniel Christmann (French): « Il n’y a aucune raison d’alimenter une angoisse autour de Lyme » (“There’s no reason to fuel any anxiety around Lyme.”)
Dr. Arnica (French): Maladie de Lyme: on a surtout besoin d’y voir clair (Lyme disease: we especially need to see clearly)
Dr. Pierre Tattevin, MD, PhD (French): Maladie de Lyme: attention au sur-diagnostic! (Lyme disease: beware of over-diagnosis!)
Dr. Xavier Gocko (French): Video: Primum non nocere: Dr Xavier Gocko, general practitioner near Saint-Etienne, raises awareness of the risks of overdiagnosis and iatrogenesis in chronic Lyme. (see also)
Dr. Nicolas de Prost, Dr. Alice Raffetin, Dr. Sébastien Gallien, and Dr. Saskia Ingen-Housz-Oro (French): « Faux Lyme, vrai Lyell ! Quand le non-respect des recommandations HAS conduit une patiente en réanimation… » (“False Lyme, true Lyell! When non-compliance with French National Authority for Health recommendations leads a patient to intensive care… “) [LymeScience translation]
Dr. Preben Aavitsland, MD (Norwegian): En epidemi av borreliose? (An Epidemic of Borreliosis?)
Dr. med. Laura Cabrera (German): Gefährlich oder nur umstritten? Patienten kämpfen im Netz um Anerkennung der „chronischen Borreliose“ – Fakten und Fiktion (Dangerous or just controversial? Patients fight online for recognition of “chronic Lyme disease” – facts and fiction)
Dr. Wietse Wiels (Dutch): We urgently need to stop the scammers in the Lyme circuit
Dr. Luc Bonneux (Dutch):
Dr. Jan Keppel Hesselink, MD, PhD and Dr. Lex Bouter, PhD (Dutch): ‘Science is also only an opinion’
Dr. André Weel (Dutch): Een nieuw begin, ook voor lyme? (A new beginning, also for Lyme?)
Dr. Cees Renckens (Dutch):
- Kwakzalvende medici verantwoordelijk voor rechterlijke dwaling over chronische Lyme? (Quacking physicians responsible for legal error about chronic Lyme?)
- Chronische Lyme of chronische kwakzalverij? (Chronic Lyme or chronic quackery?)
Dr. Emile Keuter (Dutch):
- Lyme is de engste SOLK (Lyme is the scariest MUPS- Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms)
- Lyme.eerder, Zorg.nu
Dr. Klaus Hansen, Dr. Anne Mette Lebech Kjær, Dr. Jette Bangsborg, Dr. Christian Østergaard Andersen: Tvivl om Borrelia-diagnostik? Nej! (Doubts about Borrelia diagnosis? No!)
Dr. Jan Lindebjerg, MD (Danish): Alternativ borreliadiagnostik og -behandling (Alternative Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment) (mirror)
Dr. David Patrick, MD:
- Lyme disease: A mix of misdiagnosis and misinformation
- TV interview: Explaining the mysteries of Lyme disease 📺
More posts about chronic Lyme pseudoscience can be found at Science-Based Medicine
List of resources from Norway
Other relevant LymeScience posts
- Good journalism on chronic Lyme pseudoscience
- Papers on chronic Lyme disease
- Minnesota Doctors: Dispelling the Chronic Lyme Disease Myth
Updated September 4, 2023