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ILADS to train more doctors

As you are probably all too well-aware, we have a desperate need for more Lyme disease specialists. Driving or flying thousands of miles to see a Lyme literate doctor is not a luxury that most of us can afford.

According to this article in MediLexicon, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) has started a new training program to teach more doctors how to diagnose and treat chronic Lyme disease. With financial assistance from the New York-based Turn the Corner Foundation, the program aims to train 100 doctors over the next five years.

"With more than an estimated 200,000 of cases annually, Lyme disease has become the leading epidemic of our time," said Dr. Daniel Cameron, ILADS board president and internal medicine physician. "We need more physician-scientists who will be the future leaders in the treatment of Lyme and associated diseases."

Many physicians are not aware of the complexities of tick-borne diseases, and patients with Lyme symptoms are too often misdiagnosed, under treated or simply dismissed. The disease now known in the medical community as the Great Imitator can be a superb mimic of a hundred other conditions, especially if it hasn't been treated correctly when in the early stage. This is due to the complex nature of the Lyme bacteria, which has the capacity to hide from the body's immune system in order to protect itself. Doctors who are trained to recognize and treat Lyme symptoms will help increase awareness of the disease.

The ninth annual ILADS 2008 conference will be held on October 18-19 in San Francisco. Entomologist Willie Burgdorfer, who discovered the Lyme bacteria we know as Borrelia burgdorferi or Bb, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker. Several hundred physicians from across the globe will be in attendance. For Lyme researchers and medical specialists who treat Lyme patients, the conference offers an opportunity to collaborate and learn about each others' work.
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