Even in 1999 there was monitoring of Lyme in Australia. At that time they were getting 7 cases of confirmed Lyme for people who had not been overseas. This was one of the talks at the 1999 ME/CFS conference in Sydney. So there appear to have always been a few cases. What the big question is why is this apparently spreading.?
Now if they authorities were right, and this is not Lyme, then why is there not a big push to find out what is actually wrong? Where are the federally funded clinical studies? Pilot studies?
Accusations of faking it are patient abuse. No nurse should be making them. I hope anyone this happens to files a formal complaint with the hospital. If its brushed off I hope they take it up with their state health minister. Of course most people this happens to are too sick to fight for their rights or fair treatment.
Its again a case of there is no locally recognized diagnostic test. Yet I bet if there were examinations and studies looking for pathophysiology they would find a lot.
There is also the issue that Lyme disease might not be Borrelia, or at least not the usual species. Australia has its own pathogens. A tick bite also transfers many different pathogens.
All of this begs for more research.
I would like to point out though that the treatments in Germany have not been scientifically tested. A formal study should be a priority. Journalists who are covering such stories should be asking about formal studies. If the treatments don't really work then they would be shown to not work. If however they do work as advertised they would be on the way to becoming mainstream treatments. Its a win-win.
