Troubling stuff. 1300 cases in B.C. or zero?
en.allexperts.com
canada.com
""Lives are being destroyed while specialists argue the science of it all," said Jim Wilson of Westbank, who contracted Lyme disease in 1991.
He said he experienced a litany of symptoms from a rash to fatigue, while most doctors were uncomprehending.
Finally, after three years of trudging from doctor to doctor, a physician in Squamish treated him for the disease, despite the fact that two tests had come back negative.
Wilson said he's now in remission.
In the U.S., it has been reported that many doctors who have administered the controversial treatment have been investigated -- sending a chill across North America.
"The threat is there and it's scary and a lot of people will back off," said Murakami.
In Canada, the debate has become so polarized that the Public Health Agency of Canada has been charged with wading through years of conflicting and politically charged research to define how Lyme disease is diagnosed and treated.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reports there have been over 60 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in B.C. In Canada, the total number of cases voluntarily reported between 1994 and 2004 is 354, according to the PHAC.
But Murakami said he has treated more than 1,300 people for the disease.
"I have been criticized for doing it, but I'm getting good results," he said. "When you see people who have seen up to 30 doctors and suffered and suffered, you want to help them."
Dr. Paul Sockett, director of the food-borne, water-borne and zoonotic infections division at the PHAC, said that while he is sympathetic to patients, he understands some physicians' reluctance to dole out antibiotics.
"There would be nothing worse than having a person diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease when they could, in fact, have something else," said Sockett.
In the U.S., patient advocacy groups charge that there's a conspiracy at work.
Long-term antibiotics costs money and the expensive bills -- some racking up to $1 million US -- often land in front of insurance companies.
Recently, Murakami's patients embarked on a letter-writing campaign to protest the college's request for Murakami to take a competency test.
They fear doctors like Murakami are getting hard to find because the treatment has become so controversial.
"People are disabled, crippled, and because we don't get the answers, some people are suicidal," said Murakami.
"These people are patients that are responding and have responded to treatment. And what are they going to do if I'm not around?" |
