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Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic | 
 enlarge | Author: Pamela Weintraub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 4834
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0312378122
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.92
EAN: 9780312378127
ASIN: 0312378122
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
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Product Description
A groundbreaking and controversial narrative investigation into the science, history, medical politics, and patient experience of Lyme disease told by a science journalist whose entire family contracted the disease. Pamela Weintraub paints a nuanced picture of the intense controversy and crippling uncertainty surrounding Lyme disease and sheds light on one of the angriest medical disputes raging today. She also reveals her personal odyssey through the land of Lyme after she, her husband and their two sons became seriously ill with the disease beginning in the 1990s. From the microbe causing the infection and the definition of the disease, to the length and type of treatment and the kind of practitioner needed, Lyme is a hotbed of contention. With a CDC-estimated 200,000-plus new cases of Lyme disease a year, it has surpassed both AIDS and TB as the fastest-spreading infectious disease in the U.S. Yet alarmingly, in many cases, because the disease often eludes blood tests and not all patients exhibit the classic "bulls-eye" rash and swollen joints, doctors are woefully unable or unwilling to diagnose Lyme. When that happens, once-treatable infections become chronic, inexorably disseminating to cause disabling conditions that may never be cured. Weintraub reveals why the Lyme epidemic has been allowed to explode, why patients are dismissed, and what can be done to raise awareness in the medical community and find a cure. The most comprehensive book ever written about the past, present and future of Lyme disease, this exposes the ticking clock of a raging epidemic.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
A must read September 6, 2008
Cheryl A. Horton (North East)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read at least 5 other Lyme related books, while each of them has their merit, Cure Unknown Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic contains unbiased views of our current struggle with the CDC and finding a cure for this ravinging disease. For those of us affected by Lyme, it is insightful, caring, empathtic and powerful. I think every medical doctor should be required to read this. I think the CDC needs to read this. My hats off to the author, she could have lost her temper so many times throughout the writing of this book, but it never shows. I know I'm angry about this and how it has affected my life. Anyhow, I highly recommend this book for everyone, even those who have not been exposed to this disease - Lyme
A masterpiece of medical journalism. August 27, 2008
Jenna Smith
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a masterpiece that not only unravels the confusing history of the raging medical debate about chronic Lyme disease, but successfully tracks ongoing research to better understand the disease and ultimately find a cure.
If you suffer with Lyme disease, be prepared for a very frustrating project as you try to follow the chapters that jump from story, to story, to interview and back again. Important dates are hard to remember and research chapters packed so full of critical facts that you will need a highlighter and notepad to digest all the information.
I found it extremely difficult to read not only because of the format but also because of the information. No matter how many times I re-read a chapter, for the most part I couldn't help but want each to end differently, like watching "Gone With The Wind" and hoping Rhett won't walk away at the end.
The current situation and meticulously documented facts are frustrating indeed, however, your determination to read the entire book will be rewarded as mine was, with the precious gift of understanding.
We who have Lyme disease are the victims. We suffer daily with the tragedy of how Lyme disease is treated by mainstream medicine. We suffer the humiliation of being told a disease doesn't exist in spite of the fact that it is medically proven with reams of documentation from top scientists. We suffer with the unbearable financial burden. We suffer the loss of friends. We suffer the loss of our lives (as we knew them), and unfortunately our story can't be re-written.
We are suspended in the fog of our disease along with the bigger fog of medical deception while doctors under-treat if they treat at all, and certain highly placed medical doctors "fix" tests to prove their theories instead of searching for solutions.
This state of affairs would be dreadful with any disease but for the raging epidemic that faces our nation today with Lyme disease, it is a crime beyond belief.
And yet the author does provide hope.
There is hope for a political change with Connecticut's Attorney General investigating the conflict of interest for the authors of the current IDSA's guidelines (Infectious Disease Society of America) for diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.
There is also hope for the medical community to redeem itself with the advent of new technologies and technicians.
For instance, a new team of top researchers currently gather under the leadership of infectious disease specialist Dr. Benjamin Luft (Stony Brook University) to methodically sequence every gene in every strain of B. burgdorferi which will allow diagnosticians to test for over 1800 possible proteins instead of the ten limited proteins as is now done with the western blot.
The Luft team is also testing a new antibiotic "Tigecycline" which kills spirochetes fast, possibly eliminating the need for such long courses of antibiotics.
An exciting hope for a new vaccine is being developed by Eugene Davidson, a molecular biologist who has shattered spirochetes using ultrasound and begun trials injecting the tiny pieces (non-infectious on their own) into laboratory animals, and thus far producing total immunity.
I plan to follow these developments very closely on my blog at [...] and desperately hope that meaningful answers will come before it is too late for me and others like me. Smiling at my grandson, I am confident that they will come in time to protect him.
The best non-fiction book of the year! August 25, 2008
Reading Horse (Washington)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Pamela Weintraub's book about Lyme disease is a well written page turner. It is a must-read book for anyone interested in learning more about Lyme disease.
Very well done book. August 13, 2008
Dr. Channing C. Bolick
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is very well written and explains Lyme from its discovery to its presnet state of debate over treatment protocols. The information is presented in a intersting way so you can get this important data without getting bogged down in things that are irrelevant. As other reviewers have pointed out it does not list Alternative or adjuncitive treatments to antibiotics so any reader would have to seach elsewhere for this data. With that said "Cure Unknown" is an appropriate title for this book.
A Must Read August 10, 2008
E. Douty (Lexington, VA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Cure Unknown" is a must read for those with Lyme disease, those diagnosed with CFS, FMS,MS and many other "mystery" illnesses. If your doctor says, "It is all in your head","There is no such thing as Chronic Lyme", please read this book. If you wonder why the medical profession and insurance companies want to pretend Lyme disease does not exist, read this book. Pamela Weintraub tells the real story behind Lyme disease and gives real hope to sufferers and those who care.
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