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FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) — A few weeks of antibiotics as
internal medicine news are highly effective for treating patients with nervous system
Lyme disease, but there's no evidence prolonged antibiotic treatment
offers a benefit, according to new expert guidelines from the American
Academy of Neurology.

Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by bacteria carried by
ticks. The nervous system is affected in about 10 percent to 15 percent of
patients infected with Lyme disease.

“While other guidelines exist to help diagnose and treat general Lyme
disease, there continues to be considerable controversy and uncertainty
about the best approach to treating neuroborreliosis, in which Lyme
disease involves the nervous system,” the lead author of the new
guidelines, Dr. John J. Halperin of Atlantic Health in Summit, N.J., said
in a prepared statement.

He and his colleagues analyzed all available scientific studies on the
topic and found that the health
antibiotics penicillin, news in medicine,
cefotaxime, and the oral antibiotic doxycycline are likely safe and
effective when taken for 14 to 28 days by children and adults.

While other oral antibiotics, such as internal medicine news
and cefuroxime
axetil, may also be safe and effective, there is not enough evidence to
recommend their use, the guideline authors said.

They also concluded that long-term use of antibiotics does not benefit
Lyme disease patients who continue to have symptoms after receiving
standard antibiotic treatment.

The guideline was published in the May 23 online issue of the journal
Neurology.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about Lyme
disease.