RE: those with persistent Lyme disease symptoms are delusional -
Ignorant belief.
Lyme disease is often associated with a combination of up to six different bacteria, and accurate testing can be elusive.
My very healthy kids (one of which is a very tough athletic military officer) have had bouts with Lyme, and we’re not cured by “a single course of antibiotics”.
Revised treatment protocol now advised up to 90+ days of antibiotics.
Our US Servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan also were reported to have contracted debilitating Lyme like disease from sand fly bites.
Lyme disease is recognized by the international medical community to be a rapidly spreading global health threat.
Symptoms can range from mild, chronic and life threatening.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3879353/
The “delusional” comment was not my personal opinion, but made by two doctors I spoke to about this, as I stated in my post. As I also stated clearly in my post, my personal opinion is that I think there may be something to it- a genetic susceptability to some elements of the disease process among a small sub-population not shared by most of the general population. My point was that in the rural areas of Pennsylvania/Delaware/Maryland where Lyme is truly endemic, it is curious that there are only an extremely small number of the infected who ever exhibit symptoms, and this extends beyond humans to the canine population as well. BTW, what six bacteria would you suggest are causative agents for Lyme? When I studied infectious diseases, Borrelia burgdorferi was believed to be the sole cause.