Do Lyme diagnosis's have to be reported by doctors to the CDC?

The best place to do some reading on all the controversy surrounding Lyme Disease - at least in my opinion - is lymedisease.org/news/lymepolicywonk/831.html

As far as your question about the reporting of Lyme - it appears that it's NOT required, and it's up to the individual state laws. This is from the CDC's website (www.cdc.gov/lyme/faq/index.html#cases):
"reporting requirements for Lyme disease are determined by state laws or regulations. In most states, Lyme disease cases are reported by licensed health care providers, diagnostic laboratories, or hospitals. States and the District of Columbia remove all personally identifiable information, then share their data with CDC, which compiles and publishes the information for the Nation. CDC has no way of linking this information back to the original patient. "

You raise some very good questions, Educate Yourself.

I honestly hadn't put much thought into that aspect. I know that here in Arkansas, it doesn't seem to matter what you do, as the whole state seems to be in denial of the existence of Lyme Disease. I tested positive for RMSF and Lyme 2 years in a row, and one of those years,and the CDC said that Arkansas state reported that there was not one, none, zip, nada cases reported to them. My doc at the time swears he reported it, as by that time he had learned a few things about those diseases, and realized how devastating they can be - even learning that there is such a thing as chronic Lyme and RMSF.

I think - and this is just my personal opinion - that until these infections are taken seriously, instead of being ignored or swept under the rug by doctors, state officials and even the CDC, this type of bad reporting will continue. Even the CDC has a ton of misleading information on their website about these infections - even though all the scientific information and studies that have been done that supports not only our claims, but the fact that ticks don't really care about what diseases we say the don't carry and they certainly don't respect those state lines!!!

I hope that others join in this conversation, as I would love to hear what others have to say about this!!

Here's another thing that we have to keep in mind - even if the doc's don't - the CDC's guidelines are supposed to be for surveillance purposes only, not for diagnostic purposes. At least that's what the CDC's site used to say.

I see that they have changed it around and have started claiming things to support the IDSA's stance though - sorry you-know-what's!!! That leaves people getting misdiagnoses, not getting adequate treatment should they happen to actually get a diagnosis, and then leave them with Chronic infections because they weren't treated long enough.

I also saw that they support the use of the term "Post Lyme Disease Syndrome"- so that those people that are only treated for the 2 - 4 weeks that they recommend are left to wonder why they are still suffering so much, when that stance just allows an infection to go unchecked in the body!!

Boy, would I ever love to pull them by the ear back behind the wood shed for a talking...or whatever.... LOL!!!!