Because there is a huge political fight going on 'behind the scene' - Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)says that Lyme is hard to catch and easy to cure, and that those that are left with symptoms have "Post Lyme Syndrome", not an ongoing infection with Lyme disease - even though additional abx therapy will often finish clearing the symptoms (so it's not some "syndrome" that people just have to live with).
ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases) represents the other side of this. They believe that Lyme and co-infections are easy to catch and are hard to bring into remission, and it's not unusually for times of stress to bring it all back because you can't get rid of 100% of the Lyme bacteria, and that co-infections and often co-viruses are passed that can make it very difficult for a person to heal.
The science stands behind the ILADS view, but that's not stopping the IDSA from insisting that their view is right, and the CDC has stood with the IDSA so far. Most regular doctors don't want to piss off the ID docs, so they won't go against their recommendations - so people that have Lyme are being told they don't or are given insufficient treatments and told that they (a) have to live with the symptoms that are left, or (b) they have to just learn that they have to go back on abx each year for several months (or whatever amount of time they are told, it varies) when symptoms "get out of hand" for the rest of their lives.
I've actually had a nurse tell me she would rather suffer through recurring symptoms and taking abx and feeling like He!! for several months a year than offend her colleagues.
