Professor Karina Butler:

I have read the papers published by Dr. Daniel Cameron, who has been censured in his home state because of his practices. I have discussed the issue with Dr. Lambert, who has been a colleague of mine for many years, and I have looked at his research in this area. I have suggested to him that where questions are unanswered and it is reasonable to hypothesise, we should do so. If we do not have an answer to a question but suspect what it might be, we should design a study to test the hypothesis. That has not yet been done. What has been reported are anecdotal case series reports of patients whose symptoms have been improved with treatment. However, as I explained earlier, perhaps before Deputy MacSharry entered the room, one must consider whether something is causal or temporarily related. To determine that, one needs well conducted and controlled scientifically and ethically reviewed research. We await the results of such studies. Studies meeting those parameters which have examined prolonged antibiotic therapy for patients with these symptoms who are seronegative have not indicated benefit for the patients.

The key fact is that there are patients who have a range of symptoms for which we, as doctors, do not have ready explanations. When I began my training, such symptoms were attributed to chronic brucellosis, which was mentioned and for which people received prolonged courses of antibiotics in the absence of diagnosis. They have also been attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome, glandular fever virus and vaccinations. There are still such patients and the only way we will get to the bottom of their illness is through well conducted and controlled research. When such research has been carried out to investigate whether Lyme is the explanation for such symptoms, it has not found any evidence that that is the case. The problem is that patients and their families who desperately want to get better are driven to seek solutions. They are being fed the misinformation that there is an answer to their problems and that it they take the antibiotics and many other treatments, they will have a better life. Some such patients will get better but that will not result from the course of treatment but, rather, come about because it is the time for that to happen.