December 1, 1983Annals of Internal Medicine
Neurologic Abnormalities of Lyme Disease: Successful Treatment with High-Dose Intravenous Penicillin
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Discussion
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Implication
Comparative clinical study demonstrates high-dose intravenous penicillin rapidly resolves meningitic symptoms in neurologic Lyme disease, indicating its effectiveness as targeted therapy.
Key Points
- To evaluate the clinical efficacy of high-dose intravenous penicillin for treating neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease.
- Administered high-dose intravenous penicillin to N=12 patients presenting with neurologic abnormalities of Lyme disease.
- Compared symptom duration and recovery timelines against historical controls (N=15) treated with prednisone alone.
- Duration of meningitic syndrome was significantly shorter with penicillin compared to prednisone alone (mean 1 vs. 29 weeks, p < 0.000001), with acute symptoms generally subsiding within 7 to 10 days.
- Complete recovery of motor deficits required a mean of 7 to 8 weeks across both treatment groups, with no disease relapses observed after stopping penicillin.
- Persistent symptoms remained in 3 of 12 penicillin-treated individuals, who experienced frequent musculoskeletal pain, arthralgias, and fatigue.
Cite This Study
Allen C. Steere (1983) studied this question.