Lyme More Prevelant

I keep hearing of more and more people who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Just this month, I heard of two more people who have been diagnosed with Lyme or who have symptoms indicative of Lyme. One of them is a childhood friend. He contacted me a few weeks ago regarding his symptoms and his possible diagnosis of Lyme. He has all of the classic symptoms. I have been trying to help him get the reliable lab tests that he needs to get in order to get a proper diagnosis. Even though he has all of the symptoms, his western blot test came back negative. This disease is so confusing because it is extremely hard to diagnose. Apparently, the diagnosis has to be primarily a clinical one, but blood tests are also considered in the final decision. Does my friend not have Lyme disease because his blood work came back negative even though he has all of the clinical symptoms and the risk factors for tick exposure? I know that some doctors will tell him that he is fine and that there is nothing wrong with him. He needs to find a Lyme literate doctor. I mentioned to him that I can set him up with a Lyme specialist in the Bay Area. The bottom line is that he is suffering right now. I hope that he can obtain a diagnosis of some type soon. The other person with Lyme disease that I heard about is actually the son of one of my Mom's friends. It breaks my heart to hear about all these children contracting the disease. This young man is in junior high and he has been sick for three years already. He is currently being treated with IV antibiotics but he remains extremely ill. It seems to me that every time I mention that I have Lyme disease to someone new, that they, in turn, tell me that they know someone who has it. Just the other day, I was talking to the woman who we adopted our kittens from and she has a friend in Oregon with Lyme. The rate at which the disease spreads is surprising and yet, the experts claim that it is still very rare on the West Coast. There is a disconnection between the reality of the prevalence of the disease and the official statistics on it. All I know is that the number of people with Lyme disease continues to grow.