Edited for accuracy, I hope

The official webcasts, transcripts, and supporting documentation from the IDSA Lyme guidelines testimonies are now available on the IDSA website. If the little I looked at is any indication, the webcasts are quite understandable, but the official transcripts are awful.

I read the first page of the first speaker (Tina Garcia) while listening to the webcast, and found at least 10 errors on the first page of the transcript. Some of these errors affect the meaning of the presentation, and other times they affect its impact. On 3 occasions on the first page of the text, the transcriptionist decided the speech was "indiscernible," yet I had no trouble understanding what was said in all three instances, while listening on my computer without watching the video and without wearing the hearing aids that correct my mild-to-moderate hearing loss. In Tina's transcript, the transcriptionist could not discern the words "egregious," "I awoke feeling as though" and "bicillin."

Later in the document (p. 3), the phrase, "that bring them close to death's door" became "that bring then close to death store." On yet another page (p. 2), her description of what infectious diseases doctors were saying about long-term treatment was taken out of quotes, making it look as if she herself thinks that long-term treatment is "of no benefit and may be harmful."

My observations are based on just one text. I hate to see what is in the rest. Someone at IDSA should review the transcripts for accuracy. I think we all would expect nothing less of an 8,000-member organization representing the scientific and medical communities. Let me be clear: I am glad for the webcasts, but disappointed in the "official" transcripts.

There is plenty to disagree about when it comes to tick-borne disease, but reasoned discourse is not possible when misrepresentations abound. I truly hope this post becomes obsolete as IDSA notes their error and takes steps to correct it.