Intravenous Antibiotic Therapy and Associated Diagnostic Testing for Lyme Disease
Treatment of Lyme disease consists of oral antibiotics except for neuroborreliosis, Lyme carditis and Lyme arthritis. A 2- to 4-week course of IV antibiotics may be considered medically necessary for neuroborreliosis with objective neurologic complications of documented Lyme disease, and a single 2- to 4-week IV course may be considered for Lyme carditis or for the small subset of well-documented Lyme arthritis that is severe enough to need the rapid response of IV antibiotics. IV antibiotic therapy is considered investigational for conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia without objective evidence of Lyme disease, post-Lyme syndrome, and repeat or prolonged courses longer than 4 weeks.