After years of living with mysterious symptoms, a young girl from Brooklyn and a Duke University scientist are diagnosed with a disease said to not exist, Chronic Lyme disease. "The Quiet Epidemic" follows their search for answers, which lands them in the middle of a vicious medical debate. What begins as a patient story evolves into an investigation into the history of Lyme disease, dating back to it's discovery in 1975. A paper trail of suppressed scientific research, and buried documents reveals why ticks, and the diseases they carry, have been allowed to quietly spread around the globe.
Unable to walk due to Lyme disease, 12-year-old Julia Bruzzese is blessed by Pope Francis on live television, thrusting both her and Lyme into the public eye. This attracts the attention of public health officials who warn Julia's father, Enrico, against pursuing treatment for Lyme disease. Aware of the Lyme disease controversy, they ignore the warnings and venture into the fringes of medicine. Five years into treatment and still sick, Julia and her family begin advocating for others. Neil Spector, a Duke University cancer researcher, receives a heart transplant due to Lyme. He realizes Lyme testing and treatment has been at a standstill for decades and shifts his focus to tick-borne disease. Neil's lab makes a discovery that may revolutionize the field, and he falls ill with a virus. Due to his weakened immune system, Neil passes away at the age of 63. Julia is not fully cured under Neil Spencer's care, her quality of life significantly improves.
We've come to know Lyme as a deeply complex illness that has yet to be fully understood. According to the CDC, an estimated 500,000 people are infected with Lyme each year, and 10-20% of them remain sick after antibiotic treatment. Even still, Lyme is often dismissed by the medical establishment. We hope our film can be the catalyst needed to awaken the public to this threat and re-engage the medical and scientific communities on finding answers for a disease that is as close as our own backyard. Lyme + Long-COVID, the mystery of Chronic Lyme mirrors the issues we're facing with long-COVID. Many of the same questions exist. Is long COVID due to a lingering virus, or is it an auto-immune issue caused by damage, long after the virus is gone? In the case of COVID, patients with long haul symptoms are being taken seriously, a privilege never granted to those with Lyme.
They insist Lyme is not chronic and downplay the severity of in utero transmission. A growing body of scientific research challenges their claims, and their technologies. The goal is to elevate this evidence and new science. Those at risk deserve to know, Lyme is far more complex than we know. We believe profit-motives have stunted our understanding of chronic illness, making it incredibly difficult for doctors like him to practice medicine with proper support from insurance companies and medical boards.
Written by Gregory Mann.
