Thousands of Australians claim to be suffering from tick-borne Lyme disease but a new report insists there is no evidence it exists in Australia.
The researchers say there is no evidence the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease is found in local animals or ticks.
They insist positive test results in people who haven't been overseas are likely to be false positives.
In the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday they've expressed concern about the increasing number of patients asking to be treated with antibiotics for what's now being referred to as "Lyme disease-like illness".
Australian medical authorities have long denied the existence of Lyme in Australia, despite growing numbers of Australians claiming to have contracted it locally.
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ACT Pathology executive director professor Peter Collignon and his co-author Dr Gary Lum, principal medical adviser with the federal health department, said the label of "Lyme disease-like illness" had led patients to believe they could be cured by prolonged antibiotic therapy.
They're warning that could be hazardous to patients and the broader community, with antibiotic resistance from prolonged and unnecessary use a major problem.
"Until there is strong evidence from well performed clinical studies that bacteria present in Australia cause a chronic debilitating illness that responds to extended antibiotic therapy, treating patients with so-called `Lyme disease-like illness' with prolonged intravenous or oral antibiotic therapy is both unjustifiable and unethical.
"(It) is likely to do much more harm than good."
The report says while there's no evidence of Lyme, Australians do acquire unusual novel infections and some commonly recognised infections from ticks.
They acknowledge some may have illnesses caused by tick-borne bacteria that are yet to be identified.
An ongoing Senate inquiry into tick-borne disease in Australia has received more than 1200 submissions, many from people whose lives have been devastated by Lyme-like illness.
Their stories are similar, marked by suicidal thoughts, dismissive doctors and chronic fatigue syndrome.
A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Sydney, with Dr Lum and sufferers of the disease set to give evidence.
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Insight: Tick sick
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