Inaccurate Information About Lyme Disease on the Internet

Objective: Patients and families searching the Internet about Lyme disease may find conflicting information. Our purpose was to review the accuracy of information on Lyme disease easily available on the Internet. Methods: We used 15 search engines to find general information about Lyme disease. We found 251 Lyme disease websites, which we reviewed. Of these 251 websites, 19 gave general Lyme disease information and were analyzed. We evaluated the accuracy of information concerning 8 Lyme disease topics. Results: Ten of the 19 websites gave accurate information and 9 of the 19 websites provided inaccurate information. There were 8 websites with the word “Lyme” in the domain name, and 7 of the 8 sites gave inaccurate information. There were 2 “.gov” websites, and both gave accurate information. Conclusions: Patients and families searching the Internet for medical information about Lyme disease may encounter inaccurate information.