Rhode Island General Laws Title 5. Businesses and Professions § 5-37.5-3. Definitions

(1) “ Board” means the Rhode Island board of medical licensure and discipline.

(2) “ Long-term antibiotic therapy” means administration of oral, intramuscular, or intravenous antibiotics, singly or in combination, for periods of greater than four (4) weeks.

(3) “ Lyme disease” means the clinical diagnosis by a physician of the presence in a patient of signs and symptoms compatible with acute infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, or with late-stage or chronic infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, or with complications related to such an infection. “ Lyme disease” includes infection that meets the surveillance criteria set forth by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but also includes other acute and chronic manifestations of such an infection as determined by the physician.

(4) “ Physician” means persons licensed pursuant to chapter 37 of this title by the board.

(5) “ Therapeutic purpose” means the use of antibiotics to control a patient's symptoms determined by the physician as reasonably related to Lyme disease and its sequelae.