For more than 14 years the Borreliose Centrum Augsburg, most recently the BCA-Clinic, was the contact address for Lyme disease patients looking for diagnosis and therapy worldwide. The founders Dr. Carsten Nicolaus and Dr. Armin Schwarzbach followed the International Guidelines (ILADS) and the recommendations of the German Borreliosis Society (Deutsche Borreliose Gesellschaft), temporarily also in Blankenburg, Saxony-Anhalt. For many patients who had reportedly reached the end of their therapy, the holistic therapy approach as intensive treatment in an ambulant all-day care was the last rescue back into a halfway normal life. From the BCA came the first indications and laboratory evidence of co-infections and diagnostic approaches that are still not covered by routine diagnostics today. Specially developed treatment protocols set new standards, new diagnostics expanded the field of vision of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi with all its facets and combinations. The BCA organised several European Borreliosis Congresses and further education events. Until the Covid-19-Corona virus appeared all over Germany and on all continents.
Carsten Nicolaus, who, out of his own family affliction, devoted himself to Lyme disease patients out of passion and vocation more than 30 years ago, had to give up because some of his patients are still not able to travel to Germany and it was also impossible to book hotel accommodation for an outpatient stay for several months. The clinic was closed on 1 April 2020 and the staff was dismissed. According to his own statements, Nicolaus would like to continue to be active in diagnostics, research and training and further education. So you will still be hearing from him. Two of his colleagues, whom he explicitly mentions in his good-bye note , continue his work: Sigrid Blehle and Dr. Terezia Heim.
Sigrid Blehle, the former Deputy Medical Director of the BCA, has established her own practice in Augsburg under the name Alviasana. She is specialised in tick-borne diseases and chronic infections. Other areas of expertise include the therapy of methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and chronic fatigue syndrome. Blehle will continue the care of all BCA patients, among other things. She is supported by the paediatrician Dr. Terezia Heim and a competent team experienced in the field of Lyme disease. Furthermore, well-founded diagnostics and holistic therapy concepts are offered, both with antibiotics and naturopathic therapies. There is also an intensified therapy concept over three weeks in the practice.