This paper coauthored by Dr. Paul Autwater basically.confirms the existence of persistent (chronic) lyme and acknowledges that current abx protocols are unable to irradicate the various forms of lyme.
It's interesting that they refer to one of the forms of lyme as the coconut form.. Now think of how hard the coconut shell is to break. I don't believe that they just pick the names they give these bacteria randomly. Is it coincidence that they named the form of the bacteria that builds a cyst around it a coconut? I think not