It is still assumed in the medical community that bacterial infections
generally last only a few weeks (aside from STDs).  The thought is
that either the infection gets much worse or goes away.   But that may
not be true if the patient has a weakened immune system, or when the
immmune system has been overwhelmed.

Medical knowledge is constantly expanding, and who would be the best
person to know how long bacterial infections can last, in persona with
fairly functioning immune systems?

It would have to be someone who is not a practicing medical doctor,
nor purely into theory, but who travels in both the medical and
microbiological fields.

I do not want knowledge from  practicing medical doctor, since their
objectivity might be compromised by being so close to the work.

Would prefer some sort of fee-based service, since specialized
knowledge and extra work may be required.

Have already looked through Google Directory, "Ask An Expert", and
yahoo "Ask An Expert"

No.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ni/journal/v3/n11/abs/ni1102-1026_r.html

Thankyou. The website  was somewhat of a help.

Sorry it is so little.

My first thought was "leprosy" - a chronic bacterial infection that is
well recognised.
That led me to a search for "chronic bacterial infection" that yielded:
://www.google.com/search?q=Chronic+bacterial+infection&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

The first hit, a Nature article, really proves that it is not assumed
that bacterial infections either go away or get better in a few weeks.

You might want to peruse the other Google hits.

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