Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 17.11.2006 8:43
Amerikassa on alkanut historiallinen tapahtuma. Connecticutin osavaltion oikeusministeri R. Blumenthal aloittaa tutkimukset IDSA:n hoitosuositusten perusteiden oikeellisuudesta.
IDSA:n hoitosuosituksia laatineet lääkärit kieltävät kroonisen borrelioosin olemassaolon. He laittoivat ei-suositeltavien hoitojen listalle suurimman osan borrelioosin hoidossa käytetyistä lääkkeistä. He puuttuivat jopa sairauden hoidossa käytettyihin ravintolisiin yms.
http://homebusinesswire.com/portal/site ... ewsLang=en
November 16, 2006 08:00 AM Eastern Time
Historic Move by CT Attorney General to Investigate IDSA Guidelines Process
Gives Hope to Thousands of Lyme Disease Patients
Statement from Pat Smith, President, Lyme Disease Association
HARTFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The national non-profit Lyme Disease Association (LDA), representing more Lyme disease patients than any organization in the United States, applauds Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for beginning an investigation into the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Lyme disease guidelines development process. In an unprecedented move, the Attorney General?s office filed a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) to look into possible anti-trust violations by the IDSA in connection with exclusionary conduct and monopolization in the development of the Lyme guidelines.
Although unprecedented, the LDA feels this action is vitally necessary to protect the welfare of chronic Lyme patients nationwide whose treatments have been impacted by the stance taken by the IDSA. Their guidelines deny the existence of chronic infectious Lyme disease and list as ?not recommended? most of the conventional medical treatments prescribed by physicians as well as alternative treatments often chosen by patients for any Lyme manifestation. Even some nutritional supplements should not be an option according to IDSA. Clinical guidelines now drive the standard of care, and these IDSA guidelines have already been published on the CDC website. They are being used to deny treatment reimbursement and will have a continued chilling effect on the small numbers of treating physicians, since clinical discretion is not recommended in the guidelines.
The October 2006 guidelines do not acknowledge that a complex bacterium such as the Lyme disease spirochete could possibly survive in the body and the brain, evading the immune system and short-term courses of antibiotics, nor do they take into consideration any other professional diagnostic or treatment guidelines such as those published by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), which discuss chronic disease diagnostic and treatment modalities. The IDSA also refused to allow patient or chronic disease-treating physician input into the guidelines process through the LDA and ILADS, respectively, although both organizations requested to be a part of the process.
The national LDA and its affiliates Time for Lyme (CT) and the California Lyme Disease Association and ILADS, a professional medical organization, had appealed to the Attorney General on behalf of patients and treating physicians. We are encouraged by the issuance of the CID, and we hope that this will lead to actions that will guarantee patients the right to be treated and support physicians? right to treat using clinical discretion.
Contacts
MS&L
Vicky Jaffe, 617-937-2578
Vicky.jaffe@mslpr.com
OIKEUSMINISTERI TUTKII IDSA:N HOITOSUOSITUKSIA
Valvojat: Jatta1001, Borrelioosiyhdistys, Bb
OIKEUSMINISTERI TUTKII IDSA:N HOITOSUOSITUKSIA
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Ke Helmi 18, 2009 14:16. Yhteensä muokattu 1 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 29.11.2006 10:09
(The News Times) Asianajajat tutkivat nyt onko IDSA:n ryhmä monopoliasemassa oleva organisaatio, joka yrittää ohjata punkkien välittämien tautien hoitoa sallimatta muiden hoitovaihtoehtojen toteuttamista. Asianajaja Blumenthalin mukaan kyseessä on sekä lääketieteellinen että potilaita koskeva asia. IDSA:n ohjeet rajoittavat vakavasti sairastuneiden diagnosointia ja hoitoa.
Osa borrelioosia sairastavia hoitavista lääkäreistä ihmettelee miksi suurin osa borrelioosia käsittelevistä tutkimuksista jäi IDSA:n artikkelissa huomiotta - miksi hoitosuosituksia laadittaessa keskityttiin vain IDSA:n kantaa tukeviin tutkimuksiin. Borrelioosia käsitteleviä tutkimuksia on 18 000. IDSA tutki niistä 400.
Borrelioosiin sairastuneet protestoivat asian tiimoilta viime torstaina New York Medical Collegen ulkopuolella. IDSA ryhmän pääkirjoittaja (GaryWormser), työskentelee kyseisessä oppilaitoksessa.
Lyme disease activists to protest
By Robert Miller
THE NEWS-TIMES
Area Lyme disease activists, dismayed by recently released treatment guidelines for the illness, will go public with their protest Thursday, rallying at Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., where the lead author of the guidelines works.
"They're highly restrictive,'' said Dr. Steven Phillips, a Ridgefield physician who is the former president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. "I just cannot understand why they've chosen to ignore all the data on this.''
"They were worse than we expected,'' said Maggie Shaw of the Newtown Lyme Disease Task Force.
"In a word, I think they're a disgrace,'' said Dr. Raphael Stricker of San Francisco, who is the current president of ILADS. "They're not relying on best science. They're relying on their opinion.''
The guidelines are so controversial that Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has intervened. His office is now investigating whether the group that wrote the guidelines, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, is a monopolistic organization trying to shape treatment of the tick-borne disease without allowing other treatment options to emerge.
"It's a medical issue but also a patient issue,'' Blumenthal said. "Their guidelines limit very severely the types of diagnosis and treatment available to patients. In a way, that's anti-competitive.''
The national guidelines issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America recommend that doctors give patients with Lyme disease 10 to 28 days of oral antibiotics to treat the disease, with another month allowed for persistent symptoms.
But the guidelines -- now posted on the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- deny the existence of chronic Lyme disease, saying there's no medical evidence that the bacteria that causes Lyme survives antibiotic treatment.
It also emphasizes using either the characteristic bull's-eye rash or blood tests to help correctly diagnose the disease -- two methods Lyme activists say can lead to Lyme cases being missed.
Diana Olson, spokeswoman for the infectious diseases society, said the 14 doctors who worked on the guidelines -- led by Dr. Gary Wormser, an infectious disease specialist at Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College -- studied more than 400 published medical reports on Lyme disease before coming to their conclusions.
"This is the best science has to offer,'' she said.
Olson said the society could not take into account things like patients' anecdotal accounts of their Lyme disease treatment in writing the guidelines. Nor, she said, did it concern itself with whether insurance companies would pay for treatment outside those guidelines.
She also said that guidelines are just that, and that patients and doctors are free to find different treatments that work best for them.
She also said the society is cooperating fully with Blumenthal's office.
"In our experience, we've never heard of this kind of investigation,'' she said. "But we stand behind our methods and our recommendations.''
But Lyme activists and doctors who support a more liberal approach to treating the disease said the new guidelines are highly restrictive, not allowing doctors any latitude in treatment.
Perhaps the most contentious point is whether chronic Lyme disease even exists.
Many Lyme patients and their doctors contend the standard treatment for Lyme disease sometimes fails, or never gets administered to begin with.
When that happens, they say, the bacterial spirochete that causes the disease can re-emerge in the body, causing a bewildering array of symptoms -- including arthritis, chronic fatigue, heart problems, memory loss, depression, and neurological disorders including loss of sight and hearing.
To treat these symptoms -- and those of several other tick-borne illnesses, which can overlap -- these doctors recommend several months or even years of antibiotics, often using a mix of drugs.
The infectious disease society, however, said that these symptoms are "nonspecific'' and associated with many other illnesses, not Lyme infection. They also caution that there are medical problems -- including the development of drug resistance -- that should lead patients to avoid long-term antibiotic care whenever possible.
But Phillips of Ridgefield and Stricker of San Francisco said this approach ignores the hundreds of studies that now show the Lyme bacteria can bury itself in muscle tissue, lie dormant, then re-emerge.
"There (have) been 18,000 papers published on Lyme disease,'' Stricker said. "So saying you're looking at 400 means you've only looked at 5 percent of the research."
"The evidence just continues to grow and grow on this,'' Phillips said. "To ignore a whole section of this research, as if it doesn't exist, raises questions for me.''
Because of the prestige the infectious disease society carries, Lyme activists say insurance companies will now be even more adamant about refusing coverage beyond 28 days of antibiotics -- something, they say, that has already begun.
They also say the new guidelines will stifle new treatments, because doctors will fear they'll be disciplined if they step beyond the guidelines.
"This isn't theoretical,'' Blumenthal said. "It will come down to a matter of dollars and cents.''
# Contact Robert Miller
at bmillernewstimes.com
or (203) 731-3345.
(The News Times) Asianajajat tutkivat nyt onko IDSA:n ryhmä monopoliasemassa oleva organisaatio, joka yrittää ohjata punkkien välittämien tautien hoitoa sallimatta muiden hoitovaihtoehtojen toteuttamista. Asianajaja Blumenthalin mukaan kyseessä on sekä lääketieteellinen että potilaita koskeva asia. IDSA:n ohjeet rajoittavat vakavasti sairastuneiden diagnosointia ja hoitoa.
Osa borrelioosia sairastavia hoitavista lääkäreistä ihmettelee miksi suurin osa borrelioosia käsittelevistä tutkimuksista jäi IDSA:n artikkelissa huomiotta - miksi hoitosuosituksia laadittaessa keskityttiin vain IDSA:n kantaa tukeviin tutkimuksiin. Borrelioosia käsitteleviä tutkimuksia on 18 000. IDSA tutki niistä 400.
Borrelioosiin sairastuneet protestoivat asian tiimoilta viime torstaina New York Medical Collegen ulkopuolella. IDSA ryhmän pääkirjoittaja (GaryWormser), työskentelee kyseisessä oppilaitoksessa.
Lyme disease activists to protest
By Robert Miller
THE NEWS-TIMES
Area Lyme disease activists, dismayed by recently released treatment guidelines for the illness, will go public with their protest Thursday, rallying at Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., where the lead author of the guidelines works.
"They're highly restrictive,'' said Dr. Steven Phillips, a Ridgefield physician who is the former president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. "I just cannot understand why they've chosen to ignore all the data on this.''
"They were worse than we expected,'' said Maggie Shaw of the Newtown Lyme Disease Task Force.
"In a word, I think they're a disgrace,'' said Dr. Raphael Stricker of San Francisco, who is the current president of ILADS. "They're not relying on best science. They're relying on their opinion.''
The guidelines are so controversial that Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has intervened. His office is now investigating whether the group that wrote the guidelines, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, is a monopolistic organization trying to shape treatment of the tick-borne disease without allowing other treatment options to emerge.
"It's a medical issue but also a patient issue,'' Blumenthal said. "Their guidelines limit very severely the types of diagnosis and treatment available to patients. In a way, that's anti-competitive.''
The national guidelines issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America recommend that doctors give patients with Lyme disease 10 to 28 days of oral antibiotics to treat the disease, with another month allowed for persistent symptoms.
But the guidelines -- now posted on the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- deny the existence of chronic Lyme disease, saying there's no medical evidence that the bacteria that causes Lyme survives antibiotic treatment.
It also emphasizes using either the characteristic bull's-eye rash or blood tests to help correctly diagnose the disease -- two methods Lyme activists say can lead to Lyme cases being missed.
Diana Olson, spokeswoman for the infectious diseases society, said the 14 doctors who worked on the guidelines -- led by Dr. Gary Wormser, an infectious disease specialist at Westchester Medical Center/New York Medical College -- studied more than 400 published medical reports on Lyme disease before coming to their conclusions.
"This is the best science has to offer,'' she said.
Olson said the society could not take into account things like patients' anecdotal accounts of their Lyme disease treatment in writing the guidelines. Nor, she said, did it concern itself with whether insurance companies would pay for treatment outside those guidelines.
She also said that guidelines are just that, and that patients and doctors are free to find different treatments that work best for them.
She also said the society is cooperating fully with Blumenthal's office.
"In our experience, we've never heard of this kind of investigation,'' she said. "But we stand behind our methods and our recommendations.''
But Lyme activists and doctors who support a more liberal approach to treating the disease said the new guidelines are highly restrictive, not allowing doctors any latitude in treatment.
Perhaps the most contentious point is whether chronic Lyme disease even exists.
Many Lyme patients and their doctors contend the standard treatment for Lyme disease sometimes fails, or never gets administered to begin with.
When that happens, they say, the bacterial spirochete that causes the disease can re-emerge in the body, causing a bewildering array of symptoms -- including arthritis, chronic fatigue, heart problems, memory loss, depression, and neurological disorders including loss of sight and hearing.
To treat these symptoms -- and those of several other tick-borne illnesses, which can overlap -- these doctors recommend several months or even years of antibiotics, often using a mix of drugs.
The infectious disease society, however, said that these symptoms are "nonspecific'' and associated with many other illnesses, not Lyme infection. They also caution that there are medical problems -- including the development of drug resistance -- that should lead patients to avoid long-term antibiotic care whenever possible.
But Phillips of Ridgefield and Stricker of San Francisco said this approach ignores the hundreds of studies that now show the Lyme bacteria can bury itself in muscle tissue, lie dormant, then re-emerge.
"There (have) been 18,000 papers published on Lyme disease,'' Stricker said. "So saying you're looking at 400 means you've only looked at 5 percent of the research."
"The evidence just continues to grow and grow on this,'' Phillips said. "To ignore a whole section of this research, as if it doesn't exist, raises questions for me.''
Because of the prestige the infectious disease society carries, Lyme activists say insurance companies will now be even more adamant about refusing coverage beyond 28 days of antibiotics -- something, they say, that has already begun.
They also say the new guidelines will stifle new treatments, because doctors will fear they'll be disciplined if they step beyond the guidelines.
"This isn't theoretical,'' Blumenthal said. "It will come down to a matter of dollars and cents.''
# Contact Robert Miller
at bmillernewstimes.com
or (203) 731-3345.
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Pe Huhti 16, 2010 22:37. Yhteensä muokattu 3 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 1.12.2006 11:51
Baltimore Sun -lehti: Eri puolilta USA:ta borrelioosiin sairastuneet ovat matkustaneet New Yorkiin, Valhallan lääketieteelliseen tiedekuntaan, esittämään vastalauseensa IDSA:n hoitosuosituksia vastaan ja vaatimaan viime kuussa julkaistujen suositusten poisvetämistä. Borrelioosi diagnosoidaan usein virheellisesti ja hoidetaan tehottomasti. Borrelioosiin sairastuneiden ei ole vaikea löytää lukuisia kauhutarinoita siitä miten sairaus on diagnosoitu niveltulehdukseksi, unen puutteeksi, virheellisestä ravinnosta johtuvaksi tai mikä pahempaa psyykkisistä tekijöistä johtuvaksi. Liian monissa tapauksissa diagnoosiin on päädytty liian myöhään.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinio ... -headlines
From the Baltimore Sun
Missing the mark
November 30, 2006
Lyme patients - many of them afflicted with debilitating ailments that began with the bite of a tiny tick - have traveled from Maryland and a dozen other states to a medical center in Valhalla, N.Y., where today they will demand that the Infectious Diseases Society of America retract medical treatment guidelines it released last month. Lyme disease sufferers experience headaches, fatigue, chills, fever and, in advanced cases, heart and nervous system problems. The last thing they needed was to have their pains burdened additionally by a segment of the medical community that by recommending against long-term antibiotic use essentially threatens to reduce the quality of care they receive.
Maryland averages about 17 reported cases of Lyme disease per 1,000 residents, ranking it seventh in the country. Most of the cases can be found on the Eastern Shore, where not only are infected ticks plentiful, but Lyme disease education is promoted aggressively by volunteer health-service activists who also happen to be Lyme patients.
The illness is easily misdiagnosed and frequently undertreated. Lyme patients have no shortage of horror stories about how their early symptoms were casually dismissed as arthritis, a lack of sleep and proper diet or, even worse, an emotional disorder, before they found a sympathetic physician who finally pinpointed the problem and prescribed antibiotics. In too many cases, the prognosis came late and the patient had to accept living with the disease.
The most contentious piece of the new IDSA guidelines is a claim that long-term use of antibiotics is not a remedy and that they should not be prescribed beyond initial preventive doses. Lyme patients and their doctors are understandably shocked by this assertion. Their own experiences tell them differently. And though adherence to the guidelines is voluntary, the implications are that insurance companies and HMOs will refuse to pay for further antibiotic treatment and that doctors, even against their better judgment, will stop prescribing for fear of being brought up before medical boards.
Maryland's Lyme-literate physicians and their patients would have had some protection against the IDSA guidelines had a prescient bill addressing this issue made it through the state legislature in 2005. By the time the bill came up for a final vote, it was so watered down in favor of the insurance industry that even its original backers sanctioned its demise.
On the matter of helping Lyme patients cope with the disease, the IDSA - like the 2005 legislature - missed the mark by a mile.
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Sun -lehti: Eri puolilta USA:ta borrelioosiin sairastuneet ovat matkustaneet New Yorkiin, Valhallan lääketieteelliseen tiedekuntaan, esittämään vastalauseensa IDSA:n hoitosuosituksia vastaan ja vaatimaan viime kuussa julkaistujen suositusten poisvetämistä. Borrelioosi diagnosoidaan usein virheellisesti ja hoidetaan tehottomasti. Borrelioosiin sairastuneiden ei ole vaikea löytää lukuisia kauhutarinoita siitä miten sairaus on diagnosoitu niveltulehdukseksi, unen puutteeksi, virheellisestä ravinnosta johtuvaksi tai mikä pahempaa psyykkisistä tekijöistä johtuvaksi. Liian monissa tapauksissa diagnoosiin on päädytty liian myöhään.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinio ... -headlines
From the Baltimore Sun
Missing the mark
November 30, 2006
Lyme patients - many of them afflicted with debilitating ailments that began with the bite of a tiny tick - have traveled from Maryland and a dozen other states to a medical center in Valhalla, N.Y., where today they will demand that the Infectious Diseases Society of America retract medical treatment guidelines it released last month. Lyme disease sufferers experience headaches, fatigue, chills, fever and, in advanced cases, heart and nervous system problems. The last thing they needed was to have their pains burdened additionally by a segment of the medical community that by recommending against long-term antibiotic use essentially threatens to reduce the quality of care they receive.
Maryland averages about 17 reported cases of Lyme disease per 1,000 residents, ranking it seventh in the country. Most of the cases can be found on the Eastern Shore, where not only are infected ticks plentiful, but Lyme disease education is promoted aggressively by volunteer health-service activists who also happen to be Lyme patients.
The illness is easily misdiagnosed and frequently undertreated. Lyme patients have no shortage of horror stories about how their early symptoms were casually dismissed as arthritis, a lack of sleep and proper diet or, even worse, an emotional disorder, before they found a sympathetic physician who finally pinpointed the problem and prescribed antibiotics. In too many cases, the prognosis came late and the patient had to accept living with the disease.
The most contentious piece of the new IDSA guidelines is a claim that long-term use of antibiotics is not a remedy and that they should not be prescribed beyond initial preventive doses. Lyme patients and their doctors are understandably shocked by this assertion. Their own experiences tell them differently. And though adherence to the guidelines is voluntary, the implications are that insurance companies and HMOs will refuse to pay for further antibiotic treatment and that doctors, even against their better judgment, will stop prescribing for fear of being brought up before medical boards.
Maryland's Lyme-literate physicians and their patients would have had some protection against the IDSA guidelines had a prescient bill addressing this issue made it through the state legislature in 2005. By the time the bill came up for a final vote, it was so watered down in favor of the insurance industry that even its original backers sanctioned its demise.
On the matter of helping Lyme patients cope with the disease, the IDSA - like the 2005 legislature - missed the mark by a mile.
Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Ke Helmi 18, 2009 14:18. Yhteensä muokattu 1 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 13.12.2006 13:43
Haluan kiittää oikeusministeri R. Blumenthalia IDSA:n borrelioosin hoitosuosituksia koskevien suositusten selvittämisen aloittamisesta. Selvitys auttaa sekä infektiosairauksia hoitavia lääkäreitä, että sairastuneita. Kiitos, että otatte vakavissanne tämän erittäin vakavan terveysuhan ja teette kaiken mahdollisen auttaaksenne tuhansia erittäin sairaita ihmisiä jott ahe voisvat saada parhaan mahdollisen borrelioosihoidon.
En kiitä Amerikan Infektiosairauksien järjestöä (IDSA), joka jätti suosituksia laatiessaan kokonaan huomioimatta suurimman osan tutkimuksista sekä erittäin kokeneiden lääkäreiden käytännön hoitokokemukset.
En myöskään kiitä heitä heidän laatimistaan hoitosuosituksista, jotka ovat epärealistiset. Punkkien levittämät sairaudet ovat edelleen mysteeri, joka odottaa ratkaisuaan. Jos estämme lääkäreitä hoitamasta ja sairastuneita tulemasta parempaan kuntoon, on siitä seurauksena:
1) kyseisten sairauksien jääminen edelleen mysteereiksi, sairauden hoitoja koskevat tutkimukset vähenevät, koska kyseisten lääkäreiden omat hoidolliset menestystarinat ovat etualalla. Kukaan ei uskalla tehdä suositusten vuoksi mitään. Sen seurauksena tutkimuksia tehdään vähemmän ja vakavasti sairaiden ihmisten määrä lisääntyy.
2) parantuneiden tai remissiossa olevien potilaiden määrä vähenee ja sen seurauksena sairaanhoitomenot nousevat. Mikäli sairastuneet olisi heti alussa hoidettu riittävän tehokkaasti, kroonisten tapausten määrä olisi vähäisempi ja sairastuneilla olisi vähemmän erilaisia sairauden etenemisestä johtuvia vakavia lisäongelmia.
Borrelioostapausten määrä on ollut jatkuvassa nousussa. Voimme olla välittämättä asiasta tai voimme kohdata tosiasiat ja alkaa tutkia vakavissaan miten sairauden diagnostiikkaa ja hoitoa voitaisiin parantaa.
Omalla kohdallani IDSA:n hoitosuositukset eivät olisi toimineet. En olisi enää elossa enkä missään tapauksessa kykenisi kirjoittamaan tätä kirjettä mikäli lääkärini olisi noudattanut kyseisiä suosituksia. Seitsemän vuotta sitten olin 21-vuotias, en kyennyt kävelemään enkä puhumaan kunnolla. Kiitos lääkärini ja pitkäaikaisen antibioottihoidon, kykenen tänään tekemään edellämainittuja asioita.
Letter: Uptick in AG's Popularity
Business New Haven
12/11/2006
I want to congratulate [state Attorney General] Richard Blumenthal for sticking up for the infectious-disease doctors who do everything in their power to help the sometimes extremely sick Lyme and other tick-borne disease patients (BNH, November 27). I congratulate him for taking seriously a very serious health issue and for doing everything in his power to help the thousands of very ill people around the country to get the best and most comprehensive care that they need.
I do not congratulate the Infectious Disease Society of America for ignoring clinical research and treatment success stories from these experienced and highly esteemed doctors from all over the country and the world. I do not congratulate them for writing guidelines that are unrealistic because they do not follow the unfortunate reality of these illnesses. [Blumenthal last month issued a subpoena to the IDSA over guidelines that discourage long-term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease.]
The story of these tick-borne diseases is still a mystery that needs to be unraveled. If we obstruct doctors from treating and patients from getting better, a couple of things may happen:
1) These tick-borne diseases will continue to be a mystery. The research into treatments and cures will slow because the research seem to be fueled by infectious-disease doctors' own success stories. But because of these new guidelines, everyone will be too afraid to do anything, which results in less research and more seriously ill people.
2) The incidence of curing or of getting the disease into remission will naturally fall, possibly causing millions of dollars being wasted in hospital bills because if the patient was allowed to be treated the right way at the beginning, there would be much less late-stage illness and fewer serious complications.
The incidence of these diseases will continue to rise because of the warm falls and winters and the rising number of deer and rodents. We could either ignore this health issue even though the incidence of these illnesses rises every year, or we could actually face it head on and figure out how to better diagnose it and how to better cure it.
For me, these new guidelines would not have worked. I would not be here today and would certainly not be able to write this if my doctor had followed these guidelines. Seven years ago I was 21 and could not walk, hold a conversation and could barely even form a cohesive sentence. Thanks to my doctor and to long-term antibiotics, today I can.
- Monica Frate
Darien
Haluan kiittää oikeusministeri R. Blumenthalia IDSA:n borrelioosin hoitosuosituksia koskevien suositusten selvittämisen aloittamisesta. Selvitys auttaa sekä infektiosairauksia hoitavia lääkäreitä, että sairastuneita. Kiitos, että otatte vakavissanne tämän erittäin vakavan terveysuhan ja teette kaiken mahdollisen auttaaksenne tuhansia erittäin sairaita ihmisiä jott ahe voisvat saada parhaan mahdollisen borrelioosihoidon.
En kiitä Amerikan Infektiosairauksien järjestöä (IDSA), joka jätti suosituksia laatiessaan kokonaan huomioimatta suurimman osan tutkimuksista sekä erittäin kokeneiden lääkäreiden käytännön hoitokokemukset.
En myöskään kiitä heitä heidän laatimistaan hoitosuosituksista, jotka ovat epärealistiset. Punkkien levittämät sairaudet ovat edelleen mysteeri, joka odottaa ratkaisuaan. Jos estämme lääkäreitä hoitamasta ja sairastuneita tulemasta parempaan kuntoon, on siitä seurauksena:
1) kyseisten sairauksien jääminen edelleen mysteereiksi, sairauden hoitoja koskevat tutkimukset vähenevät, koska kyseisten lääkäreiden omat hoidolliset menestystarinat ovat etualalla. Kukaan ei uskalla tehdä suositusten vuoksi mitään. Sen seurauksena tutkimuksia tehdään vähemmän ja vakavasti sairaiden ihmisten määrä lisääntyy.
2) parantuneiden tai remissiossa olevien potilaiden määrä vähenee ja sen seurauksena sairaanhoitomenot nousevat. Mikäli sairastuneet olisi heti alussa hoidettu riittävän tehokkaasti, kroonisten tapausten määrä olisi vähäisempi ja sairastuneilla olisi vähemmän erilaisia sairauden etenemisestä johtuvia vakavia lisäongelmia.
Borrelioostapausten määrä on ollut jatkuvassa nousussa. Voimme olla välittämättä asiasta tai voimme kohdata tosiasiat ja alkaa tutkia vakavissaan miten sairauden diagnostiikkaa ja hoitoa voitaisiin parantaa.
Omalla kohdallani IDSA:n hoitosuositukset eivät olisi toimineet. En olisi enää elossa enkä missään tapauksessa kykenisi kirjoittamaan tätä kirjettä mikäli lääkärini olisi noudattanut kyseisiä suosituksia. Seitsemän vuotta sitten olin 21-vuotias, en kyennyt kävelemään enkä puhumaan kunnolla. Kiitos lääkärini ja pitkäaikaisen antibioottihoidon, kykenen tänään tekemään edellämainittuja asioita.
Letter: Uptick in AG's Popularity
Business New Haven
12/11/2006
I want to congratulate [state Attorney General] Richard Blumenthal for sticking up for the infectious-disease doctors who do everything in their power to help the sometimes extremely sick Lyme and other tick-borne disease patients (BNH, November 27). I congratulate him for taking seriously a very serious health issue and for doing everything in his power to help the thousands of very ill people around the country to get the best and most comprehensive care that they need.
I do not congratulate the Infectious Disease Society of America for ignoring clinical research and treatment success stories from these experienced and highly esteemed doctors from all over the country and the world. I do not congratulate them for writing guidelines that are unrealistic because they do not follow the unfortunate reality of these illnesses. [Blumenthal last month issued a subpoena to the IDSA over guidelines that discourage long-term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease.]
The story of these tick-borne diseases is still a mystery that needs to be unraveled. If we obstruct doctors from treating and patients from getting better, a couple of things may happen:
1) These tick-borne diseases will continue to be a mystery. The research into treatments and cures will slow because the research seem to be fueled by infectious-disease doctors' own success stories. But because of these new guidelines, everyone will be too afraid to do anything, which results in less research and more seriously ill people.
2) The incidence of curing or of getting the disease into remission will naturally fall, possibly causing millions of dollars being wasted in hospital bills because if the patient was allowed to be treated the right way at the beginning, there would be much less late-stage illness and fewer serious complications.
The incidence of these diseases will continue to rise because of the warm falls and winters and the rising number of deer and rodents. We could either ignore this health issue even though the incidence of these illnesses rises every year, or we could actually face it head on and figure out how to better diagnose it and how to better cure it.
For me, these new guidelines would not have worked. I would not be here today and would certainly not be able to write this if my doctor had followed these guidelines. Seven years ago I was 21 and could not walk, hold a conversation and could barely even form a cohesive sentence. Thanks to my doctor and to long-term antibiotics, today I can.
- Monica Frate
Darien
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Pe Maalis 06, 2009 16:33. Yhteensä muokattu 2 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 14.12.2006 13:40
Wormser ja hänen ryhmänsä (esim. Steere, Dattwyler, Nadelman) kertoi juuri yhdessä kannanotossaan mm. että heidän järjestöönsä kuuluu 8000 jäsentä eri puolilta Amerikkaa. He antoivat ymmärtää edustavansa merkittävää osaa Amerikan lääkäreistä.
Muutamat lääkärit tekivät laskelmia siitä kuinka merkittävää osaa Amerikan lääkäreistä he todellisuudessa edustavat (vuoden 1996 tilastojen mukaan). Loppusummaksi he saivat noin prosentin - yksi kymmenestätuhannesta lääkäristä.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THERE WERE 738,000 PHYSICIANS IN 1996, AND IF THERE WERE 8000 MEMBERS IN THE IDSA IN 1996,
THEN IN 1996,
THE IDSA REPRESENTED 1%, ONE PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PHYSICIANS IN THE USA.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, I did the math and it is
0.00001 percent - or one ten thousandth of a percent.
The IDSA guidelines were written by a group representing one ten thousandth of the physicians in the US.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wormserin ym. kannanotto:
Guidelines present a rational approach to Lyme disease
By GARY P. WORMSER, M.D.
(Original publication: December 9, 2006)
Editor: This reply is also signed by Drs. Robert Nadelman and Raymond
Dattwyler, both of Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical Center.
While we respect the right of individuals to express their feelings
regarding the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Lyme disease
guidelines that were published Nov. 1, we are concerned about personal
attacks and misrepresentations (Dec. 1 news article about protest
outside Westchester Medical Center). The Infectious Diseases Society
of America has more than 8,000 members and is the largest professional
society of its kind in the United States. It issues guidelines that
are intended to improve the care of patients. Its guidelines are
voluntary. They are not intended to replace a physician's judgment,
but they are intended to help doctors and patients make good decisions
based on the best available science.................
Wormser ja hänen ryhmänsä (esim. Steere, Dattwyler, Nadelman) kertoi juuri yhdessä kannanotossaan mm. että heidän järjestöönsä kuuluu 8000 jäsentä eri puolilta Amerikkaa. He antoivat ymmärtää edustavansa merkittävää osaa Amerikan lääkäreistä.
Muutamat lääkärit tekivät laskelmia siitä kuinka merkittävää osaa Amerikan lääkäreistä he todellisuudessa edustavat (vuoden 1996 tilastojen mukaan). Loppusummaksi he saivat noin prosentin - yksi kymmenestätuhannesta lääkäristä.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THERE WERE 738,000 PHYSICIANS IN 1996, AND IF THERE WERE 8000 MEMBERS IN THE IDSA IN 1996,
THEN IN 1996,
THE IDSA REPRESENTED 1%, ONE PERCENT OF THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PHYSICIANS IN THE USA.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, I did the math and it is
0.00001 percent - or one ten thousandth of a percent.
The IDSA guidelines were written by a group representing one ten thousandth of the physicians in the US.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wormserin ym. kannanotto:
Guidelines present a rational approach to Lyme disease
By GARY P. WORMSER, M.D.
(Original publication: December 9, 2006)
Editor: This reply is also signed by Drs. Robert Nadelman and Raymond
Dattwyler, both of Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical Center.
While we respect the right of individuals to express their feelings
regarding the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Lyme disease
guidelines that were published Nov. 1, we are concerned about personal
attacks and misrepresentations (Dec. 1 news article about protest
outside Westchester Medical Center). The Infectious Diseases Society
of America has more than 8,000 members and is the largest professional
society of its kind in the United States. It issues guidelines that
are intended to improve the care of patients. Its guidelines are
voluntary. They are not intended to replace a physician's judgment,
but they are intended to help doctors and patients make good decisions
based on the best available science.................
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Ke Helmi 18, 2009 14:20. Yhteensä muokattu 1 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 15.12.2006 14:24
Westchester Journal News julkaisi lääkäri D. Cameronin ja kahden borrelioosiin sairastuneen vastineet Wormserin ym. kirjoitukselle.
Cameronin mukaan ei ollut ihme, että hoitosuosituksia vastaan on alettu protestoida. Se on mielestäni normaali reaktio, sillä kyseisten suositusten mukaan kroonisen borrelioosin oireet ovat vain "pieniä päivittäiseen elämään kuuluvia pikku kipuja ja vaivoja" eikä kroonista borrelioosia liioin ole olemassa.
Borrelioosin kroonistumisesta ja vakavuudesta on esitetty lukuisia todisteita mm. ILADS:n taholta sekä hallituksen julkaisemissa ohjeissa (guideline.gov). Olen nähnyt 20 vuoden kliinisen työni aikana yhä lisääntyvän määrän borrelioosia sairastavia. Kroonisen borrelioosin ratkaisu ei ole sen kieltämisessä. Sairauden hoidossa on katsottava useita eri hoitovaihtoehtoja jotta tieto tästä monimuotoisesta sairaudesta lisääntyisi. ILADS:n hoitosusoitukset löytää sivulta ILADS.org.
Westchester Journal News publishes letters to editor from 2 patients and Dr. Cameron in response to the Westchester Lyme disease rally and letters by Drs. Gary Wormser, Robert Nadelman and Raymond Dattwyler and Professor Ira Schwartz of the New York Medical College.
See link http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 6612140335
Documented evidence of chronic Lyme
Drs. Gary Wormser, Robert Nadelman and Raymond Dattwyler and Professor Ira Schwartz of the New York Medical College were dismayed by the Nov. 30 Lyme disease protest outside Westchester Medical Center in response to the new Lyme disease treatment guidelines from the Infectious Disease Society of America. Patients were protesting on the basis that the guidelines would further restrict their access to care and create a new generation of people with chronic Lyme.
I was not surprised by the protest. I see it as a natural response to the new guidelines' views that the symptoms of chronic Lyme disease are merely the "aches and pains of daily living," and that chronic Lyme disease may not even exist. Key evidence that chronic Lyme disease remains a serious problem has already been published in the evidence-based guidelines by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society and listed at the U.S. government's National Guideline Clearinghouse (guideline.gov).
In close to 20 years of clinical practice, seeing the growth in the number of patients with Lyme disease, I feel the solution to chronic Lyme disease in my practice is to look for appropriate ways to care for my patients and add to the body of knowledge about this complex disease, rather than to deny its existence. You can obtain a copy of the ILADS guidelines at ILADS.org.
Daniel Cameron, M.D.,MPH
Mount Kisco
The writer is the chief author of "Evidence-based guidelines for the management of Lyme disease," published by ILADS.
Westchester Journal News julkaisi lääkäri D. Cameronin ja kahden borrelioosiin sairastuneen vastineet Wormserin ym. kirjoitukselle.
Cameronin mukaan ei ollut ihme, että hoitosuosituksia vastaan on alettu protestoida. Se on mielestäni normaali reaktio, sillä kyseisten suositusten mukaan kroonisen borrelioosin oireet ovat vain "pieniä päivittäiseen elämään kuuluvia pikku kipuja ja vaivoja" eikä kroonista borrelioosia liioin ole olemassa.
Borrelioosin kroonistumisesta ja vakavuudesta on esitetty lukuisia todisteita mm. ILADS:n taholta sekä hallituksen julkaisemissa ohjeissa (guideline.gov). Olen nähnyt 20 vuoden kliinisen työni aikana yhä lisääntyvän määrän borrelioosia sairastavia. Kroonisen borrelioosin ratkaisu ei ole sen kieltämisessä. Sairauden hoidossa on katsottava useita eri hoitovaihtoehtoja jotta tieto tästä monimuotoisesta sairaudesta lisääntyisi. ILADS:n hoitosusoitukset löytää sivulta ILADS.org.
Westchester Journal News publishes letters to editor from 2 patients and Dr. Cameron in response to the Westchester Lyme disease rally and letters by Drs. Gary Wormser, Robert Nadelman and Raymond Dattwyler and Professor Ira Schwartz of the New York Medical College.
See link http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 6612140335
Documented evidence of chronic Lyme
Drs. Gary Wormser, Robert Nadelman and Raymond Dattwyler and Professor Ira Schwartz of the New York Medical College were dismayed by the Nov. 30 Lyme disease protest outside Westchester Medical Center in response to the new Lyme disease treatment guidelines from the Infectious Disease Society of America. Patients were protesting on the basis that the guidelines would further restrict their access to care and create a new generation of people with chronic Lyme.
I was not surprised by the protest. I see it as a natural response to the new guidelines' views that the symptoms of chronic Lyme disease are merely the "aches and pains of daily living," and that chronic Lyme disease may not even exist. Key evidence that chronic Lyme disease remains a serious problem has already been published in the evidence-based guidelines by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society and listed at the U.S. government's National Guideline Clearinghouse (guideline.gov).
In close to 20 years of clinical practice, seeing the growth in the number of patients with Lyme disease, I feel the solution to chronic Lyme disease in my practice is to look for appropriate ways to care for my patients and add to the body of knowledge about this complex disease, rather than to deny its existence. You can obtain a copy of the ILADS guidelines at ILADS.org.
Daniel Cameron, M.D.,MPH
Mount Kisco
The writer is the chief author of "Evidence-based guidelines for the management of Lyme disease," published by ILADS.
Viimeksi muokannut Bb, Ke Helmi 18, 2009 14:21. Yhteensä muokattu 1 kertaa.
Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 7.2.2007 9:54
"Borrelioositapausten aliraportointi vaikuttaa vakavasti ihmisten terveyteen ja tuudittaa heidät väärään turvallisuudentunteeseen.
Connecticutin osavaltion terveysasioista vastaava edustaja Jason Bartlett on aloittanut yhdessä Blumenthalin kanssa taistelun borrelioosia sairastavien asian edistämiseksi. Bartlett sanoo välinpitämättömyyden ja kieltämisen olevan voimakasta. Hän ihmettelee esim. sitä miksi osavaltiossa tehtiin päätös lopettaa borrelioositapausten systemaattinen seuranta? Bartlett tuntee borrelioosin omakohtaisestikin sillä hänen äitinsä on sairastanut borrelioosia 10 vuoden ajan. Hän tietää lääkäreiden kahtiajakoisen suhtautumisen asiaan ja ihmisten vähäisen borrelioosituntemuksen."
Ready For Lyme Time
by Jason Bartlett | February 6, 2007
People are ticked off about Lyme Disease. And the state is doing nothing about it ? it´s even making it harder to do something about it.
So Jason Bartlett learned when he ran for state representative on a health care platform. He got elected and, in his first few weeks in office, introduced a bill pushing for action on Lyme. The attorney general joined him. But Bartlett faces an uphill fight. He writes about that in the latest installment of his freshman legislators Independent diary.´
* * * *
My mother has been suffering from Lyme disease for the last ten years. I have had to endure (lovingly) many conversations on the topic. I have known that the medical practices to treat Lyme disease have been controversial and the publics awareness of the disease is far too low. On the campaign trail, I was surprised that the issue of Lyme disease was brought to my attention. One of my constituents approached me and wanted me to give attention to it if I was elected.
This constituent was one of the first to call after my election to the State House. She invited me to attend a Fairfield County Deer Management meeting in Wilton. These folks believe that if we reduce the number of deer in Connecticut we will reduce the number of the ticks that carry the disease.
At this meeting there was also other Fairfield County Lyme disease activists present who had other legislative issues. Each group seemed eager for information as to how you get legislation on these important issues. During the discussion I was intrigued by one problem they had brought up. The question: Why did the State of Connecticut stop effectively monitoring positive Lyme disease cases in January of 2003?
I invited everyone to meet with me in my business office in Bethel. During our meeting I agreed to introduce legislation mandating that the State of Connecticut return to procedures set out by the federal governmentâ??s Center for Disease Control and effectively force blood laboratories to report positive Lyme disease tests to the Department of Public Health. The DPH and the labs would also have to cross check with physicians to insure that these were first time results reported.
These were the same procedures the Department of Health followed between 1998 and 2002. Unfortunately, these procedures stopped in 2003; since then the media has noted the dramatic decline in Lyme disease cases. In 2005 the number of cases was less than half the number of cases reported in 2003. The media fails to mention that the decline has nothing to do with the infection rate, but instead is the result of cessation of lab reporting.
If federal dollars become available for the prevention of Lyme disease or for research or public awareness we as a state are in a terrible position to receive those dollar,s because we have gone from the number one state in cases for Lyme disease to the fifth state for cases for Lyme disease. All this because we do not accurately report the cases!
I decided to introduce a second bill on Lyme disease. It would create a statewide task force to review the strategies and make recommendations in regards to prevention, education, medical practices, use of taxpayer and federal dollars and analysis of the coordinated responses by the Depts. of Health and Environmental Protection.
Presently the bills have been boxed. That means they did not make it past the screening committee for Public Health. I was mortified to learn that they had suffered a temporary death the day before I was scheduled to have a press conference to get the word out to the public and my fellow legislators. After 45 minutes with the chair of Public Health I felt I had a reasonable chance of having the bill revived and go to a public hearing. I invited many constituents and activist from Greater Danbury to come and show support for the bills. We contacted Attorney General Blumenthals office; he agreed to attend and speak at the press conference. I explained to the activists that they needed to start an email campaign and begin to make individual calls to the press so that they would be interested in our press conference and attend.
Knowing that my bill was close to extinction we went ahead with the press conference and had some significant coverage. NPR ran the pre-story all weekend and on the day of the conference. The Danbury News Times, my local paper, ran a huge article prior to the event. Channel 30 and 61 showed up. The CTN network carried the entire press conference as well, which was significant, because many of the legislators and staff at the Capitol would see it later.
AP also carried a story that infuriated me. The spokesman for the DPH in my opinion was miscasting the arguments. DPH said that the incidence of Lyme disease reporting made Connecticut number two, not number five, in the country, as I was quoted. The truth? The feds use numbers of cases to determine dollars, not incidence. I was referring to cases. Federal dollars for HIV programs, for example, are decided by cases, folks!
DPH said in the article that they were already using federal dollars on two pilot programs for Torrington and Ledgelight health district. My response? How about the rest of the state, folks!
DPH said they would roll out electronic monitoring of Lyme disease soon. Of course they have been promising electronic monitoring since 2003, when they ceased to accurately report. And, dont forget you need human beings to cross check. Hmmm. I was learning the power of resisting a legislators bill, all right.
I implored everyone at the press conference to contact their legislators and members of the Public Health Committee, that these were important bills which would impact our publics health. And, I implore everyone reading this column to do the same. Lyme disease is controversial. The medical community is divided. New guidelines restrict a physician from using clinical judgment to diagnose and treat this devastating disease. Our children are at highest risk because they are exposed to our outdoors and are the most common victims of Lyme. The underreporting of this disease is particularly harmful for the public health, because if we dont know how serious Lyme disease is affecting our states population, we will be lulled into a false sense of security.
"Borrelioositapausten aliraportointi vaikuttaa vakavasti ihmisten terveyteen ja tuudittaa heidät väärään turvallisuudentunteeseen.
Connecticutin osavaltion terveysasioista vastaava edustaja Jason Bartlett on aloittanut yhdessä Blumenthalin kanssa taistelun borrelioosia sairastavien asian edistämiseksi. Bartlett sanoo välinpitämättömyyden ja kieltämisen olevan voimakasta. Hän ihmettelee esim. sitä miksi osavaltiossa tehtiin päätös lopettaa borrelioositapausten systemaattinen seuranta? Bartlett tuntee borrelioosin omakohtaisestikin sillä hänen äitinsä on sairastanut borrelioosia 10 vuoden ajan. Hän tietää lääkäreiden kahtiajakoisen suhtautumisen asiaan ja ihmisten vähäisen borrelioosituntemuksen."
Ready For Lyme Time
by Jason Bartlett | February 6, 2007
People are ticked off about Lyme Disease. And the state is doing nothing about it ? it´s even making it harder to do something about it.
So Jason Bartlett learned when he ran for state representative on a health care platform. He got elected and, in his first few weeks in office, introduced a bill pushing for action on Lyme. The attorney general joined him. But Bartlett faces an uphill fight. He writes about that in the latest installment of his freshman legislators Independent diary.´
* * * *
My mother has been suffering from Lyme disease for the last ten years. I have had to endure (lovingly) many conversations on the topic. I have known that the medical practices to treat Lyme disease have been controversial and the publics awareness of the disease is far too low. On the campaign trail, I was surprised that the issue of Lyme disease was brought to my attention. One of my constituents approached me and wanted me to give attention to it if I was elected.
This constituent was one of the first to call after my election to the State House. She invited me to attend a Fairfield County Deer Management meeting in Wilton. These folks believe that if we reduce the number of deer in Connecticut we will reduce the number of the ticks that carry the disease.
At this meeting there was also other Fairfield County Lyme disease activists present who had other legislative issues. Each group seemed eager for information as to how you get legislation on these important issues. During the discussion I was intrigued by one problem they had brought up. The question: Why did the State of Connecticut stop effectively monitoring positive Lyme disease cases in January of 2003?
I invited everyone to meet with me in my business office in Bethel. During our meeting I agreed to introduce legislation mandating that the State of Connecticut return to procedures set out by the federal governmentâ??s Center for Disease Control and effectively force blood laboratories to report positive Lyme disease tests to the Department of Public Health. The DPH and the labs would also have to cross check with physicians to insure that these were first time results reported.
These were the same procedures the Department of Health followed between 1998 and 2002. Unfortunately, these procedures stopped in 2003; since then the media has noted the dramatic decline in Lyme disease cases. In 2005 the number of cases was less than half the number of cases reported in 2003. The media fails to mention that the decline has nothing to do with the infection rate, but instead is the result of cessation of lab reporting.
If federal dollars become available for the prevention of Lyme disease or for research or public awareness we as a state are in a terrible position to receive those dollar,s because we have gone from the number one state in cases for Lyme disease to the fifth state for cases for Lyme disease. All this because we do not accurately report the cases!
I decided to introduce a second bill on Lyme disease. It would create a statewide task force to review the strategies and make recommendations in regards to prevention, education, medical practices, use of taxpayer and federal dollars and analysis of the coordinated responses by the Depts. of Health and Environmental Protection.
Presently the bills have been boxed. That means they did not make it past the screening committee for Public Health. I was mortified to learn that they had suffered a temporary death the day before I was scheduled to have a press conference to get the word out to the public and my fellow legislators. After 45 minutes with the chair of Public Health I felt I had a reasonable chance of having the bill revived and go to a public hearing. I invited many constituents and activist from Greater Danbury to come and show support for the bills. We contacted Attorney General Blumenthals office; he agreed to attend and speak at the press conference. I explained to the activists that they needed to start an email campaign and begin to make individual calls to the press so that they would be interested in our press conference and attend.
Knowing that my bill was close to extinction we went ahead with the press conference and had some significant coverage. NPR ran the pre-story all weekend and on the day of the conference. The Danbury News Times, my local paper, ran a huge article prior to the event. Channel 30 and 61 showed up. The CTN network carried the entire press conference as well, which was significant, because many of the legislators and staff at the Capitol would see it later.
AP also carried a story that infuriated me. The spokesman for the DPH in my opinion was miscasting the arguments. DPH said that the incidence of Lyme disease reporting made Connecticut number two, not number five, in the country, as I was quoted. The truth? The feds use numbers of cases to determine dollars, not incidence. I was referring to cases. Federal dollars for HIV programs, for example, are decided by cases, folks!
DPH said in the article that they were already using federal dollars on two pilot programs for Torrington and Ledgelight health district. My response? How about the rest of the state, folks!
DPH said they would roll out electronic monitoring of Lyme disease soon. Of course they have been promising electronic monitoring since 2003, when they ceased to accurately report. And, dont forget you need human beings to cross check. Hmmm. I was learning the power of resisting a legislators bill, all right.
I implored everyone at the press conference to contact their legislators and members of the Public Health Committee, that these were important bills which would impact our publics health. And, I implore everyone reading this column to do the same. Lyme disease is controversial. The medical community is divided. New guidelines restrict a physician from using clinical judgment to diagnose and treat this devastating disease. Our children are at highest risk because they are exposed to our outdoors and are the most common victims of Lyme. The underreporting of this disease is particularly harmful for the public health, because if we dont know how serious Lyme disease is affecting our states population, we will be lulled into a false sense of security.