Mr. Micheál Casey:

I thank the Chairman. A wide number of points have been raised. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked if the symptoms were similar to those of humans. The clinical signs described for animals are very similar to what is described as acute Lyme disease. To take up the point raised by Deputy Dan Neville, acute Lyme disease is not a controversial diagnosis. It is a well established condition. The controversy is probably over what Senator John Crown identified as the ELISA negative chronic Lyme disease. That is a controversial area. That is not my area of expertise. I am open certainly to testimony of the type we have heard here today. There are other pieces of what one could call circumstantial evidence that could support it. It has been shown in peer review publications that the organism can persist for years in the brains of mice. In all of this we need to work towards a case definition, which would combine clinical science, test findings and pathology. To that extent, that package has not been put together so far as I have read. Certainly, in animals there is no suggestion of a syndrome of chronic Lyme disease but, I think, in animals we are missing acute Lyme disease. I think many cases are being missed. The points made by Dr. Eoin Healy are absolutely correct that there is much under-diagnosis of Lyme disease in both animals and in humans.

On the research front, there is a huge gap in our knowledge. Some of the work done on the distribution of ticks and on mapping probably needs to replicated. Dr. Annetta Zintl and Dr. Theo de Waalin UCD are interested in doing further research on the distribution of ticks. If we progress that on to ticks that are collected as part of that survey could be tested for some of the organisms that cause some of these tick bird diseases, including borrelia, it would add significantly to our knowledge.

On the ELISA test, it seems to be uncontroversial from an animal point of view that it would do well in acute infections. The controversy is over whether, in untreated infections when the antibody response drops and the ELISA is no longer detecting antibody, the organism is still present and still causing disease. Again, we have to be mindful that 25 years ago stomach ulcers were not treated with antibiotics and a bacterial cause was not recognised. An open mind is important. I would think that scientifically the jury is still out in terms of peer review publication. I am not contradicting what people have said here today but in terms of what is in the published literature, and it is not my area of expertise, certainly on the animal side we have not seen the chronic Lyme case proven. One hears compelling testimony from people. I think we have to keep an open mind on that.