Dr. Darina O'Flanagan:

I will pick up on the issue of following the science. I wish to comment on two trials that have followed up patients who have been treated for Lyme disease and that have compared them with healthy controls. One of the studies, a Slovenian study, shows that the symptoms after treatment at six and 12 months were the same in the treated group as the control population. Another similar study was done in a Swedish group. Again there was no difference in the outcomes following treatment. The issue is that both studies highlighted the background prevalence of non-specific symptoms in the general population such as arthralgia, aches and pains, myalgia fatigue and other subjective symptoms. Unless one compares it with a control population the evidence does not exist that there is a difference once people have been adequately treated. There is no scientific evidence to support the need for long-term chronic use of antibiotics.

There was another question from Deputy Brendan Griffin in regard to the sub-committee of the scientific advisory committee. This year we have deferred a number of our committees because of the issue of Ebola virus disease and we have had to pull a number of our people in the HPSC to work on Ebola.

We will pick up those committees next year, hopefully, prioritise them and resume the work that had begun on them. If we have an emerging viral threat, we must prioritise what we focus on. That is the nature of the business we are in. Hopefully, if there are no other competing priorities like the Ebola virus disease, we will be able to pick that up.