Dr. John Lambert:

Hundreds of articles have been submitted that show Lyme persists and the IDSI call it post-treatment Lyme disease. It is not post-treatment but ongoing infection. Hundreds of articles have been submitted to the WHO, and reviewed for them, that show Lyme persists even after people get two or four weeks of antibiotic treatment. There are animal studies and rhesus monkey studies where one treats them intravenously with antibiotics for two months and then sacrifices them at the end but one can still grow Lyme. This is not post-treatment but ongoing infection. Unfortunately, none of those studies have been included in the IDSI documents.

I agree with the Senator that the IDSI has come up with an opinion that has been signed off by 28 clinicians in Ireland. Why does one have an opposing international organisation, like the WHO, that has had all of this science put together and presented to it and which came up with a different conclusion? The Senator is right that it is very confusing for the committee when one group says one thing and another group saying something else. We are not saying that every case of fibromyalgia is caused by Lyme disease. I would think that a person in Donegal who has fibromyalgia but was previously well yet now suffers flu and fever should entertain the diagnosis of Lyme. I am just telling members that we are missing lots of cases of Lyme disease.

I have never seen the report cited by the Senator. I would love to read and review the report. I would love an opportunity to be in a public forum where these things are discussed. New science has come along. In terms of the IDSI publications, I saw something coming along there back in December but I never received a chance to review or discuss it. I have never had the chance to present the WHO data to the IDSI. Obviously the IDSI has excluded the WHO data. Therefore, the IDSI document is outdated and does not reflect current science.