Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the efforts her Department is making , in conjunction with the Health Service Executive and other bodies, to ensure greater awareness of Lyme disease; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35419/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Lyme disease (also known as Lyme borelliosis) is an infection caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted to humans by bites from ticks infected with the bacteria. The infection is generally mild affecting only the skin, but can sometimes be more severe involving other organs. Ramblers, campers and those who work in such areas especially if they come into contact with large animals are at greatest risk of being bitten by ticks and of going on to develop the disease. A number of cases are diagnosed each year, but the true figure is unknown. However, research has determined that there are about 30 human cases per year in Ireland. In 2007, 71 specimens were confirmed positive for Lyme borreliosis, suggesting a crude incidence rate of 1.67 per 100,000 that year. A study at Galway University Hospital suggests that the disease incidence may be higher in the Galway area.

Lyme disease is not a notifiable infectious disease in Ireland. This means that there is no legal requirement on doctors to report cases to their local Director of Public Health, so this makes estimates of incidence difficult. However, the list of notifiable diseases is updated periodically and lyme disease will be considered for inclusion in the future.

A fact sheet on Lyme disease, developed by the Vectorborne Subcommittee of the Scientific Subcommittee of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), is available on their website (www.hpsc.ie) to provide members of the general public and media with advice on minimising the risk of Lyme disease and provides information on the prevention and treatment of the disease. This has been updated to bring increased awareness of the disease to the attention of those most at risk and is available for download. To increase awareness, I am arranging to have the link to this document added to my Departments website (www.dohc.ie). In addition, an awareness raising article was placed in Epi-Insight, the HPSC disease surveillance report which is targeted at clinicians with a view to increasing awareness of the disease. In June 2010 the HPSC produced a leaflet "Protecting Yourself Against Tick Bites and Lyme Disease" and also an A3 poster on Lyme Disease and Tick Bites, both of which may be downloaded from their website.