David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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543. To ask the Minister for Health the progress made by the scientific advisory committee of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the Health Service Executive to establish a group to review awareness of Lyme disease; if this group has now been established; if so, the composition of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26716/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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At the Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre in December 2013, it was agreed to establish a Lyme Borreliosis Subcommittee. The aim of the Lyme Borreliosis Subcommittee will be to develop strategies to undertake primary prevention in order to minimise the harm caused by of Lyme Borreliosis in Ireland. These strategies will be published in a Final Report.

The membership of the Lyme Borreliosis Subcommittee will comprise a range of experts who will be able to provide expertise and will be in a position to input into relevant policy areas relevant to Lyme borreliosis. These will include Public Health Experts from HPSC and from the regional Department of Public Health, representation from the Department of the Environment, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, an Occupational Health Physician, an Entomological/Tick Expert, Surveillance Scientist (HSE-Area) with support from HPSC Secretariat. In addition, the views of the Irish College of General Practitioners will be sought on the recommendations of the final documentation. Once a series of recommendations has been produced by the Subcommittee, this will go for general consultation through the normal HPSC consultation channels.

The Terms of Reference of the Lyme Borreliosis Subcommittee are:

- To raise awareness in Ireland of Lyme Borreliosis amongst clinicians and the general public;

- To identify and highlight best international practice in awareness raising about Lyme Borreliosis for the General Public;

- To develop policies of primary prevention of Lyme Borreliosis in Ireland based on best international evidence;

- To explore ways in which to improve surveillance of neuroborreliosis in Ireland;

- To develop strategies to raise awareness among the general public particularly in relation areas with higher tick populations;

- To produce a Final Report covering all the above areas.

In establishing this subcommittee, the Scientific Advisory Committee advised that the Subcommittee should ensure that there would be a robust process for including Lyme patient representation groups in the consultation process for the Sub-Committee’s output.

It is intended that this group will build upon the extensive work that has already been undertaken by HPSC in raising awareness of this condition. Following representation to the Department of Health by HPSC, Lyme Borreliosis (as neuroborreliosis) was included in the schedule of notifiable diseases in 2012, making a more accurate assessment of the level of the more serious forms of this disease in Ireland possible for the first time.

The Scientific Advisory Committee approved the establishment of the Lyme Borreliosis subcommittee in December 2013, with a decision that the group will be established in the second half of 2014 on completion of the work of the Scientific Advisory Committee’s Cryptosporidiosis Subcommittee. In order to ensure that momentum was not lost, work has been ongoing within HPSC to make sure that awareness-raising was maintained as a priority. There is an extensive section on Lyme disease for the public on the HPSC website at

In addition, HPSC has committed to holding a Lyme Awareness Week each year at the beginning of the Lyme disease season (the most recent Lyme Awareness Week ran from 19 - 25 May). More than a dozen radio interviews and several print media articles resulted from this raised awareness. This increased activity resulted in a 100% increase in the amount of web traffic to the various Lyme disease section of the HPSC website

Finally, to ensure that diagnosticians are increasingly aware of the issue of Lyme borreliosis, information is provided specifically for clinicians:

- Clinical Guidance:

- Guidelines for the clinical management of patients with Lyme disease:

- Lyme Factsheet for health practitioners:

- Prevention and control of tick-borne disease in Europe: Information to Healthcare Professionals (slides):

HPSC continues to work with sister organisations and others to ensure that the issue of Lyme disease is brought to as wide an audience as possible.