Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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181. To ask the Minister for Health the guidelines for persons donating blood or citizens availing of a blood transfusion in relation to Lyme disease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22181/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Blood Transfusion Service donor selection guideline for Lyme disease reads "...defer for at least one week after the last dose of antibiotics and ensure that the donor is fully recovered for at least two weeks and ask about complications".

The treatment of Lyme disease is a 3 week course of antibiotics (doxycycline or amoxicillin). This is consistent with the donor selection guideline as recovery is complete well before the completion of the antibiotic course. Borrelia bergdorferi (Lyme disease) was risk assessed as a transfusion risk by the UK Standing Advisory Committee on Transfusion Transmitted Diseases and approved by the Joint UKBTS Professional Advisory Committee in 2016.

It concluded "that no specific measures are needed for B.bergdorferi infection in potential blood donors in view of the lack of evidence of transfusion-transmitted infection. Recall of blood components donated within 28 days of diagnosis of acute infection would be a sensible precaution; no specific measures are needed for components prepared from individuals diagnosed with a condition more correctly referred to as Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) characterised by lingering symptoms of fatigue, pain, or joint and muscle aches, since bacteraemia is very unlikely in this context."

It is acknowledged that there may be individuals that get B.bergdorferi infection and are not treated and some of these may go on to get long-term manifestations such as Lyme arthritis or myocarditis meningitis/encephalitis. A small number of cases go on to a post-infection syndrome PTLDS resembling chronic fatigue syndrome. Studies have shown that PTLDS almost invariable resolves on its own without the need for additional treatment, though people may take several months to fully recover. In these cases there is no spirochetes in the blood and transmission by transfusion is unlikely.