Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

30. To ask the Minister for Health the supports in place for persons with Lyme disease; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40976/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Lyme disease (also known as Lyme borreliosis) is an infection caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted to humans by bites from ticks infected with the bacteria. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) of the HSE has extensive information concerning Lyme disease on its website www.hpsc.ie/a-z/vectorborne/lymedisease/.

Lyme borreliosis can be asymptomatic or have a range of clinical presentations. Current best advice is that diagnosis should be made only after careful examination of the patient's clinical history, physical findings, laboratory evidence and exposure risk evaluation. Exposure to ticks prior to disease manifestations is necessary for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis. Since an awareness or recollection of a tick-bite is not always present, however, this should not exclude the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis. Later stages require the use of antibody detection tests (or advanced DNA detection techniques). Testing for Lyme Disease is provided routinely by all major, regional hospitals in Ireland. In undertaking Lyme testing, it is essential that the results are interpreted in the light of the clinical condition of the patient. If the result of this initial screen is equivocal, the patient's samples are referred to the U.K.'s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory Service of Public Health England in Porton Down facility which uses a two-tier system recommended by American and European authorities. This involves a screening serological test followed by a confirmatory serological test.

Lyme disease can be very successfully treated using common antibiotics. These antibiotics are effective at clearing the rash and helping to prevent the development of complications. Antibiotics are generally given for up to three weeks. If complications develop, then management of patients can be undertaken by Infectious Disease consultants in our regional hospitals when intravenous antibiotics may be considered as a method of treatment.

There is no controlled evidence that viable Borrelia burgdorferi persists in patients with prolonged, subjective symptoms following confirmed Lyme disease. Fatigue, pain and cognitive impairment are the primary complaints among patients who claim to be suffering long term effects. However, these symptoms are very common in the general population, and the evidence does not show that they occur any more commonly in patients with a history of Lyme disease. The diverse nature of these symptoms, which can have both physical and psychological causes, are shared by many conditions which has implications for both diagnostic and treatment services. Misinformation concerning the long term effects of Lyme disease is causing real harm to people who seek inappropriate treatments for real conditions who are advised to seek information and advice from their family doctor.