In The News

Rep. Wolf Requests to Remove IDSA Guidelines Pending Thorough Review

Outdated Guidelines for Treating Lyme Disease Should be Removed from Government Web Site Used by Doctors as Resource for Medical Protocols.

U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf, Christopher Smith & Chris Gibson write the National Guidelines Clearinghouse, seeking removal of the resubmitted IDSA Lyme disease treatment guidelines, their review for currency and to require disclosure of the methodology for the process leading to them, which was not complied with before reinstating the guidelines until 2015.

Antibodies Linked to Long-term Lyme Symptoms

Researchers find molecules that might mark elusive syndrome

Nature News reports:

Armin Alaedini at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and his colleagues have found that patients diagnosed with post-Lyme disease syndrome have antibodies that suggest they carried the infection for an unusually long time. The finding, published in Clinical Immunology1, might help the syndrome to be better understood, diagnosed and treated.

To read the Nature News article: Click Here

Lyme disease panel calls for better outreach, treatment

Gov. McDonnell's task force recommended that clinicians be open-minded when treating patients.

By Michael Sluss

LEESBURG -- A task force created by Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration is calling for better public education and outreach about Lyme disease and a more open-minded approach by the medical community to diagnosing and treating the tick-borne illness.

The 12-member task force spent more than five hours Thursday hashing out the details of a report that will go to the governor and could lead to legislation and policy changes. The group was asked to submit findings and recommendations on prevention, diagnosis, education and treatment of a disease that is on the rise and generating controversy in Virginia.

Task Force Takes Lyme Disease Fight To Loudoun County

After seven months studying ways to combat the illness, the Virginia Lyme Disease Task Force delivered its report in Loudoun County Thursday. Lyme is spreading across Virginia, and Loudoun has more cases than any other county in the commonwealth.

VIDEO: Ticks popping up in Virginia

There’s a new pest in town. Authorities have found more than a hundred Gulf Coast ticks in the tall grasses of a Fair Oaks landfill. Luckily, the plot is between several busy roadways like !-66, which provides them little opportunity to spread. Read More

Out for blood: Southwest Va. residents warned about ticks, Lyme disease

These creepy little bloodsuckers strike fear in the hearts of most people. The sight of the tiny parasites crawling along produces shivers while finding one embedded in human skin creates panic. The dreaded tick is making multiple appearances across Wythe and Bland counties as the warm weather sends people outside. Read More

Central Virginia to See an Uptick in Ticks

Summer means tick season in Virginia and June is the most common month for tick related illnesses. July is second. Last year, the commonwealth saw the highest number of Lyme disease cases. Last year, Virginia had 1,245 cases of Lyme disease, which is significantly higher than years in the past. Read More

Examiner.com: Studies highlight rising numbers, concerns about Lyme disease

More than 225 people gathered in Virginia Beach Saturday donning lime-green ribbons on T-shirts and pins. The cause, to promote awareness and garner support for Lyme disease research, drew many late-stage carriers of the disease as well as their family members and friends.

Read More

Loudoun Lyme 5K takes aim at Lyme disease

For several months, Steve Gotschi has spent more hours than he can count organizing the first Loudoun Lyme 5K run. It’s an event that Gotschi said would never have been created if his wife, Reagan, had been properly diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease when she first showed symptoms of the disease in August 2007.

Congressman Frank Wolf to Headline Lyme Awareness Program on May 5th

Our Savior's Way Lutheran Church welcomes the Loudoun community to a Lyme Disease Awareness program on Thursday, May 5, 2011 from 7:00 - 9:30 PM. Congressman Frank Wolf, the co-sponsor of legislation to expand efforts for the prevention, education, treatment and research of Lyme disease, will open the program featuring a special showing of the award-winning documentary Under Our Skin.

Lyme Disease Task Force Holds Final Hearing

Medical experts will testify on a broad range of public education initiatives during the final hearing of Governor Robert McDonnell’s Lyme Disease Task Force on Monday, April 25. The hearing, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Fairfax County Government Center from noon to 3:30 p.m.

Virginia Public Radio: Task Force On Lyme Disease

A disease that affects three-to-four times more people than HIV/AIDS but gets far less attention … and is the largest vector-borne disease in the U.S. … is quickly becoming a major threat to Virginians—especially children. As Virginia Public Radio’s Tommie McNeil reports, a state task force on Lyme disease has been asked to provide more education to school nurses, psychologists, and medical professionals about the deadly, degenerative, neurological disease.

Governor's task force hears stories of Lyme disease in Roanoke

An octogenarian flower gardener from Fincastle. A Bedford County dairy farmer. A Roanoke nurse and former triathlete. About 50 people waited to share a five-minute version of their battle with Lyme disease with the Governor's Lyme Disease Task Force on Tuesday night in Roanoke.

The Virginian-Pilot. “Task force Seeks Input on Lyme Disease in Virginia” by Elizabeth Simpson

[March 1, 2011] Task force members will hear testimony from the public about Lyme disease, a tick-borne disease. Input from the public hearings will be used, along with information from expert witnesses, to develop recommendations to the governor to help people with Lyme disease, improve diagnosis and treatment, and lower the incidence of the disease.

Roanoke Times. “The Doctor of Last Resort” by Beth Macy

[December 16, 2010] Dr. Cathryn Harbor was volunteering at her children’s camp outside Charlottesville last summer when she noticed a startling phenomenon: In the span of one week, 10 of her 100 campers came to her complaining of flulike symptoms. Each reported being bitten by a tick, and four were spotted with suspicious rashes. All 10 cases were a ringer – at least in Harbor’s mind – for suspected Lyme disease.

Roanoke Times. “Group to Target Lyme Disease” by Beth Macy

[October 16, 2010] Gov. Bob McDonnell stepped into the contentious topic of Lyme disease Friday when he commissioned a task force to explore prevention and treatment of the disease. The task force was announced by the secretary of health and human resources, Dr. Bill Hazel, who cautioned that Lyme is on the rise in Virginia. More than 1,000 cases have been confirmed statewide so far this year, 65 of them in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

NatureNews. “Scientists Push for Lyme Disease trials.” By Amy Maxmen

[October 14, 2010] Doctors and researchers in the United States have spoken out about the lack of support provided by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) when it comes to treating patients with chronic Lyme disease.

Rockbridge Weekly. “Lexington Lyme Disease Group Joins National Capital Lyme Association”

[February 2010] National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Association is pleased to announce that the Lexington Lyme Disease Support Group will be joining our organization and becoming the Lexington Chapter of the Association.

RadioAudio.net. “New Lyme Law Proposed to Protect Virginia Doctors” January 22, 2010

A new bill, introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates by Tom Rust, Delegate, 86th District (R), seeks to protect physicians in Virginia who provide extended antibiotic therapy to patients diagnosed with chronic Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

Roanoke Times. “Salvos Launched in Lyme Debate” by Beth Macy

[December 20, 2010] Her husband called her The Tiger. Their colleagues did too… She never suspected she would come to blame her illness on the black-legged tick. She certainly didn’t envision being caught in the crossfire of a fight working its way into statehouses, boards of medicine and doctors’ offices across the country.

Gazette – Maryland. “Lyme Taking the National Spotlight” by Erin Donaghue

[July 29, 2009] Beginning today, county residents may begin to notice lime green ribbons tied around trees and popping up in other public places, according to the National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Association. The effort is taking place across the country to draw attention to historic hearings slated for Thursday in Washington to bring to light issues surrounding diagnosis and treatment of the disease.