Maine reports 300% increase in new Lyme cases in the first two months of 2010
(April 4th, 2010) The state of Maine, directly below Canada's Maritime provinces, is reporting over a three fold increase in the number of new confirmed Lyme disease cases in just the first two months of 2010. There have been 50 confirmed cases in those two months.
This will no doubt translate into more cases in Canada's Maritimes as well. Maritimers are advised to take precautions to avoid contracting Lyme disease. Prevention is the best medicine and methods to avoid this disease can be seen at www.canlyme.com/prevention.html.
For every one case caught by the medical system another 6 to 12 go unreported according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. That translates to possibly 500 cases in Maine so far this year if this holds true. People who are lucky enough to have caught it early will likely do quite well with antibiotic treatment. It is those who do not catch it early who are of the most concern. Symptoms may not show up right away which can leave people and their doctors baffled down the road. Only 9% of people will get the classic over-reported "bull's eye" rash that is so commonly associated with early Lyme disease.
Once Lyme disease has a chance to settle into the deep tissue, organs, and joints it can be very difficult to treat often requiring long bouts of antibiotic therapy.
Can you imagine the torrent of media coverage as well as federal and provincal tax dollars spent that would result if this were West Nile Virus, Swine flu, or SARS occurring directly across our border, yet Lyme disease can be a life altering disease capable of causing permanent disability or death?
Tests used in Canada to detect Lyme disease are poor. Science has shown our testing is bad. Strain variation and inherent problems with cut-off values all affect results. No two people are going to have an identical immune response which is what the tests are detecting. The criteria used to determine what a positive blood test is was never developed to be used for diagnosing the disease. The criteria used was only devised for surveillance purposes (in 1994) where missed cases are not all that important because the tests will pick up enough cases to show a trend. False negative results, the most harmful to the victim, occur frequently.
The U.S and Canadian governments state clearly that Lyme disease is a "clinical" diagnosis to be made in the doctors office. All too often in Canada the diagnosis is being made in laboratories, not in doctor's offices, and in fact, doctors are not provided the actual results of the tests. Doctors are simply told yes or no. Lyme disease is complex and is not that simple. The Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network (CPHLN) decided for Canadian's that doctors are not smart enough to be given the actual test results. The CPHLN is on record stating that doctors may mis-interpret the results all the while knowing that their tests are not definitive. You would never hear a doctor state you are just a little bit pregnant yet that is how Lyme test results are interpreted in our laboratories using cut-off values never intended for diagnosis. As for myself, I would much rather my doctor erred on the side of a positive result rather than a negative as I would at least then be treated.
Many factors depend upon whether you will ever develop enough antibodies in your system to get that all important early diagnosis in the laboratory. Lyme testing is so poor that it is not recommended in the first 4 weeks of the illness. After 4 weeks the disease will have disseminated deep into the body.
For information on symptoms of Lyme disease go to www.canlyme.com/patsymptoms.html and to find information on fully certified and accredited laboratories that specialize in the detection of tick borne disease go to www.canlyme.com/links.html#test
see http://wbztv.com/wireapnewsme/Warm.weather.blamed.2.1610432.html
Jim Wilson
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Lyme research is lacking in Canada
Billions of dollars are spent on health care and research in Canada with amazingly little public oversight, much to the delight of business interests. Very little attention is paid to those who decide where to spend our dollars.
The Canadian Foundation for Innovation set up by the government of Canada, gave 3.8 billion taxpayer dollars out since its inception in 1997, to only 128 institutions. A pretty elite club. No doubt a funnel through which tax dollars flow into hands of business via our colleges and universities. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but research scientists and those who have been mingling for years with the business machine are not those we want reviewing who gets the money. We have to look at publicly electing people to these positions, and restricting terms of service of those allowed to review research proposals. In just one year, 2005-06, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research spent almost a billion dollars. What have taxpayers seen for all this money? How much research is guided by and for the benefit of business? Victims groups MUST be active participants in deciding where research dollars go. (Not just those from the select few present big dollar charities that have been around for decades)
We have been told that out of both of these mega government institutions' huge budgets there will be NO research dollars available to assist the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, CanLyme, in establishing a research centre and treatment clinic in Canada that will truly investigate Lyme disease. These beaurocrats have decided they are going to continue to piecemeal out research dollars rather than confront disease head on.
Farming sickness until a profitable way of dealing with it is found seems more appropriate to those who manage our tax dollars allocated for medical research. Brazil, on the other hand identified they had a rapidly growing problem with Lyme-like disease, a possible gene on/off switching change of the same Lyme bacteria as we have. They created such a facility and are taking this very seriously, as are other countries of the world.
Our health care budgets are going through the roof and there is no research money to spend looking for the true impact that the fastest growing zoonotic disease in the world has on the human body today and in the future. We'll spend some token dollars chasing ticks, and some dollars looking for a drug (not enough in that regard)...but to get serious and identify the scope of this disease will not happen from their funds, according to PHAC and CIHR. (Lyme bacteria and other borrelia have been found to play a role in approx. 200 diagnoses of diseases and conditions that collectively will bankrupt our system in coming decades)
CIHR spent 194 million dollars on strategic initiatives in 2005-06 alone. Lyme disease groups have been asking for serious strategic research dollars for going on to 20 years. Canada no longer has a socialized health care system and hasn't for years, we instead run a social event, a wide-open playground and a "good old boys" club for business.
Our government medical directors are globe trotters, associating within the medical business machine which includes the pharmaceuticals, vaccine manufacturers, medical insurers, the World Health Organization and the CDC. Here in Canada the lowly sick are simply an annoyance and the CPHLN guidelines reflect that reality. They complain that we take up too much of their valuable time.
Lyme disease has spread un-checked under their watch, is under-diagnosed, and has been shown in research to be present in several disease processes of which Canada has some of the highest rates in the world of, all while making the medical business machine very rich. Canadians are dropping like flies but still no strategic research initiative.
Gotta wonder who is in control."
Jim Wilson, president CanLyme
The Canadian Foundation for Innovation set up by the government of Canada, gave 3.8 billion taxpayer dollars out since its inception in 1997, to only 128 institutions. A pretty elite club. No doubt a funnel through which tax dollars flow into hands of business via our colleges and universities. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but research scientists and those who have been mingling for years with the business machine are not those we want reviewing who gets the money. We have to look at publicly electing people to these positions, and restricting terms of service of those allowed to review research proposals. In just one year, 2005-06, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research spent almost a billion dollars. What have taxpayers seen for all this money? How much research is guided by and for the benefit of business? Victims groups MUST be active participants in deciding where research dollars go. (Not just those from the select few present big dollar charities that have been around for decades)
We have been told that out of both of these mega government institutions' huge budgets there will be NO research dollars available to assist the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, CanLyme, in establishing a research centre and treatment clinic in Canada that will truly investigate Lyme disease. These beaurocrats have decided they are going to continue to piecemeal out research dollars rather than confront disease head on.
Farming sickness until a profitable way of dealing with it is found seems more appropriate to those who manage our tax dollars allocated for medical research. Brazil, on the other hand identified they had a rapidly growing problem with Lyme-like disease, a possible gene on/off switching change of the same Lyme bacteria as we have. They created such a facility and are taking this very seriously, as are other countries of the world.
Our health care budgets are going through the roof and there is no research money to spend looking for the true impact that the fastest growing zoonotic disease in the world has on the human body today and in the future. We'll spend some token dollars chasing ticks, and some dollars looking for a drug (not enough in that regard)...but to get serious and identify the scope of this disease will not happen from their funds, according to PHAC and CIHR. (Lyme bacteria and other borrelia have been found to play a role in approx. 200 diagnoses of diseases and conditions that collectively will bankrupt our system in coming decades)
CIHR spent 194 million dollars on strategic initiatives in 2005-06 alone. Lyme disease groups have been asking for serious strategic research dollars for going on to 20 years. Canada no longer has a socialized health care system and hasn't for years, we instead run a social event, a wide-open playground and a "good old boys" club for business.
Our government medical directors are globe trotters, associating within the medical business machine which includes the pharmaceuticals, vaccine manufacturers, medical insurers, the World Health Organization and the CDC. Here in Canada the lowly sick are simply an annoyance and the CPHLN guidelines reflect that reality. They complain that we take up too much of their valuable time.
Lyme disease has spread un-checked under their watch, is under-diagnosed, and has been shown in research to be present in several disease processes of which Canada has some of the highest rates in the world of, all while making the medical business machine very rich. Canadians are dropping like flies but still no strategic research initiative.
Gotta wonder who is in control."
Jim Wilson, president CanLyme
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