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EDITORIAL: Swift action needed on tick-borne illnesses

The Daily Gazette - 8/5/2017

Aug. 05--For years, people have been suffering long-term, debilitating health effects of tick bites, most notably Lyme Disease.

But now that a more deadly virus spread by ticks has made its way in our area and elsewhere, it's time the federal government ramp up its efforts to treat and research the effects of tick-borne illnesses.

This year was expected to be a particularly bad year for tick-borne illnesses because of climate conditions favorable to the mice and deer that help spread the disease.

Each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease affects at least 30,000 individuals nationwide, although officials believe that number is very low because many cases go unreported.

New York is considered a "high incidence" state because of its large number of cases. In 2015, the state saw 3,252 confirmed Lyme disease cases and another 1,062 suspected cases.

But it's not just Lyme disease that many fear. A relatively new and more dangerous disease has cropped up in New York called powassan, or POW, virus.

It's spread more quickly than Lyme disease and can be deadly in 10 to 30 percent of cases. In May, a Saratoga County man died from the virus, eight months after showing symptoms.

The increase in numbers and consequences of tick-borne illnesses has prompted our two U.S. senators to approach the problem with a two-fold attack that we hope will ultimately reduce people's suffering by promoting better identification and treatment -- before these diseases do more damage.

Last week, Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to "double down" on efforts to implement new laws passed by Congress last year designed to to significantly boost research and the development of new vaccines and other treatments.

Also last week, fellow Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand pushed to include experts on chronic Lyme disease on a new Health and Human Services advisory panel, the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.

The group, which is still being formed, is designed to bring together experts who will advise federal officials on what and how to fund research on tick-borne illnesses.

Gillibrand said she's particularly concerned that chronic Lyme disease -- which some doctors don't even recognize as a legitimate condition -- hasn't gotten the attention it deserves in the federal discussion over Lyme disease, and she wants to make sure it does.

About 10 to 20 percent of Lyme disease victims continue to experience problems long after the original case has been treated, enduring months or years of debilitating symptoms.

With dispute among physicians over the cause of those symptoms comes dispute over what treatments should be used and dispute over funding for such treatments.

Giving experts in chronic Lyme disease a seat at the table on top-level discussions about tick-borne diseases is vital if the concerns of chronic patients are going to be addressed.

Schumer's efforts involve speeding up development of treatments, saying in a press release that federal officials have been "dragging their feet, even though more and more New Yorkers are being infected with horrible tick-borne diseases."

The 21st Century Cures Act to which Schumer referred is an 824-page health reform bill passed in the waning days of the Obama administration that directs the director of Health and Human Services to continue to conduct and support research into tick-borne disease.

It also mandates that officials include in federal reports required under the Public Health Services Act information on tick-borne illnesses collected and prepared by the National Institutes of Health.

The same legislation establishes the working group advocated by Gillibrand to help coordinate state, local and federal information.

It's long overdue that the federal government treat tick-borne illnesses -- including acute- and chronic Lyme disease and powassan virus -- with the urgency they deserve.

Federal funding into research and treatment are needed desperately to ease and prevent the suffering of tens of thousands of Americans.

Devoting attention to the problem is a good first step. But it will be meaningless unless it's followed by swift action.

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(c)2017 The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.

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