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Think Lyme Disease isn't in Georgia?
- 715 Georgia cases reported by the CDC in 1989 (GA was 4th highest in nation – click here).
- CDC identified native human cases in 27 Georgia counties – click here.
- Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease bacteria, have been scientifically documented in thousands of tick and animal specimens from across the Southeast, including ticks, birds, small mammals, lizards and other reptiles, deer, canines, and humans. (See our Lyme in the Southeast page, right side, scroll to middle of page for links to numerous scientific research studies –click here.)
- More Lyme disease strains and species have been identified here in the South than even in the North, and two new Borrelia burgdorferi SPECIES, Borrelia carolinensis and Borrelia americana, were discovered in recent years in Southeast. (Report on Visit to National Tick Collection; Oliver et al.)
- Georgia survey found physicians diagnose LD 40X more than it’s reported (Boltri et al., 2002).
- What has counted as a case in the Northeast, hasn’t counted as a case in the South rendering statistics useless. For years, reporting practices in most southeastern states haven’t conformed to CDC reporting criteria (source: various southeastern states' Lyme disease case reports by county from 1994-2007 and communications with state and federal public health officials).
- Hundreds of patients have reported to Georgia Lyme Disease Association that they contracted Lyme disease in Georgia, other southeastern advocacy groups report the same occurring in their states.
We believe to refuse to test a suffering patient for Lyme disease or to dismiss a case as a “false positive” is irresponsible when Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, have been clearly documented in nature by scientists for over two decades across the Southeast. When so much evidence surrounds us and anecdotal tales abound, it is illogical not to consider Borrelia burgdorferi infection (and other tick-borne diseases) in humans. Every case deserves full investigation and serious consideration because Lyme Borreliosis can be such a significant, life-altering disease.
For further information, see our Lyme in the Southeast page.
Still think there’s no Lyme disease in Georgia?
Better Think Again.
Our Mission:
The Georgia Lyme Disease Association is an all-volunteer patient advocacy group that is dedicated to the prevention of and education about Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases (TBD).
Our goals are to:
- increase public awareness about Lyme and tick-borne diseases, particularly across the Southeast.
- emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and tick-borne diseases to citizens and healthcare practitioners.
provide informational resources and a support network to Georgia patients with tick-borne diseases and their families.
- develop and promote an effective TBD preventative and educational campaign to help protect public health.
- advocate for an expansion of government-funded grant programs to support independent scientific research studies about Lyme and tick-borne illnesses particularly those focused on tick vectors, improving diagnostic testing, and analyzing the hundreds of unstudied southeastern strains of the Lyme organism, Borrelia burgdorferi.
- support crucial Lyme and TBD scientific research through corporate, private and individual fundraising efforts.
- assist in monitoring the prevalence of Lyme and tick-borne diseases in the Southeast through informal patient surveys.
- form an informational bridge between scientists, healthcare providers, public health officials, political representatives, advocates and patients who are concerned about tick-borne diseases in the Southeast.
Lyme rash?
Yes!
- photo CDC
A Lyme disease skin rash (called erythema migrans or EM) often presents as a solid lesion instead of the highly publicized "bull's eye" rash. Some studies indicate that up to 50% of patients don't ever see a rash.
IMPORTANT:
Always take a picture of any rash that may occur following a tick bite and consult your doctor immediately for appropriate and adequate treatment.
New Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species, Borrelia americana sp.nov., identified in South Carolina and California
On October 21, 2009 the Journal of Clinical Microbiology released the recent research findings of James H. Oliver, Jr., Nataliia Rudenko, Maryna Golovchenko, Tao Lin, Lihui Gao and Libor Grubhoffer. The scientists found a newly described species of Borrelia in South Carolina and California which they have named, Borrelia americana.
Borrelia spirochetes identified on silver stain
-photo, CDC
Dr. Jim Oliver of our own Georgia Southern University’s Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology (IAP) in Statesboro, Georgia has long studied Borrelia spirochetes in tick and animal specimens from across the Southeast. (See our Lyme in the Southeast page for a list of articles.) We congratulate him and his colleagues on this discovery and thank Dr. Oliver for his years of research in our region. We look forward to learning more about this new Borrelia species and its possible role in human illness.
To read the abstract of the new research article, click the link below:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19846628?dopt=Abstract
From
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
on Infectious Diseases
Dr. Daniel J. Cameron's excellent research article
Proof That Chronic
Lyme Disease Exists
(click on title above to read article in full)
The evidence continues to mount that Chronic Lyme Disease (CLD) exists and must be addressed by the medical community if solutions are to be found. Four National Institutes of Health (NIH) trials validated the existence and severity of CLD. Despite the evidence, there are physicians who continue to deny the existence and severity of CLD, which can hinder efforts to find a solution. Recognizing CLD could facilitate efforts to avoid diagnostic delays of two years and durations of illness of 4.7 to 9 years described in the NIH trials. The risk to society of emerging antibiotic-resistant organisms should be weighed against the societal risks associated with failing to treat an emerging population saddled with CLD. The mixed long-term outcome in children could also be examined. Once we accept the evidence that CLD exists, the medical community should be able to find solutions. Medical professionals should be encouraged to examine whether: (1) innovative treatments for early LD might prevent CLD, (2) early diagnosis of CLD might result in better treatment outcomes, and (3) more effective treatment regimens can be developed for CLD patients who have had prolonged illness and an associated poor quality of life.
Study Proves It Again:
Lyme disease bacteria can persist despite antibiotic treatment
On December 7, 2009 the American Society for Microbiology published the research paper:
Ineffectiveness of Tigecycline Against Persistent Borrelia burgdorferi
(click title above)
Once again, Borrelia burgdorferi was proven to persist despite antibiotic therapy. Although this news is disappointing for chronic Lyme sufferers who held such hope for Tigecycline, the study does provide even more evidence that Lyme disease can be a chronic illness, requiring ongoing treatment much like Tuberculosis. This evidence (in addition to all the rest) helps pave the way to experiment with new, better treatment protocols.
For a collection of research studies proving persistent Lyme borreliosis, visit:
http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymefiles.html
Georgia Lyme Disease Association
Working to solve the puzzle
of tick-borne diseases!
Thank you for supporting our efforts!
All donations to the non-profit Georgia Lyme Disease Association are tax- deductible as allowed by federal and state law.
See Contact Us page if you wish to mail your donation.
A male Lone Star tick commonly found in the South. Could he be transmitting a strain of Lyme disease?
photo - L. Schmitz
New Research Finds More
Lyme Disease Species in
the Southeastern U.S.
than in Any Other Region
“Lyme Disease Doesn’t Exist in the South” Myth Crumbles
Fall 2011
Scientists have identified several infectious Lyme disease bacteria strains and discovered other potentially infectious Lyme Borrelia species in the Southeast, including the widely distributed Borrelia kurtenbachii.
The researchers reported that more Lyme borrelia species have been found in the Southeastern United States than in any other region.
Nataliia Rudenko, Maryna Golovchenko, Libor Grubhoffer and James H. Oliver, Jr. presented their findings recently at the 2011 Ticks and Tick-borne Pathogens International Conference in Zaragoza, Spain.
Read the complete story on our News page.
January 2012
Borrelia Bissettii: A Different Lyme
Species Linked to Human Disease in
the U.S. and Abroad that may
Produce False Negative Test Results
Read the new article and research abstracts about Borrelia Bissettii- click here.
January 2012
Important New Primate Study further proves Lyme Disease can Persist despite Antibiotic Treatment
Study proves what patients have claimed all along - that chronic Lyme disease does indeed exist - and highlights the need to find a cure
A new study from Tulane University, Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Rhesus Macaques following Antibiotic Treatment of Disseminated Infection, was published this month and adds further proof to the mountain of published scientific evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists. (See the Persistence File here for other research abstracts supporting chronic Lyme disease in mice, dogs, and man: http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymefiles.html )
For years, certain "experts" including many who wrote the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines, have claimed that convincing evidence of persistent infection does not exist. These experts have dismissed patients who claim to suffer after treatment, even going so far as to name their suffering, "Post Lyme Disease Syndrome", as if they had proven that persistent infection was not the cause.
While antibiotic treatment may not prove to be curative in some cases, many patients claim that longer courses of antibiotic therapy restore them to functionality. Because Lyme disease can cause permanent damage to the heart, brain and other organs, perhaps Lyme patients will need to be treated off and on again to control the infection until a definite cure that works for every case can be found.
Please note: We strongly disagree with the information in the study about the C6 test being so reliable and caution patients and medical providers, particularly in the Southern United States. Dr. Ed Masters reported years ago that the C6 did not detect his Missouri EM Lyme-like cases while he noted in another study, the whole cell Borrelia ELISA did. Other researchers such as Dr. Raymond Dattwyler have recently also cautioned that the C6 test does not detect variable Lyme disease strains and species as much as they had hoped (see Dogged by Discrepancies article below). The Southeastern United States has more strains (hundreds) and species (7) than any other region; the C6 as well as other current tests may not detect many of these.
Dogged by Discrepancies:
The New CDC
Lyme Disease Report
Comparing National
Canine and Human Cases
© Georgia Lyme Disease Association, September 2011
The CDC’s new report, Canine Serology as Adjunct to Human Lyme Disease Surveillance (Mead P, Goel R, Kugeler K.; Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Sep.) attempts to define areas of human Lyme disease risk by correlating dog and human cases across the United States. While the concept is good, the conclusion is, unfortunately, based on flawed and subjective data.
First, the test used to detect Lyme borreliosis in the national dog study was the C6 ELISA. Last year, a well-known researcher on the CDC's own Lyme disease diagnostic recommendations committee confirmed that, while the C6 may be specific for particular Lyme borrelia strains, it doesn't seem to detect others. Secondly, although the authors admit reporting practices may be subject to bias, they then go on to rely on human case numbers reported to the CDC for comparison. What they fail to point out are the major inconsistencies known in Lyme disease surveillance procedures among states. Statistical data are rendered useless when what is counted as a reportable Lyme disease case in some regions is routinely dismissed in others.
Can true risk of Lyme disease really be assessed based on such data? The report sure doesn't jibe with what we hear from patients. Read the full article here.
Watch the award-winning Lyme disease film
UNDER OUR SKIN
FREE
on Hulu. com Click here.
Georgia Governor
Nathan Deal
issues proclamation
declaring the month of May
Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease
Awareness Month
across Georgia
Proclamation urges citizens to learn more about
signs and symptoms of tick-borne infections and their prevention
Senator Ronnie Chance presented the proclamation to GALDA's Liz Schmitz May 5 during the Lyme Disease Awareness Month program at the Georgia State Capitol.
Read the full story with photographs from the event on our
Georgia Lyme News page.
Who Gets Lyme Disease in Georgia?
(You May Be Surprised.)
Over the past few years, Georgia LDA has received hundreds of reports from Georgians suffering with Lyme and tick-borne diseases. While a few cases were contracted from other regions, the majority of patients have indicated they contracted these illnesses right here in our own state.
To read the rest of the article, click HERE.
Lone Star and Brown Dog Ticks Transmit Lyme Disease? Data Removed from CDC Website
Currently, many public health officials, including those at the CDC, continue to claim Lyme disease in humans in the South is rare to nonexistent. Countless patients and a multitude of medical providers disagree. Where's the disconnect?
If, as we appear to be witnessing, lone star and other ticks transmit Lyme disease, all bets are off. These very aggressive pests are the ticks most commonly found parasitizing humans in the Southeast.
The CDC's Center for Global Health website stated that the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum, and the Brown Dog tick both transmit Lyme borreliosis.
Read the story by clicking here.
Letter to
Institute of Medicine's Lyme Disease Workshop Committee:
Southeastern Lyme Leaders and Advocates Unite to Point Out Serious Issues Harming Southern Patients and Citizens
Flawed reporting practices, lack of recognition of tick-borne diseases by both citizens and medical providers, and the dismissal of cases are only a few of the problems outlined in the October 8, 2010 letter. We again call for the funding for independent study of southeastern human TBD cases. Read the letter sent to the IOM HERE.
Georgia Lyme Disease Association Participates in Institute of Medicine’s Lyme Teleconference
The Institute of Medicine invited Georgia Lyme Disease Association members to participate in a Lyme Disease teleconference call on June 2, 2010. This regional “listening session” for Georgia/North Carolina/South Carolina and surrounding states was arranged as part of the planning for the State of the Science workshop to be held in October. The call was designed so that IOM Lyme Disease panel members would hear concerns pertaining to issues that should be considered and addressed during the upcoming conference.
In the Southeast, we are not awarded funding for independent, large-scale human studies of Lyme and tick-borne disease pathogens, based on our flawed Lyme disease statistics. Our few “reported” cases make it seem as if Lyme is not a problem here. However, as advocates pointed out, Lyme disease IS a problem here - our cases are not counted and reported using CDC reporting criteria. Many continue to be dismissed as “false positives.” Lyme is often unrecognized in the Southeast, therefore, patients don’t get early treatment that could prevent permanent damage and ongoing symptoms. We called for immediate funding to investigate these cases.
To read the comments made by Georgia Lyme Disease Association volunteers and other southeastern advocates click HERE.
To read comments made by patients and advocates from other regions, check California Lyme Disease Association’s website pages – Lyme Policy Wonk and Touched By Lyme blogs -
California Lyme Disease Association
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