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IOWA NEWS

Iowa Lyme Disease Association
Provides Free Education

The Iowa Lyme Disease Association provided a free educational

session

entitled “Be Aware-Not Scared” at Lake Okoboji. Over 200

healthcare

professionals came to the session which also featured

former Senator Berkley

Burdell.

May was National Lyme Awareness month and in an effort to educate

professionals treating the disease the Iowa Lyme Disease

Association

prepared handouts and brochures educating individuals

on the various signs

and symptoms of the disease. Current

treatment guidelines were also

discussed.

Incidents in Lyme Disease cases has been on the increase in Iowa’s

neighboring states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri. Without

effective

diagnostic tools the Center for Disease Control (CDC)

believes that Lyme

Disease is underreported in many states such as

Iowa.

NEW IOWA CHAT GROUP

Follow the link below and join the discussion. This

group is for

Iowans

and

anyone else interested in

discussing Lyme issues. Want

to find

out

how

others

are being treated? Is someone else afflicted

with the

same

symptom?

You are

not alone, dealing with this

disease. Let's

help each

other!

Iowa Lyme Chat Group

NEED A SPEAKER?

We have a variety of presentations on Lyme disease

and spring is a

good

time

to educate Iowan's. Contact

us for more information.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Check out the links page to find a Lyme disease group

near you.

TICK KITS ARE NOW AVAILABLE

For $5 we will send you a Pro-tick removing tool, tick

ID and basic

Lyme

information, all in a plastic vial.

Protect yourself this fall. Ticks

remain active until

a hard freeze.

Settlement Announced in Landmark

Investigation of Lyme Disease Diagnosis and

Treatment Guidelines

Patients’ Rights Groups Applaud Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal’

s Settlement in Anti-trust Case Against Powerful Medical Society

Hartford, CT, May 1, 2008 – Patients’ rights groups today hailed

Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal’s announcement of a settlement

in a landmark antitrust investigation into the Lyme treatment guidelines of

the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).

“My office uncovered undisclosed financial interests held by several of the

most powerful IDSA panelists,” said Blumenthal. “The IDSA’s guideline

panel improperly ignored, or minimized, consideration of alternative

medical opinion and evidence regarding chronic Lyme disease, potentially

raising serious questions about whether the recommendations reflected

all relevant science.”

The groundbreaking settlement announced today forces a complete

review of the IDSA guidelines by a new panel free from conflicts of interest,

specifically excluding previous panel members. This panel will consider a

range of scientific evidence in a public forum broadcast live over the

internet and will be overseen by a specialist in financial conflicts of interest

in medicine.

“This settlement makes it clear that the IDSA guideline development

process was corrupted by a commercially driven panel that excluded

evidence supporting longer term treatment of Lyme disease,” said attorney

Lorraine Johnson, Executive Director of the California Lyme Disease

Association (CALDA). “This settlement allows suppressed scientific

viewpoints and evidence to be heard, and it is promising news for

patients.”

This is the first-ever antitrust investigation against a medical society’s

guidelines development process.

“We congratulate Attorney General Blumenthal for exposing the IDSA’s

conflicts of interest and helping reduce the suffering of Lyme patients

everywhere,” said Pat Smith, president of the national Lyme Disease

Association (LDA). Diane Blanchard, co-president of Time for Lyme adds,

“The IDSA guidelines are dangerous for patients who suffer longer-term

Lyme symptoms that do not fall within the IDSA’s narrow disease

definition.”

The IDSA guidelines are treated as mandatory within the medical

community. More than 50 physicians who use longer-term treatment

approaches have been investigated or sanctioned by state medical

boards. The guidelines can also result in financial problems for patients,

since insurance companies refuse to reimburse for longer-term treatment

and pharmacies may refuse to fill prescriptions.

The majority of individuals involved in the IDSA guidelines development

process held direct or indirect commercial interests related to Lyme

vaccines, patents, and/or test kits, and did not take the opinions or

experiences of the competing Lyme groups into account.

While the announcement of a settlement comes as a huge relief to

suffering Lyme patients, the case has much broader implications for a

health care system that often contends with conflicts-of-interest in

guideline processes – guidelines which are often used by insurance

companies to limit diagnosis and treatment options.

“Today’s settlement marks an important victory for all patients who suffer

Lyme disease, but it is also a victory for anyone concerned about health

care,” said Johnson. “Commercially driven guidelines that limit patient

treatment options are a major issue today in healthcare, and this decision

marks an important step towards addressing it.”

PHYSICIAN LISTING

Need a Lyme literate physician for you own care?

Looking for one

for

friend in

another state? Does your local physician need to

consult

with a

knowledgeable

doctor? Currently, there are

two sources

online that

provide

physician referrals. Links are

provided below:

Lyme Disease Association:

Lyme Disease Foundation:

Lyme Disease Foundation Doctor Referral

***Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site should not take the place of
any quality medical care. It is provided for patient information only. ILDA does not
engage in rendering medical services.

$100 Million Proposed for
Lyme Disease

On Monday, July 25, 2005, Senator Christopher Dodd (CT) for

himself

and Senator Rick Santorum (PA) introduced into the US

Senate S.1479

entitled "Lyme and Tick-Borne

Prevention,

Education, and Research Act

of 2005". On Tuesday July 26,

2005, Congressman Christopher Smith (R-

NJ) a longtime friend

of the Lyme community for himself

and for

Congresswoman Sue

Kelly (NY) introduced the identical companion bill

(H.R.3427)

into the U.S. House of Representatives. We need your

IMMEDIATE action to

help these bills become law.

Both bills focus on research but also contain an effective

advisory

committee that will have input into the expenditure of

the monies and

provide the Lyme community a

strong public

voice and balanced

scientific viewpoint in regard to tick-borne

diseases in Washington, DC.

The committee will include a

selection of doctors and scientists

who

support chronic Lyme

disease and also patients and representatives

from patient

advocacy groups. The new bills will:

Increase the amount of Lyme research funding available by $100 million over 5 years.
Ensure mandatory research goals, better surveillance and improved prevention programs.
Ensure that committee is balanced & represents diversity of scientific viewpoints on issues.
Provide for outcomes research, including treatment studies.