International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Supports ALERT HR 2877 Smith Bill

The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), a professional medical society whose membership includes hundreds of Lyme literate doctors, strongly supports HR 2877 entitled, Act for Lyme Education and Research and Tick-Borne Diseases, (ALERT), sponsored by Congressman Christopher Smith (NJ). ILADS considers this legislation, providing $100 million for research and education, an important step forward in the fight against tick-borne diseases. Doctors need the support of Congress to ensure that the full spectrum of medical and scientific knowledge about Lyme disease is considered by the government. We are currently striving to improve tests for Lyme, to educate physicians on proper diagnosis and treatment, and to examine the feasibility of implementing additional reporting methods to accurately gauge disease outbreaks and incidences. The bill also contains a provision for the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science, to conduct a study of chronic Lyme disease that will include an assessment of empirical evidence from treating physicians as well as published peer-review data, including guideline such as ILADS has published in peer-review.

Support this bill by calling your congressman today and asking him/her to co-sponsor this crucial piece of legislation. Go to http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ for your congressmen.

Do not confuse this Smith bill HR 2877 with Kelly bill HR 2526. ILADS believes the Smith bill addresses what we need to accomplish more thoroughly than the provisions in HR 2526 if we realistically hope to see significant, tangible gains in research and in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease.

View bill text here.

Barbara Buchman, Executive Director , ILADS

Excerpt taken from: www.LymeDiseaseAssociation.org