Lyme Disease Battle Should Not Rely On Misleading Claims

To the Editor:

I was surprised to see deer cull supporter David Shugarts repeat in his letter to The Bee last week [“Tick-Borne Disease And Deer”] a misleading “fact” concerning the incidence of Lyme disease in Connecticut. Mr Shugarts represented, as he has on several previous occasions, that Lyme disease cases in Connecticut increased by an alarming 71 percent from 2006 to 2007 according to the Centers for Disease Control. In fact, as I mentioned at the December 15 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the reported increase is due to a change in tracking methodology by the Department of Public Health, on whose data the CDC relies, rather than an actual increase in Lyme disease. See Connecticut Epidemiologist, May 2008. In 2007, the DPH began to include Lyme disease cases reported by testing laboratories in addition to cases reported by doctors, while in 2006, only doctor-reported cases were included. Unless these changes are understood, the statewide Lyme disease statistics have little meaning. For example, the CDC data relied upon by Mr Shugarts shows a 70 percent drop in Connecticut Lyme disease cases from 2002 to 2003, but this was the result of a similar change in tracking methodology rather than some eureka moment in the fight against Lyme disease.

While I assumed that Mr Shugarts’ earlier reliance on this statistic was an oversight, it is difficult to understand why he would continue to make such a wildly misleading representation after his error has been pointed out to him. The issues of Lyme disease prevention and deer culling are obviously highly controversial, and our town deserves better than to have the debate concerning these issues poisoned through such inflammatory claims.

Mark Alexander

69 Aunt Park Lane                                                      January 14, 2009