Leading The Way On Lyme Disease

To the Editor:

I would like to express my appreciation to Congressman Chris Murphy for his leadership and sincere concern in addressing the seriousness of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases that are having a tremendous impact on the health and safety of the residents of Connecticut.

Congressman Murphy after listening to constituents throughout the Fifth District and having an understanding of the complex issues of tick-borne illnesses, signed on as a co-sponsor to Federal Bill H.R. 741, The Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education and Research Act of 2007.

This bill will improve surveillance and prevention of Lyme disease, the development of accurate diagnostic tests, physician education, and it will fund additional research to determine long-term course of illness and the effectiveness of different treatments. It also sets up a federal task force to coordinate the federal efforts to combat Lyme disease.

The congressman applied extra initiative to go beyond just co-sponsoring this bill. I am very pleased to announce that he has written and sent to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce urging them to hold hearings on this bill. He has also joined the Congressional Lyme Disease Caucus to join forces with other Federal Representatives concerned about the increasing incidence of tick-borne diseases.

In 1999 a survey by Danbury Hospital regarding health concerns ranked Lyme disease as number one among callers for five consecutive years.

As chair of the Newtown Lyme Disease Task Force, one of our first initiatives was an informal survey of 400 signatures from this area, revealing that two-thirds of individuals reported having personally had Lyme disease or someone in their family.

In 1999, a survey by Danbury Hospital regarding health concerns ranked Lyme disease as number one among callers for five consecutive years.

In April 2001 Millward Brown, the worldwide supplier of consumer research, did a survey regarding the presence of diagnosed Lyme disease in the towns of Wilton, Ridgefield, and Newtown. The results were 39 percent of households surveyed have some member who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Now in the year 2008, results from the Newtown survey initiated by Paul Lundquist of the Harrison Group, a nationally recognized research firm, in regard to Lyme disease were very disturbing. “Eighty percent of the households responding said at least one member had suffered a tick bite, and 48 percent said someone in their household was currently or had been treated for Lyme disease.” (The Newtown Bee, January 4, 2008). These surveys and statistics express the impact and warranted concerns of people infected by this disease and clearly points to the prevalence of Lyme in our area.

Tick-borne diseases are ravaging the communities and towns of the Fifth District. Too many of our family, friends, and neighbors have been severely affected and statistics indicate these will only increase with time. Lyme is a public health crisis in Connecticut and we are very grateful for the proactive, expedient stance that Congressman Murphy has undertaken to be part of the solution to stop this epidemic.

Sincerely,

Maggie Shaw

82 Eden Hill Road, Newtown                             February 19, 2008