Experts don't agree on best way to test for Lyme disease
Published Thursday August 13th, 2009
Health officials say there are issues with the way New Brunswick tests people for Lyme disease, even though the process follows Public Health Agency of Canada guidelines.
Dr. Scott Giffin, regional medical officer of health, said there are many conflicting opinions in the medical world about how to diagnose the illness that's most commonly spread through the bite of a blacklegged tick.
Giffin said the province recorded seven cases of Lyme disease between 1997 and 2007, but there were likely more cases that went undiagnosed.
He said the province follows the national standard, but that doesn't mean that every person who contracts the illness will receive a proper diagnosis through the testing process.
"Because of the nature of the disease and how it's treated, there may be other cases besides that," he said.
"We go by the Public Health Agency of Canada's criteria for making the diagnosis, but we realize that sometimes that strict application of the case definitions misses some cases."
Lyme disease is a bacteria infection that can cause a variety of symptoms that can come in stages. Those symptoms include headaches, fevers, a stiff neck, fatigue, soreness in different areas, joint pain and swelling, and can last for months or years.
The Department of Health launched a pilot project several weeks ago aimed at creating a community adaptation plan for the Saint John area where health officials have discovered an established blacklegged tick population.
The co-ordinators of the $125,000 program, which is possible because of a grant from the Public Health Agency of Canada, are thinking about developing new educational materials, such as posters or tick-identification cards, and creating online resources.
Saint John Portland MLA Trevor Holder said educating the public is certainly important, but more work has to be done to improve testing for the disease.
"We need better testing. We need more help determining what you do once you get it," he said.
"And we need a more provincial approach to this as well. The Department of Health, as a whole, and the minister need to be engaged in this and currently they're not."
He said there's talk about forming a community advisory committee to find better ways to protect public safety - something he fully supports.
"It's one thing to determine how to stay away from it, to identify how you may obtain it. But once you (know that), what do you do?" he said.
Holder said the growing number of cases in Maine and in other Canadian provinces signals New Brunswick needs to do something now or risk major problems in the future.
"We've had hundreds of cases over the last couple years in the state of Maine, right next door to us," he said.
"If we didn't realize this was a freight train coming towards us, then the Department of Health had its head in the sand."
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Thank you to Saint John Portland MLA Trevor Holder for pointing out that more work has to be done to improve testing for the disease. The Canadian Elisa and Western Blot tests are sorely lacking in accuracy.
Lyme disease did not become endemic in the Millidgeville area over night. People who have lived in or near the area in the last ten years and who are experiencing Lyme disease symptoms should see a doctor. A clinical diagnosis can be made.