Speaker pro Tem Yee & the Lyme Epidemic

Thank you for publishing the good news that Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Leland Yee has taken on the Goliath, Lyme disease, in the state of California: ?About 220,000 Americans develop Lyme each year, making it the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States, yet only 10% of such cases are even reported,? said Speaker pro Tem Yee. ?It is imperative that we bring meaningful reforms to how we handle this potential epidemic.? January 18th, 2000, American Chronicle.

I only take issue with Rep. Yee's use of the word, "potential."

The fact is that Lyme disease and its co-infections (babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, bartonellosis) already exist by the thousands of cases in California. These tick-borne diseases truly comprise an epidemic at this time. Their multisystem, protean symptoms, however, encourage medical misdiagnoses so that Lyme (a brain disease) and its co-infections are usually under the average California doctor's diagnostic radar and are seldom counted.

Speaker Yee's legislative thrust highlights the problem and could help to bring the state's physicians up to speed. Those who love California's great out-of-doors may yet have a modicum of safety from the on-going scourge of tick-borne diseases.

Virginia T. Sherr, MD, DLFAPA