The scourge of Lyme disease in the North West
TESTS provided for Lyume disease in this country are often inadequate, according to Dr John Lambert, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.
“The Lyme test is often negative, but patients can still have Lyme. A positive test is helpful to say that the infection is there, but a negative test does not rule it out. Doctors do not seem to understand this basic principle.
“There are other infections similar to Lyme and other strains of the Lyme bacteria that are not picked up, so patients will get sick following a tick bite, the Lyme test is negative, and they are told ‘ there is nothing wrong’ when indeed the wrong tests were done.
“Doctors debate whether Lyme can cause chronic infection, and argue over whether to treat with antibiotics for longer periods of time. Many are told just to treat for two to four weeks and no longer. But there is good evidence that it requires longer courses of treatment if the infection has gone chronic, or has been in the system for a long period of time.
“It is a poorly understood disease and there is a lack of awareness and a lack of studies to see how much Lyme we actually have in Ireland. No one really knows. I think Lyme is on the increase, but also patients are more vocal now and raising the awareness and not settling for a ‘ no’ answer. Patients are going out of the country to get ‘ alterative’ Lyme tests done, which are more sensitive than the antibody tests done here.
“Irish patients travel all over the world so they may be picking up the infections from tick bites here ( Donegal, Sligo, Galway, Kerry, Wicklow) or they may be bringing them back