US Lyme disease expert, Dr Richard Horowitz, spoke via teleconference at the Senate Hearing in Sydney, NSW on November 2, 2016. Below is his response to the Senate Inquiry into the 'Growing evidence of an emerging tick-borne disease that causes a Lyme-like illness for many Australian patients'. 'The Australian Senate recently held a hearing on tick-borne diseases in Sydney, and I provided testimony by teleconference with an associated scientific submission. Australia is mired in a political-scientific quagmire regarding Lyme, where some doctors "down under" are denying the existence of chronic tick-borne diseases. This has resulted in patients coming to me from Australia in wheelchairs, unable to get help in their own country. In fact, at the recent ILADS conference in Philadelphia, a man flew from Australia just to meet me in the lobby and discuss his wife's case because no one could help relieve her suffering! The dire situation that some Australian citizen's face is partly a result of the lack of adequate blood testing to diagnose the multiple strains of emerging tick-borne illnesses, and partly due to longstanding dysfunctional politics surrounding Lyme and associated diseases. New PCR technologies which are being developed will hopefully end the decades long scientific debate, however if we continue to ignore the science which shows the inadequacy of standard two-tiered testing, as well as the science proving the persistence of borrelia and other tick-borne diseases, we will be leaving a health care legacy of suffering and disability for decades to come.' On behalf of the LDAA we would like to thank Dr Richard Horowitz for his contribution toward the Senate Inquiry. Dr Horowitz's knowledge and experience is invaluable in supporting Australian patients suffering from chronic tick-borne diseases. We will be eternally grateful for his support.