I was selected by the HHS Tick Borne Disease Working Group to read a verbal comment on Monday Dec 3, 2018 at 1:30PM during the last on-line meeting of 2018.

December 3, 2018, TBDWG Meeting (on-line)
https://www.hhs.gov/ash/advisory-committees/tickbornedisease/meetings/2018-12-3/index.html

Assistant Secretary for Health, ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D. spoke at the beginning of this meeting so I decided to follow-up with him through the letter below. Do you think I will receive a response??

Letter to the Assistant Secretary for Health: 

--------- Original Message ----------
From: Carl Tuttle <runagain@comcast.net>
To: Brett.Giroir@hhs.gov, Alex.Azar@HHS.GOV, tickbornedisease@hhs.gov
Cc: (64 undisclosed recipients)
Date: December 4, 2018 at 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: CDC Track Record for Lyme Disease

Dec 4, 2028

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Attn: ADM Brett P. Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health

Dear Dr. Giroir,

I listened to the leadership remarks you presented at yesterday’s on-line TBDWG meeting and I wish I could share your optimism. I too spoke at yesterday’s meeting and have attached a written copy of my verbal comment in case you missed it.

Comment file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4pwrkiu84g230es/MY%20COMMENT%20to%20the%20TBDWG.docx?dl=0

Twenty-seven years ago the US Centers for Disease Control cultured the Lyme disease organism, Borrelia burgdorferi from the cerebrospinal fluid of Lyme patient Vicki Logan after Dr. Kenneth Liegner sent her CSF sample to the CDC in Fort Collins, Colorado.

A copy of Vicki Logan’s positive culture report can be obtained from the attached letter addressed to past CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, MD. I have also included links to the seven page autopsy report showing histopathologic findings consistent with neurologic manifestations of chronic Lyme disease. The destructive nature of Borrelia is evident in Vicky Logan’s liver (nutmeg liver), kidneys, heart, lungs and brain. The patient died after the insurer refused additional IV antibiotic therapy.

Letter to Brenda Fitzgerald, MD:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xaul84dqmqgbre0/Brenda%20Fitzgerald%20MD%20Director%20CDC.docx?dl=0

In addition, I have referenced a similar case out of Stony Brook Lyme clinic in the letter to Dr. Fitzgerald. The Stony Brook published study identified Seronegative Chronic Relapsing Neuroborreliosis despite aggressive antibiotic therapy. This study was published in 1995.

A PubMed.gov search for persistent Borrelia infection will uncover hundreds of cases.

The following pilot study recently identified chronic Lyme disease in twelve patients from Canada. All of these patients were culture positive for infection (genital secretions, skin and blood) even after multiple years on antibiotics so there was no relief from current antimicrobials. Some of these patients had taken as many as eleven different types of antibiotics.

Persistent Borrelia Infection in Patients with Ongoing Symptoms of Lyme Disease
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/6/2/33

1991 positive culture tests performed at the Centers for Disease Control should have set off a red flag but were ignored/suppressed for nearly three decades while the CDC financed Dr. Gary Wormser’s junk science focusing on the acute stage of disease avoiding the sickest of the patient population.

We are dealing with an antibiotic resistant/tolerant superbug deceitfully suppressed by the Centers for Disease Control and you expect the CDC to resolve this public health disaster?

Leaving this health crisis in the hands of the CDC is a grave mistake as we do not have another six years to wait for a new and curative treatment approach for late stage Lyme disease.

We need an immediate action plan with unprecedented resources to help the hundreds of thousands if not millions worldwide who have had no response using current antimicrobials.

It is time to tell the truth about Lyme disease and announce that you could become horribly disabled or die if not treated immediately as public outcry has been reporting for three decades.

Dr. Giroir, you claim that you received an unprecedented amount of emails in reference to the TBD Working Group/Lyme disease. Did you promptly reply to all of those emails?

I ask the following question in anticipation of your timely response:

With their deplorable track record, do you truly expect the CDC to resolve this public health disaster?

A response to this inquiry is requested.

Respectfully submitted,

Carl Tuttle
Lyme Endemic Hudson, NH

Cc: Alex Azar, II, Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services