Please see the letter below sent to the Chair of the HB490 Lyme Disease Study Commission. It looks like the first online meeting (Zoom) will not be held until after the election.
---------- Original Message ----------
From: CARL TUTTLE <runagain@comcast.net>
To: "Gary.Woods@leg.state.nh.us" <Gary.Woods@leg.state.nh.us>
Cc: (16 Undisclosed recipients)
Date: 10/03/2020 10:27 AM
Subject: PDF file for the records of the HB490 Lyme Disease Study Commission
Oct 3, 2020
The New Hampshire House of Representatives
Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
Attn: Representative Gary Woods, Chair for the HB490 Commission
Dear Representative Woods,
I would like to submit the attached PDF file to be included in the records of the HB490 Study Commission as it is a compilation of facts/references gathered over the past decade.
I recommend reading this document prior to the first meeting.
The public and our medical community have been misguided by a number of inaccuracies from the US Centers for Disease Control and disseminated through the NH DOH Lyme disease website and Health Alerts.
Two examples:
#1. “.....approximately 70-80% of patients, illness first manifests with a red “bull’s-eye” rash.”
https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/alerts/documents/lyme-2015.pdf
In reference to the incidence of bull-eye rash, the state of Maine is reporting an average of a 48.25% incidence of rash-related Lyme over a four-year period (they've only been making this report for 4 years). See page 3 or 4 of each document below:
http://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/Rpts/rc155_5_r4_2009.pdf --- 2009, 59%
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/vector-borne/lyme/documents/lyme-legislature-2010.pdf -- 2010, 43%
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/vector-borne/lyme/documents/2011-lyme-legislature.pdf -- 2011, 42%
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/infectious-disease/epi/vector-borne/lyme/documents/2012-lyme-legislature.pdf -- 2012, 49%
I would like to point out that the lead author of the first study Dr. Gensheimer served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prior to her assuming her current position in Maine
All Tuttle family members progressed to late stage debilitating Lyme as none of us developed the bull’s-eye rash. Most people never notice the tick that gave them Lyme disease.
#2. “If a tick is not attached to your skin for at least 24-36 hours, your chance of getting Lyme disease is extremely small.”
https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/cdcs/lyme/documents/lyme.pdf
A. Clinical evidence for rapid transmission of Lyme disease following a tick bite
Eleanor D. Hynote, Phyllis C. Mervine, Raphael B. Stricker
Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease, online
before print, November 20, 2011.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2011.10.003
Abstract
Lyme disease transmission to humans by Ixodes ticks is thought to require at least 36–48 h of tick attachment. We describe 3 cases in which transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, appears to have occurred in less than 24 h based on the degree of tick engorgement, clinical signs of acute infection, and immunologic evidence of acute Lyme disease.
B. Patmas, MA, Remora, C. Disseminated Lyme Disease After Short-Duration Tick Bite. JSTD 1994; 1:77-78
Patmas and Remora reported on a case of Lyme disease that was transmitted after only 6 hours of attachment by a deer tick.
C. Lyme borreliosis: a review of data on transmission time after tick attachment
Michael J Cook
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4278789/
The claims that removal of ticks within 24 hours or 48 hours of attachment will effectively prevent LB are not supported by the published data, and the minimum tick attachment time for transmission of LB in humans has never been established.
________________________________________________________
Dr. Willy Burgdorfer said at a Lyme disease conference at Bard College in 1999 that about 5-10% of ticks that are carrying Lyme disease have a systemic infection and have the disease in their saliva and can transmit it as soon as they bite. He said, “There is no safety window.” That means that all statements that say it takes “at least” so many days or hours for a tick to transmit Lyme disease are false.
Source: https://www.lymedisease.org/kathy-white-cdc-phone-2/
Respectfully submitted,
Carl Tuttle
Hudson, NH
Cc: Gov Chris Sununu, Sponsors of HB490
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Below is the Table of Contents page for the PDF File sent to the Chair of the commission: (Personal Dropbox storage area)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cfgrq6m1y645q3b/NH%20House%20Bill%20490%20Lyme%20Disease%20Commission%20Oct%203%202020.pdf?dl=0
Table of contents for that PDF file:
_______________________________________________________
New Hampshire House Bill 490
Lyme Disease Commission to Study:
-The role of clinical diagnosis
-Limitations of serological diagnostic tests
-Available treatment protocols
-Appropriate methods for educating physicians and the public about the - inconclusive nature of prevailing test methods
-Available treatment alternatives.
Signed by Governor Sununu 07/14/2020
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Table of Contents (to assist the study)
1. Severity of Lyme Disease
- Severe cases making headlines ……………………............... 2
- Under our Skin Extended Trailer …………………………………. 4
- 2009 NH Tick Study-UMass Amherst ..................................... 6
- Senators seek status of Tick-borne Diseases Working Group .. 7
2. Evidence of Persistent Infection After Extensive Antibiotic Treatment
- 2017 Letter to past CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, MD …... 9
- Lyme patient Vicki Logan’s 1991 positive culture test performed by the CDC ……………………........................................................... 14
- Letter to the editor published in BMJ June 10, 2020 ……..... 15
3. Limitations of Serological Diagnostic Tests
- Your Lyme Disease Test Results Are Negative, But Your Symptoms Say Otherwise (IGeneX) …............................................................. 18
- ABSTRACT # 1254-Western Blot and False Negatives in Children 21
- FDA clears new indications for existing Lyme disease tests that may help streamline diagnoses ...................................................… 23
- Letter to Timothy Stenzel, M.D., Ph.D, Food and Drug Administration, Office Director ………................................................................ 24
- Seronegativity in Lyme borreliosis and Other Spirochetal Infections 27
- Updated CDC Recommendation for Serologic Diagnosis of Lyme Disease; Paul Mead …………................................................... 27
- Virginia passes bill requiring doctors to disclose that Lyme tests can be faulty ………………….............................................................. 30
4. Avoidance of Direct Detection Methods (culture, DNA/Sanger Sequencing, NIST, human tears)
- Letter to Senator Sue Serino …………………………………... 31
- Letter to Dr. Ben Beard of the Centers for Disease Control…. 34
- Letter to Dr David Dorward, Rocky Mountain Laboratories … 35
5. Treatment Protocols
-Single dose doxycycline as prophylaxis ………………….... 36
-Letter to Ian Smith MD, Executive Director of the Director-General's Office, World Health Organization ………………………......… 36
- 2011 publication dissecting single-dose doxycycline ……... 38
- Chronic Lyme Disease: An Evidence-Based Definition by the ILADS Working Group ...................................................................... 38
- 2014 ILADS Treatment Guideline ....................................... 39
- Effect of dapsone alone and in combination with intracellular antibiotics against the biofilm form of B. burgdorferi ............................... 40
6. Insurers Accused of Conspiring to Deny Lyme Disease Coverage ............................................................................. 41