Earlier this year, Lyme patients, the New York State Coalition for Lyme and Tick-borne diseases, and the Lyme Disease Association/LymeDisease.org, joined by 57 Lyme groups from across the nation sent letters to Congress expressing their concerns regarding the IDSA guidelines review process. In response the House Bipartisan Lyme Caucus sent a letter to the IDSA and included both the NYS Coalition letter and the Lyme Disease Association/LymeDisease.org letter.
The House Lyme Disease Caucus Co-Chair Congressman Christopher Smith (NJ-4) has released a letter from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) regarding its new Lyme Guidelines.
History: LDA led the effort to get 57 groups signed on to a letter expressing concerns about the proposed IDSA Guidelines Development process which was sent to the Caucus. (Click here to read letter)
As a result, the Caucus sent a letter (Click here to read letter) expressing concerns and transmitted the LDA group letter to the IDSA. The IDSA quickly responded to Co-Chair Congressman Chris Smith that it would extend its time for input into the process by 15 days─ a concern expressed by the groups.
Update: Late last week, the Caucus received a letter (Click here to read letter) from the IDSA/AAN/ACR─ the 3 groups partnering in the new Lyme disease guidelines' development─ addressing the issues which were raised by the Caucus and LDA group letters. . .