Public Health Agency of Canada receives critical review of revisions to Lyme information on their publicly funded website.
September 4, 2020
This critique is a collaborative effort of several groups/organizations that represent Canadians living Lyme disease in response to PHAC’s call for feedback.
This was our response to the request for input of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The final decisions on the content which will be incorporated currently lie with unknown decision-makers. For there to be real collaboration with all members the Lyme Disease Multi-disciplinary Roundtable, the final draft should be shared for final review prior to publication.
Contributors to this review are…
Jim Wilson/Janet Sperling
President/Director, Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation
Jennifer Wheeler
Lanark Fights Lyme
Sue Faber
Co-founder and President, LymeHope
Janet Higgins
Founding President, LymeNB
Ellen Hohs
President, Lyme Ontario
Donna Lugar
Founder, NS Lyme Support Group
Linda Kelso
Co-founder, Ontario Lyme Alliance
Great job! Clear and succinct – We can only hope to get an equally responsible reply.
Outstanding Critique! You not only told PHAC what they got wrong but how to fix it. Let’s hope they will listen. Thank you for such a thorough, high-quality response!
BCLyme is behind you 100%.
Addendum to Pregnancy, Maternal/ Fetal Lyme Borreliosis
The 1985 report by Peter Schlesinger, Barbara Burke, Paul Duray and .. Allen C Steere is Noteworthy.
A live borne infant succumbed at 39 hours after delivery from disseminated Lyme borreliosis and cardiopulmonary failure.
Spirochetes were visualized in autopsy tissues.
This case was contracted in Minnesota.
Lessons learned: 1. Lyme disease infected mother
Transmitted borrelia across the placenta to infect her unborne Fetus. 2. Overwhelming multi- organ system
Borrelia infection was documented by autopsy.
( Spleen, Kidney, Bone Marrow)
3.Congenital heart disease ( hypoplastic right heart)
Was associated with identification of Borrelia in the autopsy heart ( MacDonald 1989- Rheumatic Disease Clinics of North America , W. B. Saunders Pub,
“Gestational Lyme Borreliosis- Implications for the Fetus)
Alan MacDonald in 1985 described a stillborn full term infant with congenital heart disease ( Ventriculoseptal defect). Disseminated Borrelia infection in the fetal autopsy confirmed by Immunohistochemistry
Found Borrelia spirochetes in The following organs:
Heart, Liver, Brain, adrenal gland. The placenta contained Borrelia spirochetes. The mother
Was infected in Utah where she developed classic
Erythema migrans in the first trimester of the pregnancy. She received no diagnosis and was not treated with antibiotics. After delivery of her stillborn Fetus, her postpartum blood was positive for
Antibodies to Borrelia Burgdorferi at the following reference laboratories: positive results at the New York State Department of Health, positive results at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( IFA AND ELISA). It is noteworthy that a split specimen of her postpartum blood was reported as NEGATIVE FOR
ANTIBODIES TO BORRELIA BURGDORFERI AT
YALE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ( Allen C. Steere, MD)
Excellent!! Down with the AMMI, the CDC and the IDSA!