Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
849. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Health his proposals to make the condition of Lyme disease more widely known to the general public and the medical profession including the causes of and the consequences of this disease; his views on the concerns of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19284/14]
View answerThe Health Protection Surveillance Centre of the HSE is responsible for the surveillance of notifiable infectious diseases such as Lyme Disease. The HPSC intends to establish a Lyme Borreliosis Sub-Committee with the primary aim to examine best practice in prevention and surveillance of Lyme Disease and to develop strategies to undertake primary prevention in order to minimise harm caused by Lyme Borreliosis in Ireland. This will involve raising awareness among clinicians and the general public.
Each year Lyme Awareness week takes place and it is taking place from 28th April to 2nd May. As part of this awareness week, a supply of information will be made available to the public and attention will be drawn to a Tickborne Disease Toolkit, developed by the European Centre for Disease Control, which is available on the ECDC website. In addition, this toolkit is being modified for local use in Ireland with preliminary material already posted on the HPSC website. The HPSC has advised my Department that the ECDC has acknowledged that Ireland is the first country in the EU to take and modify this excellent material for local use. Part of the work of the Lyme Borreliosis Sub-Committee will be to explore methods to highlight such preventive material with the media and the general public.
