Maine is endemic for Lyme and tick-borne diseases, yet there is no funded state laboratory to check ticks for known infections spreading throughout the Northeast. Maine now has a referendum before voters to fund a bond to monitor human health threats related to ticks and other insects, as the state lacks adequate federal resources to monitor this growing problem. This is an important issue being voted on by Maine residents, as Lyme and associated tick-borne diseases have the potential to significantly affect the health of patients and negatively impact the states economy. In another state just to the south, the Vermont Department of Health reported several years back that 16% of the dogs had contracted Lyme disease in Vermont. When I testified at a Congressional hearing for the Vermont House and Senate last year on Lyme disease, I showed them data that the CDC considers a infection rate in dogs over 5% to be an emerging epidemic, and if 16% of Vermont residents had contracted Lyme, it would cost approximately 1 billion dollars out of their 5 billion dollar health care budget. Keeping that in mind, an 8 million dollar bond is a small price to pay for protecting the health of state residents, and monitoring an epidemic that is driving up health care costs. centralmaine/2014/09/30/supporters-say-new-lab-needed-for-lyme-disease-other-tests/
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 03:43:15 +0000
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