Poughkeepsie Journal to report on Lyme carditis deaths

I received this in my email today and wanted to pass it along. -Bob



Dear Friends and Associates,

Please share this with others.

Last week the CDC announced  information about deaths due to Lyme Carditis:
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/signs_symptoms/lymeCarditis.html

Once again Mary Beth Pfeiffer (of the Poughkeepsie Journal (http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/) is following up on this with a story which is so important for awareness of both physicians and residents!

Although the CDC reports this as rare at 1%, it may be more common than that. Even if only 1% that is at least 3,000 people when there are over 300,000 a year who contract Lyme disease. We need our medical community on heightened awareness to save unnecessary fatalities.

Additionally, 17 year old honor student Joseph Elone's death attributed to tick-borne disease was front page news in this region in Aug. and Sept. Then we heard nothing more. I hope Mary Beth has an answer for us about what happened to him. If it was Lyme disease, the BIG question we will never know, would his death have been avoided by treatment? Joesph lies in a grave, perhaps a tragedy that could have been avoided for him and his grieving family!

Thanks to the CDC and Mary Beth for bringing awareness to this serious symptom caused by the Lyme spirochete! Let's save lives and let's get these cases reported so we know the true incidence of sudden death from Lyme carditis!

Get Monday's newspaper or online version. Thank the reporter by recommending and commenting. Much gratitude to the CDC for bringing awareness to this!

I always have to add: It is well past time for our government to focus on serious research to reduce tick numbers or STOP their ability to transmit disease pathogens to us (Such research is no longer funded by the NIH. Does that make any common sense? No, of course not!)

Wishing you all the Joys of the Holidays and a Happy, HEALTHIER New Year!

Jill Auerbach
Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association, Chairperson
Dutchess County Legislative Task Force on Tick and Lyme Disease Reduction, Member
Stop Ticks On People (S.T.O.P.), Board Member
"What's the problem? Well it's the ticks of course!"
PS: If the story does not cover all the other links about this. I will follow up with additional information the CDC sent to myself and others on this topic.