Unacceptable that cases of Lyme disease missed
BY SHERI SOUCH, THE DAILY NEWS JULY 24, 2012
Re: 'Resources for chronic conditions are available' (Daily News, July 21)
Dr. Perry Kendall states that just over half of acute Lyme disease cases are treated in this province (60%) and that there were 200 cases treated in 2007.
Simple math tells us that out of 330 acute Lyme cases in B.C. that year, 130 were missed.
For a disease with serious cardiac and neurological consequences, this is simply unacceptable.
I was one of those cases missed in 2007. Even with tick attachment and a bull's eye, I went on to develop serious and debilitating symptoms that had me bedridden for months. I could not work or even look after my two young children. Five years later, after seeking treatment in the U.S. and financially devastating my family to achieve this, I am symptom-free.
Kendall and those at the B.C. CDC need to stop the damage control, face the truth, and get down to the business of protecting British Columbians from this preventable disease.
Sheri Souch Penticton
