Freeholders support Lyme disease legislation

Legislation that would advance the treatment of Lyme disease and help find a cure for it has received the support of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders.

“Our 9th District legislators are urging Congress to use its considerable resources to advance the treatment and find a cure for this debilitating disease,” said Freeholder Gerry P. Little, who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Health Department. “With Ocean County being in the area affected most by this disease, it’s important we support this measure.”

The freeholders have passed a resolution supporting the state measure, SCR-88/ACR-79 that calls upon Congress and President Bush to launch a comprehensive effort to treat and cure Lyme disease.

The measure is sponsored by Sen. Leonard T. Connors Jr. and assemblymen Christopher J. Connors and Brian E. Rumpf, all 9th District. The delegation’s bill was amended on the Senate floor to call for the coordination of efforts by the federal government to include the establishment of a Tick-Borne Disorders Advisory Committee within the office of the secretary of Health and Human Services.

The changes were recommended by the Lyme Disease Society, which strongly supports the legislation, according to a press release from the freeholders.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in the United States, Lyme disease is mostly localized to states in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic and upper north-central regions and to several counties in northwestern California.

In 2002, 23,763 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the CDC. Ninety-five percent of these cases were from the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maine, Maryland, Massachu-setts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

In Ocean County, the state confirmed 134 new cases of Lyme disease in 2002, while the Ocean County Health Department reported 159 new cases in 2003 and 225 cases in 2004. The 2003 and 2004 numbers have not yet been confirmed by the state.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the nation and continues to be a rapidly emerging infectious disease. Individuals who live or work in residential areas surrounded by tick-infested woods or overgrown brush are at risk of getting Lyme disease. Persons who work or play in their yard, participate in recreational activities away from home such as hiking, camping, fishing and hunting, or engage in outdoor occupations, such as landscaping, brush clearing, forestry, and wildlife and parks management in endemic areas may also be at risk of getting Lyme disease, according to the CDC.