answer text |
<p>The existing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance
supports primary care doctors in managing Lyme disease but to further strengthen the
evidence base we have commissioned NICE to develop guidelines for the recognition
and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018.</p><p> </p><p>Public
Health England (PHE) provides information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the
medical profession and the public, holds regular medical training days, and works
with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients.</p><p> </p><p>NHS
Choices also publishes information on its website to raise awareness of Lyme disease
and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of
Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection.</p><p> </p><p>The
number of human cases can be reduced by raising public awareness of how to avoid tick
bites, and by environmental measures in public places to reduce the long grass and
scrub which harbor ticks. PHE works with interested local authorities to raise tick
awareness, and has produced joint public information with local authorities in areas
such as the New Forest with a significant incidence of Lyme disease.</p><p> </p><p>The
number of laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales varies annually,
in 2013 there were 878 and in 2014 there were 730, but the majority of diagnoses are
made clinically by general practitioners and those figures are not recorded.</p><p>
</p><p>Patients with late or complicated Lyme disease may be diagnosed in a variety
of specialist clinics, and the numbers are not recorded. Based on the clinical information
supplied with the laboratory request, only a small proportion of the annual number
of cases fall into this category.</p><p> </p><p>There is no clear definition for chronic
Lyme disease, and no general acceptance of what the term means, so no data is available.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
|
|