Lyme Disease

Lord Luce Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2015 Grand Committee

[Lord Luce (CB)]

My Lords, we should thank the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for raising this issue. I think I am right in saying that this is the first time that it has been raised in Parliament. That would not be surprising because compared to other diseases it is relatively new, and so little is known about it still. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, has highlighted the scale of the problem. My interest is not that of an expert. I must underline that point straight from the beginning. I am looking forward to hearing what the experts here have to say and, indeed, what the Minister has to say about this.

I speak as someone who knows a number of people who have Lyme disease, and I know how unpleasant it is. It is clearly very complex, as the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, has highlighted. It has spread to many parts of the United Kingdom. It is the largest tick-borne disease in the United Kingdom and it is also a serious problem elsewhere, including the United States and parts of the continent. It is a relatively new experience for us in this country.

To me, the key point made by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is the lack of knowledge on the parts of both the public and most of the medical profession. Indeed, it has been suggested that as far as the public are concerned, one in three people does not realise that they have a tick on them, or have had a tick. They would not know that they had this particular disease, or what caused the symptoms. We are told that earlier diagnosis and treatment is very important. If this can be achieved, the disease may still not be 100% safe but at least it is better than the second stage.

There are two areas where I would like to add to the points made by the noble Lord and ask the Minister to comment. The first is the position of the medical profession. As someone who campaigns on the issue of chronic pain, I have every sympathy with GPs, who very often are overwhelmed by pressure and demands. Here we are with another issue which we are asking them to pay attention to. Some of them probably never see, or have not yet seen, cases of Lyme disease themselves, so it is not surprising that many of them do not know much about it and may misdiagnose. I very much want to support Lyme Disease Action. The question of a regional service with specialist GPs was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. A regional service with specialist nurses and disease consultants could provide services and support for GPs in that region. Would that help the GPs to do their job more effectively? I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say.

My second point has also been touched upon. How do we help those who are not diagnosed early enough, or who for the reasons we have already discussed have fallen through the net and received no treatment whatever? We do not know how many are in this category, and I hope that more information will be made available in due course. We have already heard about the kind of symptoms that people face when they have had this disease for some time: flu-like symptoms, persistent fatigue, pain, and impaired memory. People can be affected for a large part of their life, or for many years. Indeed, they may lose their job—it is that serious. It seems to me that the great uncertainty is what is the most effective diagnosis and treatment for those who are suffering from this in the longer term. We ought to acknowledge the work of the Public Health England Porton Down laboratories, which provide specialist expertise in Ebola and Lyme disease. We should not underestimate what they do for us.

There seems to be a considerable dispute as to whether chronic and persistent Lyme disease actually exists at all. I know that some doctors can be dismissive of the idea and dismiss people with the symptoms we have been talking about. They quite often lash around spending money on researching what to do about the symptoms, perhaps without realising that it is Lyme disease, thus incurring quite a lot of expenditure for the National Health Service. I look forward to hearing from the Minister on that issue as well. Could we fund extensive research in order to find out more about it?