Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what research they have commissioned into Lyme disease; and what investment they have made to support finding a cure for that disease.

Two studies on Lyme disease are being undertaken in association with National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Emerging and Zoonotic Infections Health Protection Research Unit. One is focussing on studying the evolution of disease in patients, and the second is examining the evidence of exposure to the Lyme disease bacteria in the English population by region, using blood samples from the NHS Blood Transfusion & Transplant Service.

Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics and patients typically recover quickly and fully. Guidance accords with best practice used in the US and across Europe and is based upon the available evidence. A number of private clinics offer expensive and complex treatment regimens, caution should be exercised when accessing these services as treatments may not be supported by scientific evidence.