The congress of the International Lyme Disease Society opens in Paris, in a country where a fight plan is being built that is highly regarded internationally.
We know her by name. In detail, that is another matter. The more closely we scrutinize Lyme disease, the more we measure the depth of the questions surrounding it. Badly diagnosed, badly taken care of, badly reimbursed, badly understood… To have Lyme disease is to suffer the double penalty; wipe out its symptoms and the failures of modern medicine.
On May 19 and 20, the International Society of Lyme Disease and Associated Diseases (ILADS) is holding its annual conference. It takes place in Paris, in a country that shows its willingness to fight against this disease and improve its care.
A difficult consensus
This fight is materialized in particular through the national plan to fight Lyme disease and diseases transmissible by ticks, launched on September 29 by the former Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine. This plan provides for multidisciplinary consultation to advance research and review diagnostic and treatment protocols.
Professor Christian Perronne, head of the infectious disease department at Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches, is one of the spearheads in the fight against the disease. He participates in the drafting of this plan. “Currently, the working group is advancing on diagnostic recommendations and on treatments,” he told Friday. Why Doctor, while recognizing that it might be difficult to reach “a real consensus”, in the absence of “solid scientific data in some areas”.
“We do not all necessarily agree, but opinions will undoubtedly converge on a common approach,” he added. Otherwise, the recommendations could offer several options.
29,000 cases each year
Prof. Perronne also organizes the ILADS congress in Paris. “What is happening in France at the political and media levels is very watched in the world, in Europe and North America in particular, because it is exemplary”, he explains again.
If France is investing so much, it is also because the disease is severely affecting its territory. The annual number of new cases in France stands at 29,000, with an estimated average annual incidence of 46 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Large disparities exist between regions, with estimated high incidences (> 100 cases / 100,000) in the East and the Center, and low (<50 / 100,000) in the West and South Mediterranean, according to InVS data (National Institute for Health Watch).
This Saturday, for the national day against Lyme disease, 17 cities in France organized awareness and prevention actions.
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