A group of 70 patients with Lyme disease, an infection caused by tick-borne bacteria, will sue the Bio Mérieu laboratory which manufactures the screening test for the disease, as well as the French state. These patients are now suffering from sclerosis, deafness or must use a wheelchair because they were not taken care of early enough, for lack of a reliable test.
An underdiagnosed disease
In France, 27,000 people are diagnosed each year as carriers of the disease, mainly in the departments of Center and East of France, which are the most affected. But according to some doctors, and patient associations, these 27,000 patients are only the tip of the iceberg because the French screening test (the Elisa test) looks for antibodies directed against bacteria and not directly the disease. It therefore only reveals 30% of cases.
In Germany, on the other hand, the test is much more efficient, allowing to register (and treat) 300,000 new cases each year.
Faced with this situation, many patients from eastern France cross the border and take their test in Germany. But once the diagnosis is made, they find themselves alone with expensive care because the state does not recognize the disease.
Me Fouray, the victims’ lawyer, explains that “these are five new people” who grab it every day and who “each time share a human tragedy, a medical wandering and an abandonment”, hence the need, according to him, for group action.
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