Marisol Touraine’s plan against Lyme disease aims to avoid the feeling of abandonment and therapeutic wandering that patients face.
To answer questions from Lyme patients (around 30,000 in France) and professionals, the Ministry of Health launched a plan on Thursday. In 3 strategic axes, its ambition is to fight against diseases transmissible by ticks and the distress of patients who are victims of them.
This national plan firstly strengthens the information of the population and health professionals to prevent the appearance of new cases. On the one hand by the installation by the National Forestry Office (ONF) and Public Health France of information panels for walkers and hikers at the entrance to forests; on the other hand by setting up a “smartphone” application to report the presence of ticks, like the existing device for mosquitoes. An increase in information actions aimed at the population, and training of health professionals, on diseases transmitted by ticks (posters, leaflets, etc.) is also on the program.
A national protocol for diagnosis and treatment
The Plan also improves the diagnosis and care of patients to put an end to the medical wandering from which many suffered. Providing doctors with a standardized assessment describing the list of examinations allowing a complete diagnosis should remedy this. A national diagnostic and care protocol (PNDS), developed in conjunction with associations, to ensure standardized and reimbursed care for patients throughout the country will also be developed. But above all, it was the opening in 2017 of specialized care centers, bringing together all the specialties involved that caused a sensation. And boosted morale in associations. Although there is currently no budget or timetable, these centers will also be a place for training professionals.
Develop research
Finally, the Plan mobilizes research to improve knowledge on the subject. To do this, it will encourage the establishment of a cohort, made up of patients followed in specialized care centers. The development of research around diagnostics will for its part be carried out by the Institut Pasteur, and in-depth research will be carried out within the framework of “OH! TICKS ”. In a press release, the Ministry of Health recalls that this program aims to better understand all the diseases transmitted to humans by ticks, in particular by identifying clinical symptoms and providing tools for better patient care. .
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