The full response can be viewed here http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page15023.asp

We were disappointed to read the response referred to above, as it repeats
almost verbatim the standard position on Lyme disease that has been adopted
by the HPA’s Lyme Reference Unit (LRU). In previous correspondence with the
Department of Health we have already demonstrated that much of this
information is unsupported or directly contradicted by sound peer-reviewed
scientific literature and the experience of patients across the world(see
https://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/lobby/index.htm under “LDA Statements and
Government Responses”).

To repeat this poorly-substantiated dogma without question is an embarrassment
to the otherwise good name of the HPA, and is a wholly inadequate response to
the rising number of sufferers of this potentially disabling illness. We are
contacted by a steady stream of people who have a clinical history consistent
with Lyme disease, and sometimes even positive blood tests, who are refused a
diagnosis and treatment by their ill-informed GPs. It is likely that those
who contact us are only a small proportion of the total number.

We call for urgent action to review the position taken by the LRU, to develop
UK guidelines rather than adopt the unsound and widely criticised IDSA
guidelines, and to undertake more research into this still poorly-understood
condition.

Lyme Disease Action is committed to promoting a scientifically sound view of
Lyme disease based on the best possible evidence, and would welcome a
constructive dialogue with the Department of Health.

Copies of this response have been sent to the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, and the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown

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