Will Ebola fears help Lymes sufferers be heard?

The way the CDC has been handling ebola fears has many citizens questioning the accuracy of claims made on their website. In the last couple weeks, more people have listened to me talk about lymes disease than any other time Ive spoken about it. Will the CDC's inability to provide accurate, science based claims actually help lymes sufferers? And what can we do to be heard?

I think the CDC is loosing some credibility. I don't think you'll see any resignations or shake-ups at this point. If Ebola becomes a collossal issue then you might. Any shake up at the CDC might be good, but I think it will take a long time for the country to recover if more cases happen. Then lyme gets pushed down to the bottom. The shear cost of the Ebola problem could cause a depletion of resources, they are already taking money from other government budgets.

But if the CDC gets ebola wrong maybe there is that resurrected fight that they got lyme wrong too.

I watched an episode of the Doctor's on t.v. yesterday - don't know what date it originally aired (I recorded it)

The fellow from the CDC was saying contradictory things - like you can't catch if from casual contact - only from body fluids. But, the one female Dr. on there (my favorite) interjected and basically said if someone sneezed on you, - that it you could get infected. Then the Dr. sitting next to her...touched her...and she said if he had any body fluids on him - including saliva...and she had a pimple that had been picked...she could get it from him.
She interjected a few times...basically saying that it is easier to get than what the CDC is telling us.
She questioned him on how there are cases of health care workers are getting it, even in their protective suits.
So we are getting mixed messages on how easily it is spread from one person to another.
It was good to see her speaking up about it.

I know in Canada, we are unprepared. A nurse from the BC nursing union was on our local news saying that our hospitals don't even have the full protection suits - and she showed a picture of what we have in the hospitals - lots of skin showing...on the arms and face...it's ridiculous. She said our emergency depts. need that protection gear by tonight...someone could be on a plane today...and be in the hospital tonight...with symptoms.

I think that Ebola is hurting Lyme. I am beginning to see panic in the streets and that is bad. They are going to find that Ebola can be an airborne infection and this is going to cause even more panic. People will be quarantined by the thousands out of fear.

So then, someone is going to mention Lyme and the thousands of people that are infected each month. Someone is going to say that that many people can't all be infected from ticks, that there must be other ways that people are getting infected. They will see that members of the same family are infected with Lyme. They will then assume that Lyme can go airborne and be contagious and people will panic.

So then what? I am so afraid that Lyme patients will get quarantined just like Ebola patients out of panic. How long will the quarantine be? 6 weeks while you take the CDC recommended dosage? How about if this doesn't cure it, will we then be segregated so we don't infect our family or co-workers?

Far fetched? Those of you old enough to remember the panic that ensued HIV infections back in the 80's will know this is true. Back when HIV first started, the infected were being put on lists that insurances and employers were using to discriminate. This is before the Internet. Can you imagine how easily it would be to gather a list of Lyme patients now?

Another example? Tuberculosis; in my town, a person with Tuberculosis was put in jail because he refused to obey quarantine orders.

History proves that people react stupidly out of ignorance or fear. Let's hope we Lymies don't get caught in the middle of that chaos.

Something else; the first case of Ebola was in 1976. Where have all of the scientists been all of these years? Not looking for a Lyme cure for sure.

Here are some numbers from the World Health Organization website: 2007: 413 infected, in year 2000:425 infected in 1976:318 infected and so on, and so on.

Boy, this really touched a nerve since I am oozing negativity today. My apologies.

One theory is that it is because of climate change. As far as mosquito infections, that is true. Here where I live the bees are dying from infections. This means that we humans are not the only ones being impacted from these infections. Birds are also being found dead from infections. It is so scary.