[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 158 (Wednesday, November 10, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14552-S14553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. 
        Lieberman, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Lautenberg):
  S. 1905. A bill to establish a program to provide for a reduction in 
the incidence and prevalence of Lyme disease; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.


                  the lyme disease initiative of 1999

 Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, it is with great enthusiasm that 
I rise today to join my friend and colleague, the senior Senator from 
Connecticut, Christopher Dodd, in introducing the Lyme Disease 
Initiative of 1999. This legislation is aimed at waging a comprehensive 
fight against Lyme disease--America's most common tick-borne illness.
  I know that Mr. Dodd shares my sentiments in believing that this 
legislation could not be more timely or necessary. Lyme remains the 2nd 
fastest growing infectious disease in this country after AIDS. The 
number of annually reported cases of Lyme disease in the United States 
has increased about 25-fold since national surveillance began in 1982, 
and an average of approximately 12,500 cases annually were reported by 
states to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 
1993-1997.
  Every summer, tens of thousands of Americans enjoying or working in 
the outdoors are bitten by ticks. While most will experience no medical 
problems, others are not so lucky--including the 16,801 Americans who 
contracted Lyme disease last year.
  According to some estimates, Lyme disease costs our nation $1 billion 
to $2 billion in medical costs annually. The number of confirmed cases 
of Lyme disease in 1998 increased 31.2 percent from the previous year--
and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Many experts believe the 
official statistics understate the true number of Lyme disease cases by 
as much as ten or twelve-fold, because Lyme disease can be so difficult 
to diagnose.
  And Lyme is a disease that does not discriminate. Persons of all ages 
and both genders are equally susceptible, although among the highest 
attack rates are in children aged 0-14 years.
  The Lyme Disease Initiative is a five year, $125 million blueprint 
for attacking the disease on all fronts. In addition to authorizing the 
necessary resources to wage this war, this legislation outlines a 
public health management plan to make the most of our efforts on all 
fronts to combat Lyme disease:
  The Lyme Disease Initiative makes the development of better detection 
tests for Lyme disease the highest research priority;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative sets goals for public health agencies, 
including a 33 percent reduction in Lyme disease within five years of 
enactment in the ten states with the highest rates;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative fosters better coordination between the 
scattered Lyme disease programs within the federal government through a 
five year, joint-agency plan of action;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative helps protect workers and visitors at 
federally-owned lands in endemic areas through a system of periodic, 
standardized, and publicly accessible Lyme disease risk assessments;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative requires a review of current Lyme disease 
prevention and surveillance efforts to search for areas of improvement;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative fosters additional research into other 
related tick-borne illnesses so that the problem of co-infection can be 
addressed;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative initiates a plan to boost public and 
physician understanding about Lyme disease;
  The Lyme Disease Initiative creates a Lyme Disease Task Force to 
provide Americans with the opportunity to hold our public health 
officials accountable as they accomplish these tasks.
  This legislation is the product of countless meetings that Senator 
Dodd and I have had with patients and families struggling to cope with 
this debilitating disease. Although Lyme disease can be treated 
successfully in the early stages with antibiotics, sadly, the lack of 
physician knowledge about Lyme disease and the inadequacies of existing 
laboratory detection tests compound the physical suffering, which can 
include damage to the nervous system, skin, and joints and other 
significant health complications where patients go undetected, and 
hence untreated. Patients relate heart breaking stories about visiting 
multiple doctors without getting an accurate diagnosis, undergoing 
unnecessary tests while getting progressively weaker and sicker --and 
racking massive medical bills in the process.
  Although Lyme disease poses many challenges, they are challenges the 
medical research community is well equipped to meet. This legislation 
will enhance efforts to discover new information on and establish 
treatment protocols for Lyme disease. Thanks to the scientific research 
being conducted here in the United States and around the world, new and 
promising research is already accumulating at a rapid pace. We have a 
unique opportunity to help re-build the shattered lives of Lyme victims 
and their families, and I look forward to working with Senator Dodd, my 
colleagues, and the administration to accomplish this worthy public 
health goal.
 Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to join Senator Santorum 
in introducing The Lyme Disease Initiative of 1999, companion 
legislation to a bill introduced by Representative Christopher Smith of 
New Jersey. The objective of this bill is simple--to put us on the path 
toward eradicating Lyme disease--a disease that is still unfamiliar to 
some Americans, but one that those of us from Connecticut and the 
Northeast know all too well.
  Last Congress I was pleased to introduce similar legislation, The 
Lyme Disease Initiative of 1998, and to see a critical component of 
that legislation enacted into law. Through an amendment that I offered 
to the FY 1999 Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations bill, an 
additional $3 million was directed toward the DoD's Lyme disease 
research efforts. This was an important step in the fight to increase 
our understanding of this condition, but clearly much more remains to 
be done.
  Almost every resident of my state has witnessed firsthand the 
devastating impact that this disease can have on its victims. As most 
of my constituents know, Lyme disease is a ``home-grown'' illness--it 
first achieved prominence in the 1980s in the state of Connecticut and 
got its name from the town of Lyme, CT. And today, Connecticut 
residents have the dubious distinction of being 10 times more likely to 
contract Lyme disease than the rest of the nation.
  To begin to address this crisis, this legislation would establish a 
five-year, $125 million blueprint for attacking the disease on all 
fronts by bolstering funding for better detection, prevention, 
surveillance, and public and physician education. Additionally, this 
legislation would require the primary federal agencies involved in Lyme 
disease research and education to substantially improve the 
coordination of their efforts, in an effort to minimize duplication and 
to enhance federal leadership.
  In my opinion, money to fund Lyme disease research and public 
education is money well spent. Studies indicate that long-term 
treatment of infected individuals often exceeds $100,000 per person--a 
phenomenal cost to society. Health problems experienced by those 
infected can include facial paralysis, joint swelling, loss of 
coordination, irregular heart-beat, liver malfunction, depression, and 
memory loss. Because Lyme disease mimics other conditions, patients 
often must visit multiple doctors before a proper diagnosis is made. 
This results in prolonged pain and suffering, unnecessary tests, costly 
and futile treatments, and devastating emotional consequences for 
victims and their families.
  Tragically, the number of Lyme disease cases reported to the CDC has 
sky-

[[Page S14553]]

rocketed--from 500 in 1982 to 17,000 in 1998. In the last year alone, 
the number of infected individuals rose 25%. And these cases represent 
only the tip of the iceberg. Several new reports have found that the 
actual incidence of the disease may be ten times greater than current 
figures suggest.
  While continuing to fight for additional funding for research into 
this disease, it is also critical that we ensure that current and 
future federal resources for Lyme disease are used wisely and in the 
best interest of the individuals and families affected by this 
condition. To that end, I intend to ask the General Accounting Office 
to review current federal funding priorities for Lyme disease.
  I truly look forward to the day when Lyme disease no longer plagues 
our nation and view The Lyme Disease Initiative of 1999 as a critical 
step toward that goal. I urge my colleagues to support this 
legislation.
                                 ______