(Newswire.net — May 3, 2013), New York, NY — People suffering with Lyme disease, and their family and friends, will join leading experts and physicians to speak out at a Lyme disease rally on Friday, May 10, 2013 in Union Square, South Plaza, from 12 – 4 pm. This event is aligned with rallies taking place in 30 countries and 29 states, marking the first Worldwide Lyme Disease Awareness Day.
The focus is to voice the significant impact that Lyme disease has on patients and their families, and to challenge the denial of a health care system that is largely turning a blind eye to the prevalence and treatment of the disease.
As spring is here, and people and their children venture to the beaches and the woods, the rally will also promote greater public awareness about Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, including how they are transmitted and where.
This is a public safety issue which is far more widespread and disabling than most people know. For New York City residents, it should be noted that Lyme disease-infected ticks have been found in all five boroughs of the city.
Speakers will focus on a range of key issues related to this under-reported illness, including the inadequate Lyme disease treatment guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society ofAmerica (IDSA), which negatively impact the treatment that many Lyme disease patients are currently able to receive. Patients are calling for the current IDSA guidelines to be rescinded, since they deny the very existence of chronic Lyme disease. Among specific problems that will be addressed are common misunderstandings about Lyme disease, which can be especially difficult to treat if not caught early.
Several speakers will present some of the groundbreaking medical research that proves the existence and seriousness of chronic Lyme disease, and will discuss some of the evolving treatment protocols that seem to be helping many patients with persistent cases of this illness.
Other topics will include: the need for improved diagnostic tests, the need for vastly increased funding toward the goal of research and development of more effective treatments, the need for more public education about Lyme prevention strategies, and the wide range of obstacles that many Lyme disease patients currently face in getting approval for their health insurance and disability insurance claims.
According to Dr. Kenneth Liegner, a New York physician who has been treating patients with Lyme disease for 25 years: “In the fullness of time, the mainstream handling of chronic Lyme disease will be viewed as one of the most shameful episodes in the history of medicine because elements of academic medicine, elements of government and virtually the entire insurance industry have colluded to deny a disease.”
The speakers list for the Union Square awareness rally will include doctors and other health care professionals who have been treating large numbers of patients with Lyme disease, as well as a number of Lyme disease patients who will describe their personal struggles with the illness.
Several of the most well-known speakers will include:
Dr. Daniel J. Cameron, former president of ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society), the main organization of medical doctors focused on treating tick-borne illnesses, Dr. Kenneth B. Liegner, a highly regarded New York physician, published in peer-reviewarticles, who has given many talks both nationally and internationally. Dr. Charles Ray Jones, the nation’s foremost Lyme-expert pediatrician, Dr. Andrea Gaito, rheumatologist, specializing in Lyme disease, and one of the original founders of ILADS, Dr. Eva Sapi, one of the leading researchers focused on developing new and better treatments for the illness and other prominent speakers.
Due to the serious nature of the underfunded, underreported and misunderstood nature of Lyme disease and it’s related health consequences, the first “Would Unites In The Fight for Lyme Disease” rally invites everyone to join them for the day to support and educate the public on the hazards of tick bourne infections and what to do about them.
For more information: Jill Auerbach http://www.empirestatelymediseaseassociation.org/
All press inquires should be directed to:
Vanessa Holden
212.517.2920