Schumer Urges Feds To Implement Laws Increasing Research Into Tick-Borne Diseases

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Facing one of the worst summers for tick-borne diseases in the Hudson Valley, Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to double-down on efforts to fully implement new laws that will significantly increase research, vaccine development and treatment strategies to help eradicate tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease. Schumer said delays in federal action will enable newly emerging diseases like Powassan, which is even deadlier than Lyme disease, to impact the entire Hudson Valley region.

The Senate minority leader was speaking at Ward Acres Community Garden Wednesday, along with New Rochelle Parks and Recreation Commissioner Bill Zimmermann, Dr. Robert W. Amler of New York Medical College and Ward Acres Community Garden founders Joe Rogot, Stephanie Tomei and Maggie McGovern. [Get Patch’s Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts here.]

Schumer said he was urging HHS Secretary Tom Price to fully implement the “21st Century Cures Act,” which was passed last year, because the Centers for Disease Control and other tick-borne disease experts predict that this summer could be one of the worst when it comes to the population of ticks.

“Lyme disease and newly emerging diseases like Powassan are in a sprint to spread this summer, but the federal response to combat this trend is moving along at a snail’s pace,” he said.

“We must do more, and we must do more now to protect kids and families,” Schumer said.

Lyme disease is extremely prevalent in Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties, with more than 9,900 reported cases over the past 15 years. Westchester County has had just under half of those cases alone. Recent trends have shown that Lyme disease infections in Westchester and Rockland have been rising steadily over the past four years, reaching a peak for those time frames in the last recorded year, which was 2015.

Like Lyme disease, Powassan virus, or POW, is transmitted by ticks. However, after the initial bite, the disease usually takes one week to one month to reveal itself. People with the disease need to be hospitalized as soon as possible and immediately put on respiratory support and IV fluids.

While there are no vaccines or specific treatments for POW, there are methods for prevention, including staying out of wooded or bushy areas that contain high grass, the use of insect repellent/DEET, a bath or shower within two hours of being in a wooded area and full-body tick checks for yourself and any pets that were with you.

There have been approximately 75 cases of POW in the last decade, 16 of which were in New York. As of 2013, at least three Putnam County residents and one Westchester resident were diagnosed with the virus. According to a 2013 study by Dupuis et. al., the deer tick virus, a genetically and ecologically distinct lineage of Powassan virus, was identified each year from 2007 to 2012, in nymphal and adult l.scapularis collected from the Hudson Valley.

Schumer said that the legislation aims to continue to research methods for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases and establishes a working group to make recommendations on existing programs and research to prepare a report summarizing these recommendations, as well as current federal research efforts.

Ultimately, he said the bill aims to research, identify and treat the disease, as well as launch a national response to significantly enhance the Department of Health and Human Services’ ability to stop the spread of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

Photo credit: City of New Rochelle Facebook page.