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Lyme disease Victory in Maryland!

The Maryland General Assembly passed it's first Lyme Disease bill during 2016's legislative session. I was lucky enough to have an internship in an office in the MGA this semester and spoke with the sponsor of the bill, who is also my Frederick County district representative. Delegate Kathy Afzali represents District 4 of Maryland and sponsored the Lyme Disease - Laboratory Test - Required Notice Act, which requires health care providers to provide notice of potential inaccuracies in diagnostic tests. The goal of this patient-driven act is to ensure that patients are receiving accurate information about the tests used to diagnose Lyme disease, hopefully significantly decreasing the number of misdiagnoses. 

Today, only a month after the MGA Sine Die, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has signed this Lyme Disease - Laboratory Test - Required Notice Act into law. 


Taking affect in October, this law will require health care providers to provide the following disclosure to patients: 


“Your health care provider has ordered a laboratory test for the presence of Lyme disease for you. Current laboratory testing for Lyme disease can be problematic and standard laboratory tests often result in false negative and false positive results and, if done too early, you may not have produced enough antibodies to be considered positive because your immune response requires time to develop antibodies. If you are tested for Lyme disease and the results are negative, this does not necessarily mean you do not have Lyme disease. If you continue to experience unexplained symptoms, you should contact your health care provider and inquire about the appropriateness of retesting or initial or additional treatment.”

Providing this warning could help prevent the common occurrence of late-stage Lyme disease due to delays in diagnosing the elusive disease. Since early diagnosis is crucial in treatment of Lyme disease, this new law is a great victory for the Lyme community and Maryland as a whole. 

The passage of this bill is the result of hard work by Maryland Lyme advocates, NatCapLyme, Delegates Young & Afzali, Senators Young & Feldman, and Gil Genn, a pro-bono lobbyist. I hope and believe that this is the first of many steps towards a safer Maryland for Lyme patients! 



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