Full Text of HR0841 101st General Assembly
HR0841 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Lyme disease is a growing national public health | 3 | | crisis; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by | 5 | | several different strains of bacteria that are carried and | 6 | | spread by ticks; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Those who are bitten by ticks and subsequently | 8 | | become infected with Lyme disease suffer from fever, fatigue, | 9 | | joint pain, and skin rashes and, in the most severe cases, can | 10 | | be afflicted by serious joint and nervous system problems; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, In the United States, 35,000 to 45,000 cases of | 12 | | Lyme disease are reported to the Federal Centers for Disease | 13 | | Control and Prevention (CDC) each year; the actual number of | 14 | | diagnosed cases is closer to 450,000 annually, as it is | 15 | | estimated that only one out of every ten cases of Lyme disease | 16 | | is reported; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Since the late 20th century, there has been a | 18 | | dramatic increase in the Lyme disease infection rate each year; | 19 | | Lyme disease infection rates have doubled since 1991, from 3.74 | 20 | | cases per 100,000 to 7.95 cases per 100,000; Lyme disease is | 21 | | one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United |
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| 1 | | States and the western world; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose; diagnostic | 3 | | tests analyze blood samples to look for the presence of | 4 | | antibodies, an immune response that may not be detectable in | 5 | | the blood until many weeks after the initial tick bite and | 6 | | infection; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Up to 60 percent of acute cases of Lyme disease | 8 | | are misdiagnosed; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Those who are diagnosed with the disease early and | 10 | | prescribed sufficient quantities of antibiotics may recover | 11 | | quickly; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, If the diagnosis is delayed or individuals are | 13 | | treated with insufficient antibiotics therapy, many experience | 14 | | late-stage symptoms that become chronic; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, A diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease for those who | 16 | | are not cured by antibiotics and who continue to suffer the | 17 | | apparent effects of the disease is controversial; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The newest research seemingly validates the | 19 | | diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease and suggests that heretofore | 20 | | unknown bacterial persister cells remain dormant in the body, |
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| 1 | | evading antibiotics and the immune system, before reinfecting | 2 | | the individual after the standard course of antibiotics has | 3 | | been taken; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Those who suffer from chronic Lyme disease | 5 | | experience terrible symptoms and often have difficulty finding | 6 | | treatment or answers; many are unable to continue working; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Public funding for Lyme disease research receives | 8 | | less than two percent of the funding allocated for researching | 9 | | West Nile virus and less than 0.2 percent of the funding that | 10 | | HIV/AIDS research receives, despite Lyme disease having annual | 11 | | case counts that dwarf those of both diseases; therefore, be it
| 12 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 13 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 14 | | we urge the federal government to allocate more funding toward | 15 | | finding a cure for the devastating and increasingly prevalent | 16 | | public health crisis that is Lyme disease; and be it further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That we declare May 2020 as Lyme Disease | 18 | | Awareness Month in the State of Illinois.
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