LDA’s 10th Scientific Conference Report

The LDA’s 10th annual conference, Lyme & Other Tick-Borne Diseases: 34 Years from Lyme, Connecticut Across the Nation held at National Harbor, Maryland on October 23, 2009, was a sold out event with more than 2/3 of the registrants involved in the health care field. Jointly Sponsored by Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, the conference awarded 8.75 Continuing Medical Education credits (CME) to doctors who registered to receive them. 

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Over the nine hour program, attendees heard from 14 faculty members associated with 10 different institutions, including Columbia, Harvard and Yale and two government agencies. Topics ranged from treatment, epidemiology, vaccines, dogs as sentinels, Babesia in the blood supply, Lyme cognitive issues in children to MRIs and other issues in the brain. Dr. C. Ben Beard, Chief, Chief, Bacterial Diseases Branch Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), was the keynote speaker with his Lyme Disease in the United States. Congressman Christopher Smith (NJ-4) made a guest appearance and spoke about the difficulties of educating Congress on Lyme disease and the progress that has been made in that area and with the Lyme disease bill, HR 1179. LDA presented him with an award for his almost 20 years of service to Lyme patients. Author Pamela Weintraub was also presented with an award from LDA for her book Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic, which was given a first place award by the American Medical Writers Association.