From:                                                       NCEZID OD (CDC) [[email protected]]

Sent:                                                         Monday, November 30, 2015 11:16 AM

To:                                                            [email protected]

Subject:                                                   Direct Reply from CDC

 

Mr. Bruce Alan Fries

President, Patient Centered Care Advocacy Group

3320 Belle Cote Drive

Burtonsville, Maryland  20866

 

Dear Mr. Fries:

 

Thank you for your letter to Dr. Thomas Frieden regarding your Citizen Petition for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to end preferential treatment of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. CDC shares your concern that Lyme disease patients should receive the best possible diagnosis and treatment to prevent suffering.

 

Promoting early and accurate diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease remains one of the highest priorities of CDC’s Lyme disease program. CDC believes that IDSA guidelines currently represent the best available synthesis of the medical literature on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. We are aware that IDSA is working on updates to its guidelines, but our agency is not involved in this effort.

 

In regard to the Citizen Petition, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the general public may petition federal agencies for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule (5 USC § 553(e)). The APA defines a rule as “the whole or a part of an agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy...” (5 USC § 551(4)). The Citizen Petition does not make a request that is related to this definition of a rule.

 

We appreciate your concern for this important public health issue.

 

Sincerely,

 

Beth P. Bell, MD, MPH

Director

National Center for Emerging

  and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

 

*****

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If you have additional questions, please contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by mail (1600 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30333), by phone [800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636); TTY: (888) 232-6348], or by email ().