That's right, but as I said, some of the lab blood tests that people thought were reliable could come back negative when a person actually has Lyme disease.
One of the doctors I've spoken with, who was actually copied on a letter from the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Edward Carmode, is very clear that we ought to be able to trust that a doctor, looking at a patient in his office, can make a clinical diagnosis for himself or herself. With the right set of indicators, they could make that diagnosis and order a course of antibiotics, particularly when it's timely and it matters to move quickly.
I'm not going to jump into this discussion and suggest what doctors should or shouldn't do. I think the medical community is going to share its best information through the process of developing this federal framework so that everybody knows the guidelines and how to move forward. No doubt we could develop better tests than what we now have.
We need to be able to be sure, as you say, that there is not this terrible inequity. If somebody is feeling ill and they don't think about Lyme disease when they go into their doctor's office, it's the luck of the draw that the doctor is going to think of it. Sometimes the patient can be carrying a Baggie with a tick in it, and it's the luck of the draw whether they get a doctor who says, “Oh, how smart of you to bring me the tick, I'll have it analyzed to see if it has the bacteria”, or he throws it in the trash and says, “I think you're fine. I think you're down with a touch of the flu and you'll be fine in a few days.”
Right now, it's extremely spotty to find a clinician who knows what to look for, to find a lab that can do the test, and to get treatment quickly. So many people have to go to the U.S., which is really a harsh indication that our.... I mean, I believe in our health care system and I think we have a wonderful health care system, but this is an area that needs a lot of improvement because of the spread of this disease.