Health committee  So far, there is no evidence that transfusion transmission to recipients occurs, even from people who are known to be infected with Lyme disease, so the answer is, there is no evidence at this point.

Health committee  There are several ways to deal with emerging infectious disease risks. I think the way of the future for most blood operators will be the implementation of pathogen inactivation, as I mentioned before. This is a way of treating blood products to kill infectious agents. As I men

Health committee  No, I said that there has been no evidence yet of transfusion transmission of Lyme disease.

Health committee  No, I haven't seen that.

Health committee  Many people who have been bitten by ticks don't recall it. If we did ask about tick bites, we might get a few people saying yes, but the majority of people—maybe even folks who have or have had Lyme disease—may not remember that tick bite, so it's not been found to be a reliable

Health committee  We test for HIV, hepatitis C and B, etc.

Health committee  No.

Health committee  Well, there would have to be a Health Canada approved test before we would be allowed to implement it. Let's get back to the Babesia question because that is of concern to Canadian Blood Services and to Héma-Québec. A couple of years ago we carried out a large donor prevalence

Health committee  I can't really comment on transmission through pregnancy. That would be better addressed by Howard.

Health committee  Thanks, Jean-Paul. As I'm sure the committee is aware, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease is Borrelia burgdorferi, which is a spirochete, a type of organism similar to syphillis but with many different characteristics. To date, there has been no evidence of transfusion tran