Lyme disease is a terrible disease and also the fastest growing epidemic in the world; difficult to detect and treat. Too little money, treatment options and social attention ensure that patients are left to their own devices. To denounce this, a group of Lyme patients is campaigning for the SOS Lyme Epidemic .On the eve of the Week of Tick 2019, a new Lyme documentary – which patients have made themselves- will be launched SOS, “an invisible epidemic” by director Pim Giel.Lyme disease is an infectious disease with a greater impact than we all think. The WHO even speaks of a new epidemic. International experts are now successful with a new international guideline (ILADS) for the treatment of chronic Lyme disease. But this is hardly recognized in the Netherlands and Belgium by politics, science and health insurers. As a result, patients are deprived of treatment, care and other facilities; in fact, they are left to their own devices. Only patients with sufficient personal money can go abroad for this. Patients themselves often have no money (anymore) for a treatment and are becoming increasingly ill. Sometimes resulting in death or euthanasia.

CAMPAIGN LYME PATIENTS FOR RECOGNITION OF CHRONIC LYME DISEASE

In the Netherlands and Belgium, a group of thousands of Lyme patients are taking action to ask the general public for attention and recognition for the dire situation they are in. With the (media) campaign SOS Lyme Epidemic , they are fighting for a breakthrough in the deadlock of treatment of chronic Lyme disease and for breaking the injustice. Various benefit campaigns and the petition https://iladsvoorlyme.petities.nl are part of this campaign, which is supported by ambassadors and former Lyme patient actor Miro Kloosterman, rapper / singer Pete Philly and in Belgium politician John Crombez and presenter Roos van de Acker .The patients are working hard – with the help of Nicolette van Dam, among others – to collect the necessary 40,000 signatures to present to parliament in May – the Lyme awareness month.