Archive for the ‘Lyme’ Category

Federal Roundtable Lyme Disease Reflections

By Project Lyme

Federal Roundtable Reflections

On December 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a public roundtable, “Invisible Illness: Leading the Way with Lyme Disease,” bringing renewed federal attention to Lyme disease and related tick-borne illnesses. The discussion was moderated by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who shared personal family experiences with Lyme disease—including his own uncomplicated recovery, a son who experienced Lyme-induced Bell’s palsy, and another who continues to live with chronic Lyme disease.

Secretary Kennedy’s statement that the “gaslighting of Lyme patients is over” marked a notable shift in tone and approach, signaling a federal commitment to patient-centered care, scientific rigor, and collaboration across government, medicine, and advocacy. For a community that has long struggled to be seen and believed, this visibility matters.

Participants included senior HHS leadership such as CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya; Members of Congress, including Senator Susan Collins (ME), Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA), and Congressman Chris Smith (NJ); as well as patients, advocates, clinicians, researchers, and innovators. Project Lyme was represented by Executive Director Michelle Cuevas and Board Chair Ali Moresco.

The conversation emphasized Lyme disease as an often-overlooked invisible illness, highlighting persistent challenges related to diagnosis, access to care, and the validation of patient experiences. Key announcements included the renewal of the LymeX Innovation Accelerator—a major public-private partnership with the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation focused on advancing diagnostic tools—and clarification that Medicare coverage includes Lyme-related care, including guidance on chronic care management.

HHS reaffirmed four core priorities closely aligned with Project Lyme’s mission: strengthening medical education, investing in innovation, expanding prevention and public awareness, and improving insurance coverage. There was explicit recognition of the complexity and persistence of Lyme disease, including infection-associated chronic conditions, alongside a call to address stigma and misinformation.

HHS also unveiled an updated centralized federal Lyme disease website, signaling increased national coordination. As we look ahead, this moment presents an opportunity to align priorities, partnerships, and resources to advance focused, actionable solutions that drive meaningful and lasting change.

http://

Lyme Disease Roundtable

Dec. 15, 2025

Secretary Kennedy Convenes Lyme Disease Patients and Providers to Announce New Diagnostic Efforts

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme

RFK Jr. To Lead Lyme Disease Roundtable Today: December 15, 2025

https://www.lymedisease.org/hhs-lyme-roundtable-dec15/

RFK Jr. to lead Lyme disease roundtable on December 15

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a roundtable discussion titled Invisible Illness — Leading the Way with Lyme Disease, scheduled for December 15, from 2:00–4:30 PM Eastern Time / 11:00 AM–1:30 PM Pacific Time.

The event will be broadcast live to the public on the HHS YouTube channel:

http://
 

Lyme Disease Round Table

The session will be convened by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., along with senior HHS leadership, Members of Congress, clinicians, researchers, innovators, and patient advocates.

The roundtable will focus on several topics, including:

  • Early detection of Lyme disease
  • Coordinated care approaches
  • Next-generation diagnostic tools
  • Federal priorities for Lyme disease and related chronic conditions

Organizers note that the conversation will highlight the roles of researchers, transparency in decision-making, and patient participation in shaping solutions.

SOURCE: US Department of Health and Human Services

For more:

 
 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment

Investigation into U.S. Military Bioweapons-Origin of Tick-Borne Lyme Disease Successfully Added to 2026 National Defense Authorization Act

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/investigation-into-us-military-bioweapons?

Investigation Into U.S. Military Bioweapons-Origin of Tick-Borne Lyme Disease Successfully Added to 2026 National Defense Authorization Act

U.S. Representative Chris Smith says we are now “one step closer to finally determining whether the U.S. government’s bioweapons program contributed to the proliferation of Lyme disease.”

Jon Fleetwood
Dec 12, 2025

U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) has successfully included his amendment to investigate whether the U.S. military weaponized ticks with Lyme disease into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The ordeal underscores the national security threat posed by laboratory pathogen manipulation.

Rep. Smith, who is Co-Chair of the Congressional Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Caucus, had offered similar amendments—one in 2019 and the other in 2021—which passed the House, but failed in the Senate.

The successful addition of the amendment follows FDA Chief Dr. Marty Makary’s statements  during a November podcast, in which Makary expressed his belief that Lyme disease was created in U.S. military Lab 257 on Plum Island, New York.  (See link for article)

________________

**Comment**

Go here to hear Makary state it is highly likely Lyme came from Plum Island – just off the shore of Connecticut, where the first outbreak is recorded.

Smith states his amendments were inspired by Kris Newby’s book, “Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons.”  Here’s a clip of her stating she met a CIA black ops guy who stated that the strangest thing he’d ever done in 1962 which was coined, “Operation Mongoose,” was drop poison ticks on Cuban sugar cane workers.  She also explained how a military ‘bean counter’ stated, “We can kill 10,000 people at $1.33 per life,” regarding bioweaponized Tularemia, which is transmitted spread by ticks.

Here, this podcaster Mike Benz explains it was the very same Rocky Mountain Laboratories where Willy Burgdorfer experimented on infecting ticks with various pathogens that also more recently experimented on bats with COVID.

Category:

Activism, Lyme

FDA Chief Says Lyme Disease Came From U.S. Military Lab 257 & Suggests HIV Came From African Lab

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/fda-chief-says-lyme-disease-came

FDA Chief Says Lyme Disease Came from U.S. Military Lab 257, Suggests HIV Came from African Lab (Video)

“It came from Lab 257 on Plum Island.”

Jon Fleetwood
Nov 27, 2025

In a stunning exchange on the PBD Podcast (Episode 690), U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs (FDA) Dr. Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon, dropped two bombshell admissions about pathogen origins—one about HIV, the other about Lyme disease.

Dr. Makary openly entertained the possibility that HIV “may very well have come from a lab in Africa,” saying the film Thank You, Dr. Fauci “explore[s] a non-traditional narrative, which has not gotten the attention it deserves.”

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is said to be a retrovirus that targets and destroys CD4 T cells in the immune system, weakening the body’s ability to fight infections and potentially leading to AIDS if untreated.

When asked where Lyme disease originated, Makary answered directly: “I can tell you with a high degree of probability. It came from Lab 257 on Plum Island.”

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted through bites from infected blacklegged ticks, often marked by an expanding “bull’s-eye” rash, fever, fatigue, and joint pain.

The head of the FDA has admitted that two major diseases originated not in nature, but in government laboratories, raising questions about other disease origins.  (See link for article)

________________

**Comment**

Here’s the brief 5 minute portion of the interview pertaining to HIV and Lyme.  Scroll to 2:44 hear the bit on Lyme disease.  Go here for entire interview.

For years, Lyme advocates have been gaslit for stating the exact same words Makary said.

In fact, after waiting an entire year for Representative Chris Smith‘s (R-NJ) proposed amendment passed by the House of Representatives directing the government’s ‘watchdog’ agency to investigate the DOD’s possible weaponization of ticks and other insects with Lyme disease, the inspector general at the Pentagon didn’t have the bandwidth to launch an investigation. (Translation – I don’t have any balls and I’m passing the football to someone else), so then it headed to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  Ultimately, the Senate rejected the amendment for the GAO to investigate whether Lyme came from a Pentagon research laboratory

And despite an investigation into five NJ school districts revealing devastating effects of Lyme disease on the children there, cries have fallen on deaf ears.  The CDC refused to publish the school study despite telling the advocate that they would.

So while Makary affirms what we all know, the following problems remain:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Treatment

Public ILADS Webinar in December

https://mailchi.mp/ilads.org/upcoming-webinar-with-dr-tom-moorcroft-

ILADS WEBINAR

Wednesday, December 17, 7 PM ET/4 PM PT

At the Frontlines of Chronic Illness:
Conversations with ILADS Experts
Join us on Wednesday, December 17 at 7 PM ET for a public webinar, bringing together leading voices in the field of Lyme disease to answer your most pressing questions and provide clarity on some of the most misunderstood illnesses of our time.

This dynamic conversation will feature an expert panel of ILADS member clinicians and specialists: Eboni Cornish, MD, Chris Winfrey, MD, Melanie Stein, ND, Nicole Bell and Tania Dempsey, MD. Whether you’re a patient, caregiver, or simply curious about Lyme disease and other infection associated chronic conditions and their impact, this webinar is designed to empower you with knowledge, guidance, and hope.

This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from experts at the forefront of integrative and personalized Lyme care. This webinar is a part of supporting ILADS and ILADEF this holiday season. If you are able, please consider making a donation to ILADEF this holiday season. Your gift opens the door to knowledge that heals.
REGISTER NOW

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Uncategorized