For those of us who are eagerly waiting to see research breakthroughs that have immediate effect on the incredibly painful and medical “no-man’s-land” of chronic Lyme Disease, it is discouraging to see one of the most successful not-for-profit advocacy groups, “Time for Lyme” dole out $25,000 to better understand the ticks digestion system.

Time for Lyme, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to research and education about Lyme disease, has been very influential in the development of America’s first Center for Chronic Lyme Disease at Columbia University’s Medical Center, has just recently announced that they have awarded a $25,000 grant to Dr. Robert E. Thach, Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis for his work on vertebrate reservoirs for tick-borne diseases in the central United States.

According to Dr. Thach, “Future development and implementation of strategies to control tick-borne diseases depend on understanding how these disease-producing organisms that ticks transmit are maintained in the environment. Through novel analysis of nymphal tick gut blood, sources of the tick’s previous blood meals can be identified. In so doing, primary and secondary reservoirs can be determined. Discovering the carriers of the infected ticks will eventually help design methods to reduce human exposure to them and consequently, tick-borne diseases.”

“We cannot omit prevention from our equation to solving the problem of tick-borne diseases”, says Connecticut-based neurologist Harriet Kotsoris, M.D., medical director of Time for Lyme. “After all, if we reduce disease exposure, the burden to diagnose and treat will be substantially reduced,” Dr. Kotsoris adds.

Meanwhile, although the suffering victims of the disease acknowledge the importance of such research, it appears to be far more important to develop a reliable test for the disease and/or a cure or vaccine.

It makes one wonder who is making the decisions on determines the most important research projects to help halt the spread of Lyme disease and cure those who are already disabled.

What do you think?