Lyme gets some federal help

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said he will ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign a state bill that passed this year to let physicians use long-term antibiotic therapy for patients with symptoms of chronic Lyme disease without fear of retribution from government regulators.

Schumer spoke Thursday with the Poughkeepsie Journal.

The state bill was passed by the Assembly and by the Senate, and is among those awaiting attention from Cuomo, whose signature would make it law.

Schumer said he had talked with state legislators about the bill and planned to meet further with them. "We will say publicly that the governor should sign it."

Lyme is getting more federal attention.

Schumer said he got a dose of Lyme disease that he picked up while visiting Dutchess County in 2007.

"I saw this thing on me and I knew what to look for. I put it in a little plastic bag and I saw that night that I had the bull's-eye (rash). So I went to the doctor that night. And, you know, if you catch it within 14 days and they give you the medication you will beat it. But otherwise many people die," he said.

Schumer said what we need is to get the cost of a key medicine, doxycycline, down. Also, more research is needed. "But we don't have enough research on it and we need to do more research on it at the federal level; I'm pushing that," he said.

Schumer is also a co-sponsor and supports the Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Prevention, Education, and Research Act, a federal bill that would create an advisory committee within the Department of Health and Human Services to combat Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

This year, according to U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, the Federal Agriculture and Risk Management Act included a provision to allow Lyme disease to be included under Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. He said the move would "improve the research and development of surveillance methods, diagnostic tests and vaccines for tick-borne diseases like Lyme." Schumer voted for it.

On the Ebola threat, Schumer said, "There isn't a need for panic ... but we have to be very vigilant."

Screening at entry points in the U.S. needs to be upgraded, he said. Schumer said he thinks New York state's prevention protocols are good.

He did not endorse the notion of banning entry to people coming in from western Africa, where Ebola is rampant, because people would just go to other points before heading to the U.S.

On the ISIS combat operations in Iraq and Syria, Schumer said he does not foresee U.S. "boots on the ground" there and that the aerial attacks a U.S.-led coalition is conducting, along with intelligence gathering, is the way to go.

Funding support may need to be re-authorized when Congress reconvenes after the elections, Schumer said. The Senate returns Nov. 12.

Schumer plans to introduce a bill to defund the Federal Energy Commission's implementation of a "new capacity zone" for the mid- and lower Hudson Valley areas, a move that is raising electricity prices for all consumers in a bid to incentivize investment in new power-generating plants.

The House of Representatives passed such a bill, but it has no legal effect unless a similar bill passes the Senate and gets signed by the president.

On politics, Schumer said he did not think the Democrats would lose control of the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 4 election. Kitchen-table economic issues will kick in, he figures.

"So many people have jobs that don't pay as much as they did," he said.

Craig Wolf: 845-437-4815; cwolf@poughkeepsiejournal.com; Twitter: @craigwolfPJ