8. To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidelines his Department has given to medical practitioners on diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. (243638)

Guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is provided to general practitioners and other clinicians by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and is published on the HPA website

www.hpa.org.uk.

In addition, the HPA’s Lyme Disease Reference Unit advises clinicians directly on treatment and patient referral as appropriate, through its nationwide links to experts in infectious diseases, neurology, rheumatology and other specialities.

24. To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to encourage faster and better diagnosis of Lyme disease. (243654)

The Department is fully satisfied that the diagnostic tests for Borrelia burgdorferi that are freely available to NHS clinicians are fully validated and offer the required level of specificity and sensitivity to accurately diagnose Lyme disease and that current guidance for clinicians on the detection and diagnosis of Lyme disease, as published by the Health Protection Agency, is entirely appropriate.

The Health Protection Agency's Lyme disease reference laboratory has been at the forefront of close international collaboration to improve diagnostic tests and to promote evidence based treatments.