ARIZONA HEALTH DEPARTMENT BETRAYING PUBLIC TRUST WITH FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS

For years, employees of the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) have made false and misleading statements regarding Lyme disease and the ticks in Arizona that are vectors of this infectious disease.  The sponsor of this Petition, Tina J. Garcia, has evidence of these false and misleading statements in writing and will be submitting this evidence and this signed Petition with a letter of complaint to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.

The actions of the Arizona Department of Health Services is representative of many health departments throughout the United States and abroad.  U.S. health departments receive marching orders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through CDC epidemiologists stationed in each state.  Health departments and agencies abroad also follow information disseminated by the CDC.  To the detriment of Lyme disease patients, the CDC has lived up to its name by CONTROLLING the Lyme disease diagnosis dilemma and PREVENTING patients from receiving life-sustaining, antibiotic treatment.  Patient lives are being destroyed through the CDC's negligent actions, which extend to and are being carried out by state health departments.

With regard to the ADHS specifically, contradictory to 1991-1992 research conducted and published by ADHS epidemiologist, Craig Levy, Mr. Levy is breaching his duty to the taxpaying public whom he is obligated to serve and who pays his salary.  Mr. Levy's research established Mohave County, Arizona as an endemic county for Ixodes pacificus ticks (aka Western black-legged ticks which are known carriers of Lyme disease) and positively identified Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, in 4% of the Ixodes pacificus ticks in the Hualapai Mountains located in Mohave County, Arizona.  These test results were conducted using  Immunoflourescence Assay (IFA), an established Bb testing method that has been used to establish the pathogens in tick vectors in other states.

Occurrence of Ixodes pacificus (Parasitiformes: Ixodidae) in Arizona
Olson CA, Capp EW, Luckhart S, Ribeiro JM, Levy C.

"Adults and immatures of Ixodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls were collected by flagging vegetation and from lizards during a 3-mo period in the Hualapai Mountain Park, Mohave County, AZ, in 1991.  Collections were made at altitudes > or = 2,134 m.  Two of 48 gut-salivary gland extracts of adult ticks were positive by IFA using a monoclonal antibody (H5332) specific to Borrelia burgdorferi.  These are the first records of I. pacificus and of spirochetes tentatively identified as B. brugdorferi in Arizona."

Journal of Medical Entomology, 1992 Nov, 29(6):1060-2.

Tina Garcia requested copies of tick and rodent test results from ADHS in 2005 and 2006, and Craig Levy responded in writing with the following statement:

"Results of these efforts revealed no evidence of B. burgdorferi in the Hualapai Mountains."  (07-10-06 correspondence to Tina J. Garcia of Lyme Education Awareness Program)

When recently interviewed for a Phoenix newspaper article, Craig Levy stated that ticks that carry Lyme disease are not found in Arizona, contradicting his own research conducted 20 years ago:

"An epidemiologist tells New Times that Lyme disease is rare in Arizona because the culprit tick cannot survive long in low-humidity regions.  'We don't have the ticks here,' says program manager for the state health department's Vector-Borne Zoonotic Disease Program.  'If we could support them, they would have been here a long time ago.  But people are desperate to figure out what's making them sick, and they grab onto a Lyme diagnosis whether it's right or not.' "  (from New Times article A Young Woman Believes She Would've Died If She'd Continued Treatment for Supposed Lyme Disease from Chandler Clinicians by Paul Rubin, May 5, 2011)

Now retired Chief of Infectious Disease Services, Dr. Victorio Vaz, made this statement to Tina Garcia in an 08-15-05 letter:

"As you pointed out, the presence of these ticks has been demonstrated in Arizona; however, only in the northwestern part of the state.  More importantly, testing of both ticks and potential rodents in the area where they are present did not reveal Borrelia burgdorferi, the infectious agent.  Conditions in most of the state are not favorable to these ticks."

In addition, retired ADHS Chief of Infectious Disease Services, Dr. Vaz, in 2006 verbally informed Tina Garcia that the test results had been "discarded" and ADHS Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Program Manager Craig Levy verbally told Tina Garcia that the test results had been "shredded".

The ADHS and its employee, Craig Levy, are breaching their duty to the public, betraying public trust and are willfully disseminating false information to the public that has resulted and is resulting in denial of diagnosis and treatment to Lyme disease patients.  Physicians rely upon information provided to them by ADHS.  When a patient presents to a physician reporting symptoms from tick bite in Arizona (whether a resident or a visitor), patients are being told by physicians that, according to the health department, there is no Lyme disease in Arizona. Due to this false information, a Lyme diagnosis is not even considered, no tests are conducted and no treatment is provided. 

Also of importance is the fact that Arizona has the highest incidence in the U.S. of Erlichia infection from tick bites in dogs.  As was the case in Tina Garcia's experience from tick bite in Arizona, Erlichia was a co-infection along with Lyme disease that has caused severe illness and long-term disability, resulting in the loss of daily function, career, finanacial stability and her home.  Denials of treatment due to the false information given by ADHS/CDC are documented in her medical records and insurance denial letters.

Although Ixodes ticks do prefer moist areas, the fact that the vector ticks were found in an area with similarly low humidity levels to that of the Phoenix area negates the low humidity "reasoning" used by Craig Levy to support his false statements.  Humidity levels in Mohave, Coconino, Maricopa and Yavapai (the county where Tina Garcia was bitten) are submitted which show that, at times, the humidity level in Mohave County (Kingman area) is actually lower than the humidity level in Maricopa County (Phoenix area).  Therefore, Craig Levy's statement that Arizona has no vectors of Lyme disease due to low humidity does not stand up to scrutiny.

Mr. Levy's statements mislead physicians and the public into thinking there are no vectors of Lyme disease in Arizona.  Mr. Levy needs to be held accountable for his negligent actions and for betraying the trust placed in him as an employee of the State of Arizona.

In addition, bird and animal migration are establised means whereby vector ticks are spread to new geographical areas.  In 20 years, there is a reasonable probability that the established tick population may have spread to others areas of the state and even across state lines, as none of the states have any border patrol for ticks. 

By signing this Petition, I request that an investigation be conducted into the actions of Craig Levy, Dr. Victorio Vaz and ADHS and that an appropriate and adequate retraction and correction of the false information disseminated by ADHS and its current and former employees be made in various public venues to be determined with input from Lyme Education Awareness Program, a patient advocacy group.