# Romney Policy Position: Vows to combat Lyme Disease **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 28, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192 "2012-09-28T22:48:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/21 "2012-09-29T03:44:32Z")
NM–same post as HL, but I left my preview window open for a half hour. Great minds. I never knew there was such consternation over the difference between vector-borne diseases. Stop. There shouldn’t be. If you want to define your kids as disease vectors (and I often do), go for it, but it’s a non-standard definition of the term. Not a non-scientific, a non-common-understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/22 "2012-09-29T04:47:07Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > So Romney is going to spend more \*\*\*government \*\*\*money funding Lyme Disease research??? > > He’s just another big-government liberal after all. I noticed the same thing. “Smaller government!” “Less spending!” “Here’s a list of my new programs.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/23 "2012-09-29T06:02:21Z")
To the vector goes the spoils! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/24 "2012-09-29T08:28:50Z")
I notice Romney stopped just short of accusing the President of being pro-tick. I guess he’ll do that at the debates. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/25 "2012-09-29T09:13:43Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > Down with vectors! Up with quaternions! And around and around and around with quaternions! I wonder why he picked Lyme disease in specific. [Is it because he’s going for the woo-woo vote?](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Lyme_disease) Between the mythical ‘chronic Lyme disease’ and all of the insane ‘alternative’ therapies (that is, alternatives to _real_ therapy), Lyme disease is a target-rich environment for people looking for idiots who think modern medicine is out to get them. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/26 "2012-09-29T09:16:51Z")
Am I really going to be the biology nerd to bring up fomites vs/ vectors? Yes, yes, I am. But I’m not going to tell you the difference\*, because I’m evil like that. Bwahahahaha! Colds and flus generally spread by direct contact \<—we’ve all heard that phrase, right? In bio-speak, most communicable illnesses spread through direct contact, airborne transmission or fomites/vectors. All of these are examples of horizontal transmission of pathogens. \*Okay, yes I will, because I’m also a huge lover of sharing information: fomites are inanimate objects, like tables, doorknobs, books, and hospital beds which infectious agents get on and live on until their next victim picks them up and gets infected with them. They also include contaminated needles and catheters and the like which, if reused, infect the next person. Vectors are living things which carry pathogens from one infected animal/person to another animal/person, but which don’t get sick themselves, and may even depend on the pathogen for its own health or reproduction. [http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/archives/ivm/ENG/Modes/routes.htm](http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/archives/ivm/ENG/Modes/routes.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/27 "2012-09-29T15:20:20Z")
In other words, kindergartners aren’t a vector of the common cold, because they get the cold themselves, too. Ticks are a vector of Lyme disease because, even though they carry the pathogens, they don’t get sick from them. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/28 "2012-09-29T18:29:12Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > I wonder why he picked Lyme disease in specific. [Is it because he’s going for the woo-woo vote?](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Lyme_disease) Between the mythical ‘chronic Lyme disease’ and all of the insane ‘alternative’ therapies (that is, alternatives to _real_ therapy), Lyme disease is a target-rich environment for people looking for idiots who think modern medicine is out to get them. Or it could be that Lyme disease is several times more prevalent than any other vector-borne disease in the US overall and even more so for Virginia in particular. Now if he had sent it to an area in which West Nile is currently hot, that choice would be a little more questionable. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/29 "2012-09-29T19:29:44Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > What would be funny is if Obama had made this statement about fighting Lyme Disease. Then Romney would have to be in favor of protecting it: > > “I condemn the president’s continuing prejudice against innocent viruses. I pledge to protect Lyme disease and set up special farms where it can live in peace.” 🙂 🙂 The image of little ole Lyme disease living on its own farm. Priceless! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/30 "2012-09-30T00:37:50Z")
According to ThinkProgress, [Romney is indeed going for the woo vote.](http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/09/29/930901/the-dangerous-conspiracy-theory-behind-mitt-romneys-lyme-disease-mailers/) ---
**Author:** ![checkedible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@checkedible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/checkedible)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/31 "2012-09-30T00:53:50Z")
I am so utterly disappointed that Romney would waste his time spending money to battle a disease which has left people incapable of walking and in need of constant medical care. Darn him. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/32 "2012-09-30T02:43:25Z")
Would that that were so, **checkedible** - but from all appearances, it’s less “Romney vows to fight terrible disease” and more “Romney pandering to quacks and pseudoscientists in order to get them to give him money”. ---
**Author:** ![checkedible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@checkedible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/checkedible)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/33 "2012-09-30T03:02:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Would that that were so, **checkedible** - but from all appearances, it’s less “Romney vows to fight terrible disease” and more “Romney pandering to quacks and pseudoscientists in order to get them to give him money”. That would be sad if true but not in the least bit surprising. Since when did he (or most politicians) have any other motive? Still it makes me like him a little more than I did (which was not at all), because there are many diseases which receive little or no attention losing it to other -also awful- diseases which are more frequently in the public eye, and hence struggle for funding and research. Anything that will draw attention to these is a positive step in my book. He could have been fashionable and gone for AIDS and cancer, both of which would have been admirable uses of his time and taxpayers’ money. But somehow I really appreciate that he didn’t, as fortunately there are plenty of others doing that already, and I’m sure Lyme disease sufferers were grateful too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/34 "2012-09-30T03:39:12Z")
Ironically, a good friend of mine contracted Lyme disease quite recently. She discovered a bug bite that had the traditional bullseye mark around it – nothing inside but a ring around the site. Of course, it was the fact that she had health insurance that made it so she could get it checked out. Like most of us, if she’d been suspicious about a strange mark she would’ve just ignored it if she didn’t have insurance. The worst thing is to discover you have a terrible disease while you’re uninsured – preexisting condition, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/35 "2012-09-30T04:57:01Z")
> [@checkedible](#): > > Still it makes me like him a little more than I did (which was not at all), because there are many diseases which receive little or no attention losing it to other -also awful- diseases which are more frequently in the public eye, and hence struggle for funding and research. Anything that will draw attention to these is a positive step in my book. He could have been fashionable and gone for AIDS and cancer, both of which would have been admirable uses of his time and taxpayers’ money. But somehow I really appreciate that he didn’t, as fortunately there are plenty of others doing that already, and I’m sure Lyme disease sufferers were grateful too. What he is doing, if you read the articles above, is pretty much the Lyme disease equivalent of saying that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, or that “Big Pharma” has a cancer cure and is suppressing it. I think legitimate sufferers of Lyme disease don’t _need_ the kind of attention Romney is bringing. ---
**Author:** ![checkedible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@checkedible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/checkedible)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/36 "2012-09-30T05:26:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What he is doing, if you read the articles above, is pretty much the Lyme disease equivalent of saying that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, or that “Big Pharma” has a cancer cure and is suppressing it. I think legitimate sufferers of Lyme disease don’t _need_ the kind of attention Romney is bringing. Ok…I’m readin’ it but I’m not seein’ it. He doesn’t say anything of the sort, that I can see. He talks about raising awareness of the disease and working with those who are in the best position to help the situation. Is it the rather inappropriate use of “synergy” that you’re looking at? Because that just smacks me of “politician using buzzword without really understanding what it means”. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/37 "2012-09-30T06:13:14Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I don’t think most cancers are genetic or vector-borne. Lung cancer caused by smoking, for example. no, cancers are genetic–they’re when the genes in your cells go haywire. And, yes, it’s a matter of a discipline changing the usual definition of the words. I wish they’d just make new ones. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/38 "2012-09-30T06:28:42Z")
> [@checkedible](#): > > I am so utterly disappointed that Romney would waste his time spending money to battle a disease which has left people incapable of walking and in need of constant medical care. Darn him. I’ll have to read more about it to know if this is a good proposal or not. It’s just that his campaign mantra has been all about cutting taxes and shrinking government, and now he promises some new thing he wants the government to do for everyone. As a wise dog once said, “it just don’t add up.” I think we should hold Romney’s feet to the fire and find out, before election day, what hard choices he’d be prepared to make. It’s easy to promise everything to everybody. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/39 "2012-09-30T08:18:16Z")
Over at ThinkProgress there is a pretty good piece on this, with interesting quotes from the flyer. > [@](#): > > …The Romney flier advocates providing “local physicians with protection from lawsuits to ensure they can treat the disease with the aggressive antibiotics that are required.” … What, perzackly, are “aggressive antibiotics”? Pugnacious penicillin? If this is a standard and recognized medical treatment, why does it need legal protection from lawsuits? The story appears to center around one man, a Mr. Michael Farris, who urgently wants action on Lyme Disease, as > [@](#): > > …Farris “claims that his wife is a chronic Lyme sufferer as are all his seven children.”… That is truly some extraordinary bad luck. I am not a doctor, but pending correction, I’m going to believe that this is very, very unlikely. And until someone clearly explains to me what exactly are “aggressive antibiotics” and why it would be necessary to protect doctors from lawsuits for prescribing them, I’m setting this firmly in the “looking askance upon” file. And finally this: > [@](#): > > …Farris’ wife receives treatment from “Dr. Joseph Jemsek, who moved his practice to Washington, D.C., after losing his medical license in North Carolina for treating patients with long-term antibiotics.”… WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192/40 "2012-09-30T08:20:10Z")
The long and short of it, as per the RationalWiki link above, is that Mr. Farris is a quack who is making money by selling a cure to a fictional illness (there is no such thing as “chronic Lyme disease”) which does more harm than good, and that the purpose of Romney sending out this mailer was to get him to donate to the campaign. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-policy-position-vows-to-combat-lyme-disease/636192.md?page=3)