Update for Patients and Practitioners: The ICD-11 and Lyme Borreliosis – QNT Press Release

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DALLAS, Feb. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Twenty five years have passed since the World Health Organization (WHO) updated the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for Lyme disease. The ICD-11 codes, including those for Lyme disease, took effect January 1, 2022 .

The updated codes were developed over a multiyear multi-stakeholder scientific review process and ratified in 2019 by 194 countries, including the US. The ICD-11 recognizes a significant number of Lyme complications which can become chronic, cause severe disability, and in some cases, result in death.

Lyme patients were represented in meetings and comprehensive reports submitted to UN Special Rapporteurs for health human rights and human rights defenders. Examples of human rights violations against Lyme patients and their supporters were documented across 11 ratified international and regional human rights treaties and covenants. Comprehensive documentation , patient testimonials and expert views were presented in Geneva to Special Rapporteurs and WHO. Presentations and reporting that combined compelling peer reviewed scientific and medical publications with human rights documentation helped create the momentum for WHO to significantly expand ICD codes for Lyme disease.

Affordable healthcare equity for this historically marginalized patient group can increase access to care. The need is particularly acute for at risk children and the unborn. Patients should be aware having codes for an illness does not automatically guarantee coverage of care and the complex US healthcare system is known to require time to adopt new ICD editions. These historical lag times, however, are far less relevant than the …

Full story available on Benzinga.com

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