SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An important webinar addressing the prevention, detection and treatment of Lyme disease—an affliction that impacts as many as 400,000 Americans each year—will be held on June 25, coinciding with the annual early stages of “Lyme season” in the United States. The webinar is being sponsored by Quidel Corporation, a California-based diagnostic healthcare manufacturer and one of the nation’s leaders in developing rapid diagnostic health solutions.
Rightfully titled “Lyme Disease: An Epidemic Within A Pandemic,” the webinar will discuss the importance of early detection of Lyme disease, the various co-infections that are present with tick bites, and how Lyme disease may be mistaken for COVID-19 as some symptoms may be similar, including fever, achiness, chills and cough. The presentation will also cover new advances in the testing for Lyme disease, including Quidel’s Sofia 2 Lyme FIA test, which provides indicative results within minutes as opposed to days, which has historically been the norm. Performed in the privacy of a doctor’s office or local clinic, it is also the only test that can get results from a simple finger prick of blood.
Conducting the webinar will be Roxanne Carfora, D.O., founder of New York-based Ageless MD, which combines family medicine, anti-aging medicine and aesthetics in one patient-friendly environment. A graduate of New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Carfora is host of the radio program “Getting You Healthy, Naturally” and co-author of “Ageless Adventures,” which provides tips on how to live a more active, healthy lifestyle.
Passionate about disease prevention and patient education, Dr. Carfora has developed many programs concentrating on analyzing blood chemistries, hormonal imbalances, vitamin and nutritional depletions, genetic testing, and saliva testing. On the webinar she will share with attendees a 2019 study from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health concerning “Multiple Agents of Tick-Borne Disease” and will also discuss the Kay Hagan Tick Act, a bill currently before the Senate that unites the effort to confront the alarming public health threat posed by Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread when people are bitten by an infected deer tick. Unlike a mosquito bite where people know immediately if they have been bitten, one of the challenges with Lyme disease is that symptoms usually will not appear for two to six weeks and may appear in a low-visibility area of the body such as in hair, an underarm or groin. At that point, typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, joint pain, weakness in the limbs and often a characteristic skin rash with a bull's-eye pattern. With appropriate antibiotic treatment, most people with Lyme disease recover completely; but the key is catching it early, and that means not hesitating to get tested.
Among those expected to attend the webinar are representatives of physician office laboratories, urgent care centers and pediatric practices, plus any other physicians, allied health professionals and healthcare researchers interested in the subject. The free June 25 webinar will take place from noon to 1 p.m. (EDT). To register, click quidel.com/webinars.
About Quidel Corporation
Quidel Corporation serves to enhance the health and well-being of people around the globe through the development of diagnostic solutions that can lead to improved patient outcomes and provide economic benefits to the healthcare system. Quidel’s products aid in the detection and diagnosis of many critical diseases and conditions including not only Lyme disease but, among others, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, strep A, herpes, pregnancy, thyroid disease and fecal occult blood. Quidel’s research and development engine is also developing a continuum of diagnostic solutions from advanced immunoassay to molecular diagnostic tests to further improve the quality of healthcare in physicians’ offices and hospital and reference laboratories. For more information about Quidel, visit quidel.com.
