The Ad Hoc Tick-Borne Disease Action Committee held a meeting on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at the
C. H. Booth Library on Main Street in Newtown, Connecticut.
Present: Robert Grossman, Michele McLeod, Mark Alexander, Kirk Blanchard, Neil Chaudhary, David Delia, Mary Gaudet-Wilson, Kim Harrison, Peter Licht, George Miller, and Maggie Shaw.
Also Present: David Shugarts
Call to Order: Dr. McLeod called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m.
Approval of Minutes: Approval of the minutes for August 11, 2010 was postponed. It was noted that the votes from the August 4, 2010 minutes were not attached to the minutes on the Town website.
Committee Report: Discussion of Education Section, Dr. Licht’s Redraft of Clinical Manifestations: The committee discussed Donna Culbert’s draft report. Dr. Licht will make changes to the clinical information. The draft will be e-mailed to the committee on Friday for review at the next meeting. The committee discussed Ms. Harrison’s report. It was determined that the history of Lymes and the tick life cycle be placed in the introductory section of the report. The committee discussed being more specific on the targeted audience with Education information (OB/GYN and pediatric offices, etc.) Ms. Gaudet-Wilson suggested there be a Town Coordinator at some point. Mr. Delia said that the Health District should expand their website to include information
on TBD. Ms. Shaw said a link to HVCEO website would be very valuable.
The committee discussed transcripts of speakers versus summaries of the presentations. Dr. McLeod will produce a summary of the DiNicola transcript and Ms. Harrison will resend the summaries of the other speakers for the committee to review in two weeks.
Committee Report: Discussion of Matrix Section; Committee Vote on Matrix Section
The committee discussed the Matrix Section of the report and voted as follows:
1. Newtown should implement an active surveillance program among local physicians to monitor tick-borne disease in a more systematic manner.
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
2. Newtown should conduct periodic scientifically reliable annual surveys of Newtown residents to track tick-borne disease incidents. The survey should ideally be administered annually, however biennial administration could produce “good enough” data. Mr. Chaudhary motioned to remove the last sentence. Dr. Grossman seconded the motion. Motion was carried unanimously. Ms. Gaudet-Wilson motioned to change the first sentence to read “Newtown should conduct periodic scientifically reliable annual surveys of Newtown residents to track relevant issues. The survey should ideally be administered annually. (the last part of the sentence to be removed) Mr. Chaudhary seconded the motion. The motion
was approved unanimously. The following is the vote on Item #2.:
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
3. Newtown should conduct periodic (at least annual) tick drags using accepted scientific protocols that are sufficient to monitor changes in tick density in response to Newtown’s Tick-Borne Disease Management Program.
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
4. Newtown should conduct periodic (at least biennial) deer counts using accepted scientific protocols that are sufficient to monitor changes in deer density in response to Newtown’s Tick-Borne Disease Management Program. Multiple methods for the first few counts may allow future measures to use the cheapest method assuming the methods produce comparable results.
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
5. Newtown should monitor deer-vehicle collisions in a systematic manner that pulls together relevant data maintained by the Police Department, Highway Department and State.
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
6. Available performance metrics should be publicly reported on an annual basis.
The Committee voted Unanimously YES
Review of Report Status and Remaining Tasks – The Education report will be circulated by Friday, September 17th for a vote on Wednesday, September 22nd. Speaker summaries will be reviewed at the following meeting of September 29th
Public Comments – No public comments.
Final Comments – None
Executive Session – None
The committee adjourned at 10:07 pm.
| 
