THE debate over the existence of Lyme disease in Australia continues to rage with a Senate inquiry now set to investigate the issue.

This week Senator John Madigan secured an inquiry into “Lyme-like illnesses” in Australia.

Meanwhile, Perth’s Murdoch University is hoping its work will end the debate about the presence of ticks that carry the Lyme bacteria in the country.

They have already discovered one tick with bacteria that causes Lyme-like symptoms, including nausea and fatigue.

Lyme disease is recognised overseas with victims including Avril Lavigne and George W. Bush.

Brisbane City Council has been under pressure to cull deer, which carry ticks, after a woman in Pullenvale, in Brisbane’s west, fell ill with the disease.

media_camera A tick bite can suck the joy out of life with lyme disease.

But the Australian Medical Association said Australians shouldn’t be getting diagnosed with Lyme disease if they haven’t travelled to areas of the world proven to have the tick.

AMA Queensland president Dr Chris Zappala said test results could be “misleading” and there were sufficient infectious disease experts in Australia to offer alternative diagnoses.

Sunshine Coast teen-agers Chanel Maloney and Ellie van Dalen, both 16, are living with Lyme disease with blood tests confirming the diagnosis.

Both girls were bitten by ticks in Buderim.

Chanel will travel to Germany in four months to undergo a $35,000 treatment for the disease.

She’s been too sick to attend school since she was 14 and has had symptoms for six years after a tick bite when she was eight.

“I call her sleeping beauty. Sometimes she sleeps for three days,” mum Cate said.

“We saw about 20 doctors on the Sunshine Coast – specialists, psychologists, you name it we’ve been to it all. She’s had numerous procedures, everything to try and find out what she had.”

They consulted a homoeopathic holistic GP in Sydney, who ran blood tests, with further testing in the US confirming the diagnosis.

media_camera Chanel Maloney, 16, and Ellie Van Dalen, 16, have both had lyme disease for years after being bitten by a tick. Pic Jamie Hanson

“Before this, she was active – she played soccer, netball, she was a nipper and then, one day, she couldn’t do anything. She doesn’t want to live this way.”

Chanel is now on a cocktail of antibiotics, taking 200 tablets a week.

“That she has Lyme is undeniable, as soon as she started treatment I could see improvement,” Ms Maloney said. “I know my daughter and I know doctors who see people that are hypochondriacs but it is really frustrating that people don’t have the awareness about Lyme.

“The Government is telling them it’s not in Australia but there are so many people with these same symptoms.”

Chanel’s school mate Ellie van Dalen has suffered Lyme symptoms for about three years. Her mother, Annie, said knowing Chanel’s history had helped her “think outside the box” about what was ailing her daughter.

When Ellie was five she had the distinctive “bullseye” rash from a tick bite.

“We had been told she was just a lazy teenager and given multiple other diagnoses,” Ms van Dalen said.

“Ellie was a very active young woman who cycled six days a week until she came down with this.”

Ms van Dalen said given how well recognised the disease was in Asia, the US and Europe it needed more research and recognition here.

To donate to Chanel’s fundraiser visit mycause.com.au/page/107616/bitten-by-lyme-a-girls-battle-with-chronic-lyme-disease