Bruce Alexander: More must be done to combat Lyme disease
Deer ticks - also known as a sheep ticks - can cause Lyme disease in humans. Picture: PAHAVING spent most of my working life developing methods for controlling serious insect-borne diseases in tropical countries, I’ve been surprised to return to find Scotland grappling with its own home-grown tick-borne threat.
Ticks are found throughout Scotland, living in wooded or bushy areas or among heather and bracken. They attach themselves to the skin and feed on blood. During feeding, ticks can transmit a range of infectious agents including the one causing Lyme disease or “borreliosis”, which, without prompt treatment with antibiotics, can cause debilitating long-term health problems.
Confirmed cases of Lyme disease are rising rapidly, with Scotland’s chief medical officer reporting an elevenfold increase in the past decade. Unfortunately, it’s notoriously difficult to diagnose and the symptoms are often mistaken for other conditions. Consequently, many sufferers are not tested so the true number of Scots affected is potentially far higher than the 304 cases recorded in 2010.
A recent audit of patients at a Perthshire Medical Practice found a ratio of confirmed cases equivalent to 125 per 100,000 people. Applying this ratio across Scotland, there could be around 6,500 people contracting Lyme disease each year, the vast majority going undiagnosed and untreated.
Our own public survey has found almost two in three Scots think the information currently available about ticks and Lyme disease is “inadequate” or “non-existent”. I could also recount many horror stories of people who have spent years coping with this disease and struggling to access effective diagnosis and treatment.
More and more Scots actively enjoy healthy outdoor pursuits. The key to staying safe is to have the equipment to remove ticks properly and to seek a rapid diagnosis if you think you’ve been bitten by an infected tick. Meanwhile, Scottish ministers must do more to inform the public about the dangers and how to stay safe. That way, we can all continue enjoying Scotland’s great outdoors while avoiding the growing threat of Lyme disease.
• Dr Bruce Alexander is a research entomologist and managing director of life sciences company Xeroshield.
anonymous
Thank
you Sctosman for an excellent article. This problem is not unique to
Scotland here in Surrey there are an increasing number of ticks
particularly noticeable in recent years.
When I was infected in 2003 I had never read or heard that we could get Lyme disease here in the UK and Authorities need to raise awareness.
It took 4 years of chronic arthritis and muscle weakness before my doctor realised it could be Lyme Disease and many months of antibiotics to recover my health and my life. There are a number of patients in my locality Guildford diagnosed with Lyme Disease.
As early as 1990 Steere recognised that 10% of patients even with early treatment went on to develop on going symptoms.
The controversy over those ongoing symptoms remains polarised nearly 30 years later with reknown researchers with 25 years experience with this spirochetal infection Borrelia still not able to decide when ongoing symptoms is Persisient infection ( Borrelia has many mechanisms to evade the immune system and antibiotics), Auto Immune reaction to remaining spirochetal debris, complications due to other co infections untreated, or repeated infections.
Sadly though despite considerable research in this field our Infectious Diseases experts in UK and various other Consultants stick rigidly to current NHS restricted guidance, completely oblivious to the emerging science on this disease. So patients are likely to get a maximum of two weeks antibiotics and then dismissed as the remaining symptoms are now magically something else or all in your head.
When these consultants start using the brains they needed to qualify they will realise how silly they are being ignoring the science. However when those Consultants and Doctors find themselves or their loved ones infected and not cured on a couple of weeks antibiotics they turn their back on NHS treatment and travel abroad to see specialist doctors privately who are prepared to treat them on long courses of antibiotics. Do their colleagues listen and learn sadly no.
So until doctors start doing their research and listening to their colleagues with personal experience of Lyme Disease then the best we have is awareness so that people can protect themselves, remove the tick promptly and correctly and seek early medical attention from a doctor who knows more than most about this nasty disease.
When I was infected in 2003 I had never read or heard that we could get Lyme disease here in the UK and Authorities need to raise awareness.
It took 4 years of chronic arthritis and muscle weakness before my doctor realised it could be Lyme Disease and many months of antibiotics to recover my health and my life. There are a number of patients in my locality Guildford diagnosed with Lyme Disease.
As early as 1990 Steere recognised that 10% of patients even with early treatment went on to develop on going symptoms.
The controversy over those ongoing symptoms remains polarised nearly 30 years later with reknown researchers with 25 years experience with this spirochetal infection Borrelia still not able to decide when ongoing symptoms is Persisient infection ( Borrelia has many mechanisms to evade the immune system and antibiotics), Auto Immune reaction to remaining spirochetal debris, complications due to other co infections untreated, or repeated infections.
Sadly though despite considerable research in this field our Infectious Diseases experts in UK and various other Consultants stick rigidly to current NHS restricted guidance, completely oblivious to the emerging science on this disease. So patients are likely to get a maximum of two weeks antibiotics and then dismissed as the remaining symptoms are now magically something else or all in your head.
When these consultants start using the brains they needed to qualify they will realise how silly they are being ignoring the science. However when those Consultants and Doctors find themselves or their loved ones infected and not cured on a couple of weeks antibiotics they turn their back on NHS treatment and travel abroad to see specialist doctors privately who are prepared to treat them on long courses of antibiotics. Do their colleagues listen and learn sadly no.
So until doctors start doing their research and listening to their colleagues with personal experience of Lyme Disease then the best we have is awareness so that people can protect themselves, remove the tick promptly and correctly and seek early medical attention from a doctor who knows more than most about this nasty disease.
