Lyme Disease Epidemic

Here’s a link to a very interesting article on the extent of Lyme disease in the US population.

PLOS Pathogens article

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the world today. Until recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an average of only 30,000 cases of Lyme disease per year in the United States. Three preliminary CDC studies, however, have indicated that the true incidence of Lyme disease may be greater than 300,000 cases and as high as one million cases per year in the United States. A majority of these cases occur in women and children. Based on this new information, Lyme disease should be recognized as a virulent epidemic that is at least six times more common than HIV/AIDS. In response to these alarming statistics, we review the ongoing problems with diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. We propose the need for an HIV/AIDS-style “Manhattan project” to combat this serious epidemic that threatens the physical and mental health of millions of people around the world.

After a few conversations with people in the last week, including somebody who was diagnosed with Lyme after almost forty years of serious health problems, I thought I’d share the information with fellow outdoors-folk. Much more to be found online if you’re interested.

Known about it for years, after a close friend’s father caught it working in the garden of his Gîte in France, he was very, very ill before it was finally diagnosed. When she told me I knew all about from articles I’d read in Bike Magazine.
It’s now starting to become a problem in the UK, there was a feature about it on the telly a week or so ago, showing the symptoms, and pointing out how difficult it is to actually diagnose through tests, etc.
There have been threads about it on here from time to time as well.

When I played baseball one of the blokes got it from the long grass in the field behind our diamond.

I’m sure its a dreadful disease/illness to have, but we have a guy at work who has or claims to have Lymes. Mon-Fri does very little always needing a lie down or away home early, roll on Saturday/Sunday he’s out hill walking or out on his MTB. He seems to be ripping the arse out of it during work time.

Mate had it some years back was off the booze for 6 months, there were other symptoms but this is the one that he complained about most! Truthfully though it was awful and so defo one to avoid not least because it is so hard to diagnose.

Don’t think I’ve ever seen a tick, but the thought of them squicks me out and the idea of Lyme’s scares the pish out of me. I carry a small first aid kit on the bike and I’ve stuck a tick twister in there. For like three quid it’s a no-brainer.

As kids it was almost a nightly routine for us to sit in the bath as our parents picked the ticks or burnt them with a fag from our bodies, we used to spend all day in the forest or running about the heather and bracken on the hillsides (Argyll) and it was a rare occurrence if we made it through an entire day without at least one attaching itself to us – we even used to let them grow on us to see who’s tick could get the fattest – horrible little critters (us or the ticks?) but back then in the late 70’s/80’s i guess Lymes disease wasn’t perceived to be much of a problem?.

My record was either 17 or 27 at one go?, i’ll have to ask my mum.

I pick them off the dogs now and it’s very satisfying to squish them 😀

There’s still no properly reliable test for it afaik. And even the better ones are only done in a very limited number of centres. No wonder it’s not seen as a big problem if we can’t properly test for it so we have no idea how many are affected.

It wasn’t as prevalent so you had much less chance of infection.

Had it.

More or less full recovery after a 4 year process of diagnosis and treatment.

The year of antibiotics… now that left me feeling worse than I did to start with as they leave your digestive system in a terrible state. If you get it and it goes undiagnosed for a period of time, there is treatment available, but it’s a long road. It’s not just the physical symptoms, but also the mental ones that hit you hard. Sluggish thinking, inability to concentrate, etc.

Very real.

Edit – Had to go private. Not cheap.

Is it possible to have a tick without noticing it at some point? I guess not because they eventually get pretty big don’t they? Only one I ever saw was on my daughter aged 2, from a play park in Germany. Hadn’t been on long but it had me worried. Still don’t own a tick puller though. Perhaps it’s time for the NHS to send out free ones to everyone with a load of leaflets?

There’s lots of ticks in the New Forest, everyone gets them, sometimes in quite unusual places. We warn our guests about precaustions, have info leaflets and are quite adept at spotting and removing the litle buggers. In 20+ years I have only known one person confirmed with the disease and he was pretty bad with it, took a long time to recover. Weils disease from rats piss in water courses is the other one we have to warn about although someone told me you are more likely to catch this from swigging from a can of drink that has previously been sat in a warehouse for ages with our furry friends running over it (who naturally dribble piss all the time). There are lots of other nice things we have to warn people about like toxocariaris, giant hogweed, brown tailed moth caterpillar, bracken in spore, parvovirus from feral cats etc etc You’d never go outside…just stay indoors and die from not having a smoke alarm or something similar

Is it possible to have a tick without noticing it at some point? I guess not because they eventually get pretty big don’t they?

Absolutely. I drove back from a WE in the Lake District and found one on the back of my calf when getting undressed at night. Given it was a 6 hour drive and I’d been for food before the drive back, he must have been on me for a good 8+ hours without me noticing. Another few hours and he’d have just dropped off, consumed all my blood and then started hanging around for his next victim…..

I had one crawl off my riding shirt and into my belly button
Was probably in there for the best part of a week before it was noticed

Now that was a little sod to get out (thats another story!)

Arrgggh

The belly button biters are sods to extract.

Not had so many last year as the year before. Although I tend to stay out of the really infested place during ‘peak season’

Found one on my arm last September – local ride around the moderately hilly terrain of NW Leicestershire.

It wasn’t well dug in as I was able to pull it away – being VERY careful not to squeeze it. I was able to get my fingernail in front of its head and very gently pull it backwards. It didn’t want to let go, though. It pulled the skin quite noticeably.

As far as I could see, there was nothing left in my skin, and I got no mark at all from the bite, so I guess I got it just after it bit.

Had no problems since, but it is a bit worrying. I stamped on it like it was a scorpion as well!

These little bastards now join horseflies as enemy number one.

I’ve been on antibiotics for 9 months and still feel like crap

constantly exhausted, aching, dizziness, brain fog, breathing problems, hot and cold sweats

it’s not good

Absolutely. I drove back from a WE in the Lake District and found one on the back of my calf when getting undressed at night. Given it was a 6 hour drive and I’d been for food before the drive back, he must have been on me for a good 8+ hours without me noticing.

my best story on that front is that I picked up an un-noticed tick in my groin on a Sunday ride, then on the Monday had a vasectomy under general, which included the medics painting my groin, and the tick, with iodine stuff, and on the Tue night I felt a little itch and the fecker was waking up….

swiflty removed with tick twister – reslient little beggar though 👿

As first aider at the finish of the West Highland Way race a couple of years back I was invited and escorted to the ladies’ showers to perform a tick removal from a quite dark place. I’m not sure that the poor lassie will ever look at a pair of blue medic gloves in the same way ever again…

I’ve been on antibiotics for 9 months and still feel like crap

constantly exhausted, aching, dizziness, brain fog, breathing problems, hot and cold sweats

it’s not good

Hang on in there Jools. You’ll get there. You’re being careful about Candida whilst on the abx I take it?

I found a tic during the Summer and removed it. Over the next 10 days I felt more and more unwell – fever, aching muscles and joints, constant headache etc. The hospital decided to treat for Lymes.

Spent several weeks on some properly nasty antibiotics (they made me sun sensitive so I had to plaster factor 50 on any exposed skin or it felt like I was on fire).

7 months later and my joints are clicking and stiff, the cartilage around my lower ribs on one side decided to detach and 4 weeks on it still not right and I’ve been getting very low peak flow readings. No idea if it’s still connected. Hopefully not.

Is it possible to have a tick without noticing it at some point?

I’ve had two, first one noticed the day after a lakes ride, the second was a weds I think, had been out on the sunday and tuesday night so not sure when I had picked it up. Yuk.

Always have a few weeks of bricking myself about lymes, asked about pre-emptive antibiotics both times, both times told no. Got some tick twisters now, hope never to have to use them.
bleurgh.

Never had a tick myself (that i know of) but removed a couple from the dog, so they are about in the surrey area too.

Not all ticks carry lymes though, do they?

And are dogs (and deer, ftm) immune to lymes?