Lord Astor in the House of Lords…

Very good.

Currently feeling shit myself and have just started antibiotics for lyme disease yesterday. My son has just finished his 2 week course.

Good to see it raised as a valid discussion in the House of Lords.

Very good.

Currently feeling shit myself and have just started antibiotics for lyme disease yesterday. My son has just finished his 2 week course.

Good to see it raised as a valid discussion in the House of Lords.

Sorry to hear this 🙁 Any background information on the circumstances behind these two infections? I’m not long back from Argyll. The place was leaping with ticks. Despite brushing off all our clothes with a handbrush before getting back in the van I ended up having to remove five of the critters over a week.

I hope you’re both ok and make a full recovery.

Background – my son got one during the week from 2 possible places with 3 activities in them. I didn’t spot his tick until Saturday, so the minimum time he had it was 2 days, but possibly 4. He then had fatigue, thumping headaches and limb aches. 2 weeks later a bullseye rash came up and drs put him on antibiotics.
Me – pulled 2 ticks mid Monday after a 3 ride weekend. So only one ride would have had the tick as sub 24hrs in. I then had all the same as my son within 2 weeks, but additional nausea and prickly skin, but minus the rash. Although that’s hard to tell as my legs are very dark and there was some discoloration. Drs said the risk of not treating now was not worth taking. Also they commented that they had a big increase in lymes symptoms presenting this year.

It’s a bugger – little critters causing all this bother.

South Downs btw
Fwiw – I have also pulled ticks from me from here, New Forest and Exmoor. These recent ones are the only ones to cause bother.

Good to see it raised as a valid discussion in the House of Lords.

They’ll all have private healthcare so they’ll be fine, or at least be seen to earlier.
*I think I’m becoming a leftie*

Despite brushing off all our clothes with a handbrush before getting back in the van I ended up having to remove five of the critters over a week.

My personal view is this isn’t enough. I do a full change of clothes and body check, if Piemonstress is on and she helps too. In addition to this I don’t find full body cover to be more effective than sporadically checking for crawlers which get flicked of before biting, usually. Most ticks I pick up are through XC/Fell Running and I overheat in anything but shorts, which I’m usually in through winter.

Smidge does seem to work with at least reducing the wee bitey shites.

Elements of that could be influenced by confirmation bias.

What’s the situation in the UK regarding lymes disease vaccination? Here in the Tirol everyone is vaccinated because it’s a known hotspot for the disease.

From info on here, I believe it was developed, but then an injunction prevented it from being licensed and released. So there is no vaccine in the UK.

There is a vaccine for TBE, another disease that European ticks can carry. I believe it is recommended if going on holiday for outdoor persuits in central and northern Europe.

I believe the best way to to lead the government to act more convincingly on LD has to be stressing the cost. That’s the loss of income by the sick, the tax they don’t pay, and cost of the investigation of other things the patient doesn’t actually have.

Where do the ticks end up?
I’m assuming your lower leg is most susceptible.

Lower leg usually for me. But often much higher on kids – arms, torso, belly button, scalp.

Is it just grasses or do they hang out on bushes?
How do the higher ones get there?
Would shaved legs give them less to initially grab on to?

I’ve taken to trimming (clippers) my legs – not so much to give less to cling to, but easier to spot anything on there. They are tiny before they start to feed.

I shave, but I don’t think it stops them getting onto your legs. You can spot them more easily though.

Any vegetation I think.

They move about once on you, so don’t be surprised if they are somewhere else other than legs. Kids are lower anyway and more likely to be head first into vegetation anyway, well mine are !

I wonder if sometimes they stop climbing when it gets dark. I’ve had two under my watch strap, when working in undergrowth, and one under my shorts’ leg gripper stuff.

zippykona – Member
Is it just grasses or do they hang out on bushes?

They are ambush bug waiting for their prey to brush pass them to hang on.

They wait on the branch just like leeches in the tropical forest.

Like the pic below. Probably can detect a mammal close …

How do the higher ones get there?

They can crawl pretty quickly once on your body.

Would shaved legs give them less to initially grab on to?

Not sure but they can generally grab on most things …

I wonder if sometimes they stop climbing when it gets dark.

I’ve known of two people who’ve had to remove biters from the inside of their foreskins.

piemonster – Member

I wonder if sometimes they stop climbing when it gets dark.

I’ve known of two people who’ve had to remove biters from the inside of their foreskins. [/quote] 😯

I can check most places but between your arse cheeks would be difficult.
Can someone pleae reassure me that they can’t get past the leg grippers on lycra shorts.

I guy i vaguely know is known as Ticky Dicky to his friends, or at least, those friends who were on the ride where that specific tick was probably picked up.

No one else refers to Richard, or Rich as Ticky Dicky. Or even as Dick.

zippykona – Member
Can someone pleae reassure me that they can’t get past the leg grippers on lycra shorts.

I think they are pretty tough little bug that can squeeze into most gaps. When they are small their shell/skin are very tough so can borrow into tiny crevice.

As for whether leg grippers can stop them … hmm … I think they can stop them, but you will not have blood circulation to the feet … 😆

They like softer skin. Check everywhere. Get an assistant if necessary.

Can someone pleae reassure me that they can’t get past the leg grippers on lycra shorts

I’m pretty paranoid about finding them. I’ve twice had the course of antibiotics after being bitten. Funny thing is, they often seem to show up a day or two later. I think there’s some sort of cross-contamination process…

1. Arrive home
2. Strip off in shower room
3. Take shower and check all is clear
.
.
.
4. Two days later, find tick on body.

I wonder if the ticks are getting off my bike clothes, onto something else (rug?) then waiting their victim.

FWIW I’ve taken to wearing Smidge on my legs and it’s cut down the number of ticks significantly.

Thanks for this link and well done to Lord Astor for speaking out.

Lyme disease? Blame the pheasants!

http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2017/06/30/pheasants-source-of-tick-disease-cliamed-research/

I had two ticks in two consecutive rides last week. The first one was the most interesting as it must have been on me for minimum of a day, but I didn’t notice it on me when showering or dressing etc, I only noticed it walking across my bed when I woke from a nap! It must have finished feeding and dropped off and began walking off!

The wife joked when I got in from my next ride to check, bang, found one just started feeding on my arm!

So far no bulls eye rash and no fatigure or pain, although I am shifting a summer cold which I did have I think before my first bite!

The same Lord Astor who while at the MOD denied Lyme was being studied as a bio-weapon?

Makes you think…..

http://flash.lymenet.org/scripts/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=029692;p=0

/sorry

The pheasant infection is said, in the article, to be B garinii. That’s just one of several species in the UK, so the eradication claim can’t be supported. And there are other co-infections, don’t forget.

I got one 2 days later, I put my recently clean cycling shorts on in the morning ready for a lunchtime ride, and before I went out I found one half my up my left hand side. I think they can survive a trip through the wash.

Could it be a late arrival still exploring your shoes that gets stuck in later?

I don’t think so, I found it before I went out and I tend not to put on my cycling shoes until I get to the door. This popular science website reports work from the USDA that they can survive washing machine trips!
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071006083356.htm

Interesting. I see that tumble driers kill them though. But do tumble driers wreck lycra? No good having dead ticks if your kit is unusable too.

Lyme disease charity participation in the Government Lyme Disease Reviews

This is a worthwhile read and well done to the charity Lyme DiseaseUK for their efforts. The two links within the following are a must-read also.

Government Reviews Input

Just to add that there was an item about Lyme in France on last night’s Radio 4 programme, The World Tonight. It’s around 30 minutes in on this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ylrk1

Thanks, c_g, that LDUK link has an interesting list of points raised.

Not sure if this might be of interest, but thought i would post as has some relevance .

That’s interesting, thanks. For those slightly interested it’s from a paper in Proc. Royal Soc. It shows that when more foxes are around, mice spend more time hiding and are at less risk of being bitten by ticks, so fewer ticks catch LD.

I think that sums it up.

Thank you mrmo for posting this. Are there stone martens in the UK?

If not, there are other mustelids: stoats, weasels, polecats etc, which would have the same effect.

slowoldgit – ah, interesting. Thanks.