Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Are you at risk of Lyme disease?
DAVINA Mccall turned to Twitter for advice when her son Chester suffered a reaction to an insect bite earlier this year.
She was concerned he may have Lyme Disease and, like most of us, she didn’t know much about the illness.
April to October is the most active time for ticks, so here’s all the information you need to make you tick-smart… also develop Bell’s palsy (facial drooping) or tingling, numbness and bad headaches.
You may also notice you’re suffering from low mood, broken sleep and problems with your short-term memory. The erythema migrans rash starts at the site of the bite between three and 30 days after being bitten. It spreads slowly and can reach 30cm across. It can be warm to touch but is rarely itchy.
Sometimes as it enlarges it clears so it looks like a bull’s-eye. However the rash doesn’t affect all sufferers so you can still have the disease even if you don’t have the rash. hook around the mouthparts of the tick and pull firmly. Do not twist or squeeze the tick. Make sure you dispose of it correctly. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, physical signs such as a rash, and the likelihood of a tick bite. Two types of blood test are available to confirm the diagnosis but these can give a false negative so you might need retesting if symptoms persist. Tick bites don’t hurt, so often people
aren’t aware of them.