Pheasants link to lyme disease

Sir, - In their replies to my letter in which I associated the huge increase in pheasant numbers in the UK with the spread of lyme disease both Mr Watts (October 30) and Mr Smith (November 3) seem unaware that this is primarily a health issue. It is a notifiable disease and can have devastating effects on an individual. In addition it has the potential to infect by means other than tick bites.

In 1996 there were fewer that 30 new cases in Scotland , in 2014 there were around 230. More worryingly GPs estimate that only 20-40 per cent of new cases are referred to their council or health protection team, which hints at a vastly underestimated increase.

It is universally accepted that “reservoir competent” species – species which host the necessary bacteria and infect other species – are vital in the spread of the disease. Pheasants are one of these vector species. Science does not dispute this and has not for many years as a quick “Google” would verify.

The irony in Mr Watts’ admission that he had been harvesting pheasants for years yet made no connection to his contracting lyme disease was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that Mr Smith introduced the largely imagined rural/ urban divide to explain the 800 per cent increase in infections between 1996 and 2014 – a rural/ urban divide no longer evident due to vast demographic changes in recent years.

Lyme disease is a present and developing threat to all sectors of our community, regardless of where they live, and the annual influx of 45 million potential vectors into the UK should not be ignored.

If, as a consequence, the activities of a minority sector of society are inconvenienced or embarrassed by these facts, then so be it. George Murdoch. 4 Auchcairnie Cottages, Laurencekirk.