Residents can learn to live with threat from Lyme disease ticks
The Lochaber doctor leading a major initiative to tackle Lyme disease says climate change could be making things worse but ongoing research can help people learn to live with the risk posed by the disease.
The ‘Lyme Disease General Practice Sentinel Scheme’, being funded by Pfizer Incorporated, has completed its pilot phase which involved a trial in 15 GP practices across NHS Highland.
The GP-based scheme is a collaboration between NHS Highland, Scotland’s Rural College and Pfizer and aims to capture accurate case numbers as well as making the diagnosis of Lyme disease easier and improving the consistency in the way the disease is managed.
Lyme disease can develop if someone is bitten by a tick infected with the Lyme causing bacteria. It can be difficult to diagnose as patients with
Lyme disease often visit their GP with a rash that can vary widely in its presentation, or with vague and seemingly unrelated symptoms. Patients often have no recollection of a tick bite.
Dr Jim Douglas, Fort William GP with NHS Highland and the Sentinel Scheme Project lead clinician, said it is clear people who come to the Highlands as visitors, and those who live here, gain more health and wellbeing
afrom enjoying activities in green spaces than any risk from ticks and Lyme disease.
‘A tick bite does not mean you get Lyme disease as only up to 10 per cent of ticks carry the Lyme disease bacteria,’ Dr Douglas explained to the Lochaber Times. ‘So we have to keep the risks of Lyme disease in proportion and still go into our gardens and forests. I encourage my family to enjoy the countryside, but do tick checks and remove any ticks with a plastic tick removal twister or tick card. Please don’t use your finger nails or tweezers to remove ticks - squeezing them just injects the bacteria into your body. ‘We need to check ourselves for ticks after being outside and carry the tick twisters in first aid kits, rucksacks and vehicle glove boxes. The sooner you get them off, without squeezing, the less likely you are to get
Lyme disease.’ Dr Douglas added it was important to check children who had been outside playing as they were most likely to pick up ticks on the neck, behind the ears and in the ear canal.
Some people get an itchy lump around the tick bite, he said, similar to a mosquito bite on holiday. However, it only becomes a worry if this reaction spreads to cover an area larger than a £1 coin in size. ‘Even so, it is completely curable with antibiotics,’ Dr Douglas continued.
If you are worried about a rash after tick exposure, take daily photographs and discuss it with your GP. Lochaber residents are fortunate their GPs know about tick bites and Lyme disease.
Dr Douglas explained The Lyme Disease General Practice Sentinel Scheme has built on that Lochaber GP knowledge and has been rolled out to 15 practices in Highland and another 15 throughout Scotland from Orkney to the Borders.
‘We are currently setting up another 10 practices in England where we think there is a Lyme problem,’ he said.
‘We are have developed software for their computers which will help them make a diagnosis and accurately record the number of Lyme cases in a year. We are also researching risk factors such as occupation and leisure pursuits to guide public health policy in the UK.’
Dr Douglas said, additionally, the project was testing the idea that Lyme disease is becoming a bigger problem with climate change. He told the Lochaber Times: ‘The ticks are active above seven degrees centigrade, so we think the tick season is extending, but have no data yet to prove this.’
However, Dr Douglas added he was confident that armed with this knowledge, we can ‘learn to live with ticks’.
He said: ‘It is much better for people and businesses to be up front and confident on living with ticks when speaking to visitors. If you develop an unexpected rash after your visit, take a photograph and seek medical advice. Often medical research projects are developed in cities, then tested in Highland patients. We should be proud in Highland that this process is being reversed with the Lochaber-led Lyme disease scheme being implemented throughout the UK.’