Fear over nature’s ticking timebomb
Victims call for action to raise awareness of terrible disease
Scotland’s public health officers have been urged to take radical action to curb the risk of a potentially lethal countryside disease.
Tick-bite victims may suffer the lifelong effects of Lyme disease because Scotland’s treatment programme is not aggressive enough, according to campaigners. They warn patients who develop Lyme disease, a bacterial infection which can leave victims with debilitating fatigue and muscle pain, are often misdiagnosed or only treated with antibiotics short- term, leaving them at risk of the devastating long-term effects.
Their concerns are backed by Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary
Miles Briggs, who is raising concern over the lack of research and resources being spent on tick-borne diseases after watching his own father’s life being destroyed by a single insect bite.
He said Scotland needs to “wake up” to the life- changing consequences of tickborne illness as shocking figures show a 43% increase in Lyme disease diagnosis, with 238 cases last year.
The MSP said: “Despite the fact that Scotland has some of the highest rates of diagnosed Lyme disease in the UK, there are still questions about the length of time we treat victims, and how much more the government needs to be doing to raise public awareness and fund research.
“I’ve written to the Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood about these issues, but after speaking to people whose lives have been destroyed because of Lyme’s disease, I’m in no doubt something radical needs to be done.”
The MSP’S own father James was struck down in 1994 and left almost bedridden for several months after being bitten by a tick when the politician was aged just 11.
Miles said: “Dad ran his own forestry business and worked in Perthshire and the Highlands felling trees.
“He was always an active man until he suddenly developed Bell’s palsy.
“He became desperately ill and was admitted to Perth Royal Infirmary and we really worried whether he would pull through,” he added.
“In those days very little was generally known about tick bites, and it was some weeks before we finally got told he was suffering the effects of Lyme’s.
“The doctors and nursing staff at Perth Royal Infirmary had been brilliant with him, and we are eternally grateful to them for the care he received, but he was never the same and spent many years suffering dreadful pains and fatigue.”
James Briggs was just 64 when he died in 2016, and his family suspect he never fully recovered from the effects of the disease.
Last week, for the first time in the UK, ticks were discovered carrying a type virus which can affect the human brain. Public Health England moved to assure people that the risk of tick- borne encephalitis, which is found in Europe and Scandinavia, is still low but said they
Dad was an active man but was never the same after being bitten by a tick, spending years suffering fatigue and dreadful pain – MSP Miles Briggs
will continue to monitor the situation. Miles Briggs said: “Because Scotland has the highest prevalence, we need to look at what else we can do to improve the current protocol and I’m urging the Chief Medical Officer to meet with campaigners to hear what they have to say.
“But there is a debate over the effectiveness of the current three-week antibiotic treatment being offered in Scotland, and it’s vital more is done to understand Post Treatment Lyme’s Disease Syndrome ( PTLDS) reported by patients and the debilitating effects this can have.”
Ticks can be found all across Scotland and particularly in the wette west, in woodlands, moorlands and long grass.
There are over 20 different speecies of tick in Britain, carried by hostts including birds, sheep and deer. S heep ticks, which are the most common type found in Scotland, are the ones mostm commonly encountered by walkers. They climb to the top of foliage and atta ch to passing animals, but they will also feeed on humans if they get the chance.