Tick control is needed for pet and human health

As the weather gets warmer at this time of year, activity is stirring in the world of creepy crawlies. Fleas, lice, mites and ticks are highly dependent on the ambient temperature around them. The warmer it gets, the more active and fast moving they become, and the faster they breed.

This is most commonly seen with fleas, which can breed outside in the Irish summer. It often makes sense to use targetted flea prevention. The most effective products (drops, tablets or sprays), are prescription only, sold through vets, so if you want to do everything possible to avoid a plague of fleas, this is the best answer.

Ticks are also more active at this time of year, stimulated by environmental warmth. I studied ticks many years ago, when I was a young vet working in Africa. We were doing research into the different tick species in the area we were visiting, so we collected ticks, stored them, then sent them off to a laboratory for analysis. We put them into plastic boxes as we collected them, but they did not store well in the heat, so we used to put them in the deep freeze until we had gathered enough to send a batch to the laboratory. I remember my astonishment when we took the deep frozen ticks out of the freezer to parcel them up for the lab: as they defrosted, they started to move, wiggling their legs slowly at first, but then waking up fully, and crawling around. These creatures are remarkably resilient, and highly temperature dependent.

Ticks cause two main problems in Ireland: first, they are a physical irritation. If a dog or cat picks up a tick, it can be very itchy, and the bite area can become infected, red and swollen.

The second problem caused by ticks is less obvious but far more serious: they often carry Lyme Disease, a nasty infection that can affect both dogs and humans. A bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi commonly infects ticks, and when these ticks attach to dogs or humans, this bacteria is injected into their host. Once in the dog or human system, the bacteria multiplies, causing a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue, headaches, anxiety, joint pain, visual issues, and many more.

The disease is called Lyme Disease because it was first diagnosed in a town called Lyme, Connecticut, in the United States of America, in 1975. A group of around fifty adults and children in the area developed strange symptoms including swollen knees, skin rashes, headaches, and severe chronic fatigue. After an intensive investigation, the cause of this condition was identified as the Borrelia bacteria, carried by ticks, and the new disease was named Lyme Disease.

Since then, Lyme Disease has spread globally, especially in temperate regions such as North America and Europe, perhaps linked to the warming climate. These days, nearly half a million people a year are diagnosed and treated for the disease in the United States, with over two hundred thousand people affected in Europe. The disease is notifiable in some countries (such as Scotland), which means that the health authorities have a clear understanding of when and where it happens.

Here in Ireland, Lyme Disease is not yet notifiable, which means that we do not have a clear understanding of its incidence and locations. But we do know that it is common, and it is becoming even more common. It’s very important that people realise this, and that they take precautions to stop themselves from being exposed to ticks. This can include giving preventive tick treatments to dogs in areas where ticks are common, so that ticks don’t pass from dogs to humans.

My own daughter picked up Lyme Disease in 2021, when she was camping on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, with two friends. They had to pack up their tents one evening because there were so many tiny ticks crawling over everything. A few weeks later, she had a very minor rash on her leg which she thought nothing about: it went away. It was only much later that she discovered that a skin rash (with a so-called “target appearance”) is a classic sign of early Lyme Disease.

Back then, she had no other signs of illness for over six months, but then it started: headaches, exhaustion, painful joints and much more. Lyme Disease has many parallels to Long Covid: a long term, debilitating, life-altering illness.

My daughter struggled to get a diagnosis for many months. She discovered that Lyme Disease divides the medical community: many doctors are still sceptical about suggested methods of diagnosing and treating the condition. Lyme Disease is still a scientific puzzle. She was eventually referred to a “Lyme literate” specialist doctor who put her onto intensive antibiotic treatment for almost a year. It’s only now, nearly three years after her exposure to ticks, that she has made a full recovery.

She wasn’t the only victim from that camping trip: one of her friends developed similar signs of illness around the same time, and they too have struggled to get a diagnosis and optimal treatment.

Lyme Disease is a growing threat in Ireland. Avoid ticks, make sure your pets don’t bring them into your home by using regular tick preventive products, and if you are ever bitten by a tick, be sure to talk to your doctor in detail about Lyme.