Thursday 14 April 2011

LYME DISEASE FIGURES UP IN ENGLAND AND WALES

The Health Protection Agency is advising people to take care when visiting areas where ticks are present, to prevent tick bites and reduce the risk of catching Lyme disease.

Latest provisional figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there were 953 laboratory-confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in England and Wales in 2010. The majority of these cases were acquired in the UK rather than overseas, with two-thirds of cases identified among residents in the South of England.

According to Centres for Disease Control in USA and Dr Ho Yen from HPA in Scotland the actual figure of people infected by Lyme Disease is more likely to be in the region of 10x that of serological positive tested cases so nearly 10000 cases in England and Wales last year. I don't have the figures for Scotland yet.


Advising people on the HPA website to take care of being bitten by a tick is just not good enough more publicity needs to be done by our Health Authorities.


Currently it is the patients and the UK charities that are raising awareness of this debilitating and often painfull disease.
Thank you to BADA UK for the latest drive for Tick Bite Prevention Week and for getting information into various newspapers recently including

The Independent 'Lyme disease nearly made me come indoors,' says Ray Mears
and

The Daily Mail Survival expert Ray Mears reveals how simple tick bite nearly ended his career


Shame on our Health Protection Agency for their failure to raise public awareness.


4 comments:

  1. I wonder if some people are more prone to tick bites? I discovered a tick this morning on my lower buttock, just at the top of my leg. I was in the garden yesterday morning with long trousers, socks and shoes and a long sleeve blouse. However did the tick get up there? I was diagnosed with Lymes last year and fortunately appear to have recovered but I am now waiting with some trepidation to see how the new bite develops. I have insect repellent but where do I spray as my body was completely covered!I am not looking forward to the summer.
    Jane Atkinson Dunsfold surrey

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  2. Hi Jane I am sorry to hear you have been bitten again after being in your garden lets hope it wasn't infected but you know to seek medical attention if any symptoms develop.
    Sadly I am meeting more and more people who have been infected with Lyme Disease in Surrey so not so rare as HPA would have us believe.
    I understand ticks are attracted to some people more than others but really they are just after a blood meal and anything will suffice. Some people are infected and able to remain symptom free for many years others become ill straight away either way it is often a difficult diagnosis. Have a look at Lyme Disease Action website for ways to protect yourself. Also there are things to spray in your garden and on your clothing none are completely tick proof though.

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  3. Hi,
    I live in Cranleigh and suspect I have Lyme. I am currently seeing a neurologist and have an appt for a follow up and to receive my blood test results, that were done at my insistence, on 20th Sept. My doctor first referred me with unexplained neurological symptoms and he MRI'd me for MS, then decided it's all anxiety. I have suffered with anxiety previously and I know it is definitely not. I'd love to be able to talk to someone local to discuss my symptoms and hear your experiences about all aspects of Lyme, diagnosis, specialists etc

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  4. Hi Anon in Cranleigh you do need to read as much as possible about Lyme because Doctors and Consultants are being told that blood tests are 100% reliable which research shows they are not- and that a couple of weeks antibiotics is adequate to clear Lyme which for many patients are not- I am in touch with about 25 local patients with Chronic Lyme disease and there are now a number of local surgeries realising that this is indeed a problem in our locality.

    Wednesday 14th September a group of us will be meeting up at the King's Head pub in Quarry Street 12 noon - very informal just for a natter -do join us if you can. If you want to e mail me my contact details are in my profile.

    A good resource to look at is Eurolyme a link in the right hand side of this blog- word of warning use a separate email though as there are many posts daily,

    In files on Eurolyme are many very useful articles some of which can also be accessed on the right hand side of this blog.

    Good luck- knowledge is your best advocate so that you can discuss with doctors what treatments are best for you.

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