Who, What, Why: How dangerous are tick bites in the UK?

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pwa
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by pwa »

My daughter had a tick which was removed carefully by my wife with no adverse effects. Even if you get the rash it is not too late to get effective treatment. What you must not do is leave it beyond that point and hope for the best.
PDQ Mobile
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

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al_yrpal wrote:In the Chilterns always wear long sleeves and leggings whilst MTBing. Carefully on walks. Our cat had one, I never have

Al

In the distant past, when I was young, not so far from the Chilterns, I never saw, let alone had a tick.
In the light of your experience there, would you say they are getting/ have become worse?
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Paulatic
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by Paulatic »

PDQ Mobile wrote:
al_yrpal wrote:In the Chilterns always wear long sleeves and leggings whilst MTBing. Carefully on walks. Our cat had one, I never have

Al

In the distant past, when I was young, not so far from the Chilterns, I never saw, let alone had a tick.
In the light of your experience there, would you say they are getting/ have become worse?


Unless you look after sheep/cattle/deer or keep a dog which regularly walks in the area it's highly unlikely you will see one. I've handled lambs every spring with ticks, sheared sheep every summer with ticks and regularly pull them off dogs. Yet I'm 63 now and never had one on me.
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PDQ Mobile
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by PDQ Mobile »

I asked Al because, as a child( near Chilterns), I never had a tick in spite of spending a lot of time in woods and fields. I wondered if he thought they had become worse there.
Do you live near the Chilterns,Paulatic?
Tacascarow
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by Tacascarow »

I think the milder winters we are having allows more to survive than formally.
I also have pulled thousands off dogs, cattle & sheep over my lifetime. But never prior to this year had one attach to me.
This year I've had two, one on the calve & one on the buttock!! :lol:
It's not something you should get into a panic about most ticks don't carry lyme but being aware of the creatures & the symptoms should be mandatory for anyone in the countryside.
pwa
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by pwa »

I imagine that lots of us have had ticks attached to us and not noticed. And Lymes Disease can have mild symptoms that could go un-diagnosed. There must be quite a few of us who have had it in a milder form and not recognised it.
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Paulatic
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

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PDQ Mobile wrote:I asked Al because, as a child( near Chilterns), I never had a tick in spite of spending a lot of time in woods and fields. I wondered if he thought they had become worse there.
Do you live near the Chilterns,Paulatic?


If you look at my profile I do not keep my location a "top secret" as some do.

The quote above is not entirely what you said is it?

You also stated you had never had a tick. I tried to give you an insight as to why you might never have had one. I didn't try to comment on the Chilterns.

The reason for a rise in numbers there might be unique but for an insight as to why there might be you could try reading viewtopic.php?t=86422

If you only wanted Als input maybe you could have pm him?
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PDQ Mobile
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by PDQ Mobile »

Whoa. I do not look at profiles.
I am genuinely curious about ticks in Southern England and reasons for any population increase there?
I have had hundreds of tick bites myself after 40 years in rural Meirionydd. But never even saw one as a child in Oxfordshire.
I get them in the forestry here sometimes.
One reason for my interest is that I am curious about the relation between levels of stock treatment ( and lack of it!) and rising tick populations
Psamathe
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by Psamathe »

al_yrpal wrote:In the Chilterns always wear long sleeves and leggings whilst MTBing. Carefully on walks. Our cat had one, I never have

Al

I appreciate that long sleeves/leggings can help but they are not a complete safeguard. Once I somehow ended-up with about 20 of the things attached to my lower back and I had not been walking around topless. Small brown ones, not in UK. And that was back in the days when I still smoked and I discovered that the then "method" to getting them off with a lighted cigarette does not work. By the time I was back to civilisation they had departed and I'm (mostly) ok these days.

Ian
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Paulatic
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by Paulatic »

PDQ Mobile wrote:I am genuinely curious about ticks in Southern England and reasons for any population increase there?

One reason for my interest is that I am curious about the relation between levels of stock treatment ( and lack of it!) and rising tick populations


There is a definite relation between stock levels and chemicals used for treatment and the increase in tick population.

My argument for it is in the link I posted.
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PDQ Mobile
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by PDQ Mobile »

Yes I agree with what you stated.
My question about your location was a genuine query not a questioning of your competence to answer. I fear you took it so. The written word!! Sorry.

In my own experience, living where ticks are very bad,I believe some of the problem is a lack of consistent treatment against them.
So sheep only control populations of ticks if treated otherwise they compound the problem.
Locally we had a farmer who was depressed and treated no sheep consistently for many years. He lost a lot of stock, particularly but not only lambs; but more relavently to the topic ticks increased to an almost intolerable level.
Cattle are never treated routinely here. That doesnt help either.
Lymes fortunately at the moment does not seem to be very widespread up here, though that is an unscientific observation. And I guess that could change.

I remain curious about the Chilterns?
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Paulatic
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by Paulatic »

Apology accepted, you are right about the written word lol

How do you know the cattle in your area aren't treated for tick? Unless they are a hairy breed I doubt they mop up many anyway.

Depressed livestock farmers have increased along with tick numbers. I can identify with both.

Thinking about the number of ticks you have picked up compared to my zero. It must be down to habit and build. My exposure to long vegetation and brackens will always have been wearing wellies and long trousers because of work. I've only been in shorts while mountain biking so with legs already 9" above the ground and brackens usually crushed and well aside.
Do you spend time in tick habitat wearing shorts and have hairy legs?
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PDQ Mobile
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by PDQ Mobile »

I do sometimes wear shorts in hot weather!
Legs not overly hairy!

However I can get them even fully clothed. Wellies are a good help.
The area is one of the worst in Britain for ticks.

I know cattle aren't routinly treated because I am messing around in agriculture.
Cattle often carry considerable numbers, quite easily visible. It is accepted.
Treating them significantly helps reduce tick populations and i have proven it to be the case.
However it costs money and hill farmers being hill farmers.......
Perhaps a short sighted view but tradition dies very hard in farmers.

Low country factors (Chilterns!) may be as some have already surmised, climate change but also higher (untreated??) sheep numbers than 40 years ago.
IMHO significant reductions could be acheived by greater stock treatment.
It is a problem that they don't want to allow to get worse
mercalia
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by mercalia »

Futher discussion from the BBC - a chronic form that resists treatment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34579423
mercalia
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Re: The Ticking Lyme Bomb

Post by mercalia »

another story

Matt Dawson: I had to have heart surgery after a tick bite

When former England rugby player Matt Dawson was bitten by a tick in a London park early last year, it caused a bacterial infection to spread through his body.

"I had two days where I felt awful. Very feverish, on the sofa, crashed out," he said.

Eventually he went to hospital where he was diagnosed with Lyme disease:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40973709
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