I know this has been covered before on BF, but I couldn´t respond with thanks to the posters on the thread for info ´cos it´s an old thread. By a bizarre coincidence, I only heard of Lyme disease yesterday, from a Polish BF contributor as we strolled through long grass at a local patch. This evening I walked the dog through nearby woods, wearing sandals (me, not the dog). On arriving home I found a tick (I think it´s a deer-tick) attached to my toe!:eek!: It couldn´t have been there long, and Lyme is not a "notifiable disease" in Ireland, but it´s good at least to know what to look out for. Maybe a timely warning to birders in IRL/UK as it seems climatic conditions for Lyme disease are ripening.
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Ticks and Lyme disease (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Sancho
- Start date
Birdspotter
Well-known member
In my own personal experiance ticks have become more prevelant in the last five years or so, I picked up a couple, just a couple of weeks back whilst up the Cairngorms, whilst a mate of mine caught Lime disease after a cycle along a local riverbank not so long ago.
According to the Doctor I last visited, Lime disease does not exist in Britain:eek!:, that soon after the local rag ran a double page spread on the issue too. Needless to say I put her straight on that one!
So yes Lime disease is on the up and birders should be aware of it!
According to the Doctor I last visited, Lime disease does not exist in Britain:eek!:, that soon after the local rag ran a double page spread on the issue too. Needless to say I put her straight on that one!
So yes Lime disease is on the up and birders should be aware of it!
mmm... I got caught a few years ago. Now I tuck my trousers into my socks when walking in long grass/heather where deer are likely to be roaming.
It got me on the back of my knee and a few days later I had a large red weal on my calf - looked like I'd been burnt by a red-hot iron! My GP must have had a lot of experience with it, as he recognised it immediately and I was put straight onto anti-biotics and blood tests for months.
D
It got me on the back of my knee and a few days later I had a large red weal on my calf - looked like I'd been burnt by a red-hot iron! My GP must have had a lot of experience with it, as he recognised it immediately and I was put straight onto anti-biotics and blood tests for months.
D
lashinala
Well-known member
If you get it off in less that 12 hours from when it attached, you should be fine. Make sure not to pinch the body though, as you can squeeze the gut contents through the siphon into your body (not good). Pull it from an angle and make sure you get the head. I walk in the woods here several times a week and average around a tick a month on my body....around 1 a day on clothing. They are nasty...glad they can't fly.
Steve Dudley
aka The Toadsnatcher
You're lucky. Many GPs still dont know what it is and if you wait for tests its often too late to be treated effectively.
I contracted LD in 1997. I self diagnosed it straight away and luckily my GP agreed (living in Thetford and seeing many cases in Thetford Forest helped as both he and I were both familiar with it). The numerous blood tests were never conclusive (quite common) but being pumped with drugs from as early as possible clearly helped (although it was pretty rough for a few months). If you get it proper you live with the after affects for good (differs from person to person).
Funny thing was that I never found a tick on me (I've have done), just started with the rash, and I contracted it in February during winter fieldwork in Thetford Forest. To the best of my knowledge this is the only time I have been bitten by a tick.
Pinewood
New York correspondent
Hello all,
I think that I may have written this earlier but it is worth repeating. A friend got bitten on her thigh, even when wearing trousers in her socks. Most likely it jumped from her clothing to her exposed thigh in the loo, after retuning from the field.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
I think that I may have written this earlier but it is worth repeating. A friend got bitten on her thigh, even when wearing trousers in her socks. Most likely it jumped from her clothing to her exposed thigh in the loo, after retuning from the field.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
harry eales
Ancient Entomologist
Deer Ticks are unfortunately far too common. One of the danger areas are woodlands where there is a lot of Bracken, although Bracken covered moorlands can be equally as bad.
I've only ever found a couple of 'Deer Ticks' on my body, both under my wrist watch. A pair of very fine pointed forceps and a good lense are required to remove them. Lyme Disease is something no one wants to encounter. Once you have been infected, you have it for life I understand.
Harry
I've only ever found a couple of 'Deer Ticks' on my body, both under my wrist watch. A pair of very fine pointed forceps and a good lense are required to remove them. Lyme Disease is something no one wants to encounter. Once you have been infected, you have it for life I understand.
Harry
Thanks for that advice, Harry. Is it wise then to carry a forceps and lens in the kit-bag at all times? A friend told me that dousing the tick with a little alcohol loosens its grip.
Birdspotter
Well-known member
Sometimes though they are just so far in.
I once set about removing one buried deep into the skin of my side with the aid of a stanley knife whilst at work one day, I think perhaps that might not have been the place to perform such an operation given the looks I got
harry eales
Ancient Entomologist
Hello Sancho,
I use watchmakers forceps with very fine points which can really get to grips with the little beastie. When not in use I push the points into a cork to both protect the points and your own fingers when rummaging about in the first aid box. A Jewellers loupe or a small 15x hand lens is fine, although with a loupe you just screw it into your eye and you have both hands free, which is helpful.
Good forceps are not cheap but will last a lifetime unless you use them for opening old tins of paint.
Alcohol may indeed help and the higher the concentration the better as it will also act as a disinfectant.
Harry
Brian Stone
A Stone chatting
We've found a drop of lavender essential oil directly onto the tick causes it to detatch itself.
David Smith
Warrington Lancs
An interesting thread to me as one of my friends (living in America) got this desease and apparently was near 'deaths door' and suffered for many years after (still does to some extent).
Because of this and his wife's warnings I looked into it and in one of my google searches found an implement specifically for this puropose (Don't ask as I stupidly didn't keep the information3 ) but it is out there somewhere.
I do recall reading many warnings not to just try squeezing or pulling them out-for the reasons stated in earlier posts.
Because of this and his wife's warnings I looked into it and in one of my google searches found an implement specifically for this puropose (Don't ask as I stupidly didn't keep the information3
) but it is out there somewhere.I do recall reading many warnings not to just try squeezing or pulling them out-for the reasons stated in earlier posts.
harry eales
Ancient Entomologist
An excellent tip Brian, but one I'm reluctant to take up, simply because where I am in the North East men who go around smelling of Lavender get some very strange looks.
Harry
You can buy kits in the US with special tweezers with a notched head that help avoid the squeezing. A blown out match head to the back loosens the grip, too. Deer ticks are actually pretty microscopic for much of the earlier season, so you really need to look more for the effects than the beast. I also follow the advice of a good hot shower immediately after coming home to wash anything unattached away and also feel for anything. Any tick can carry disease. If you see any sign of pronounced redness get to the doctor ASAP to start a regimen of antibiotics. Here in the NE US this is all pretty standard stuff. I've been told it takes a good 24 hours to transfer the bacteria... Save the tick, too, if you have concerns to confirm species under a lens.
my father is a practicing rheumatologist in Connecticut not too far from Lyme Connecticut where the disease got its namesake and has seen cases of Lyme disease for the past 20 years or so. In our area dear ticks are the carriers -basically self examination is the key - or if your wife/significant other can help in that regard that is always a plus. What you are looking for is the tick bite - but in the case of Lyme a red bullseye about the size of a quarter or so ( should be distinct as ticks can still leave a good welt of course). Symptoms can vary from subtle to extreme. Both my parents and my brother have contracted it - My brother reported extreme achiness and got a fever pretty fast. The process is quickly remedied by tetracycline anti-biotics although I am sure there is a more modern equivalent. It can get ugly if not diagnosed quickly - a result similar to Bell's palsy in which nerve damage can occur and facial deformity = not good -lol !
Hi all, very interesting thread. As there are a lot of different suggetions as to removal/treatment I thought this link would be useful to share.
http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/ticks.htm
Dave
http://www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk/ticks.htm
Dave
gergrd
GREG
Three examples from personal experience of why you don't want to get Lyme disease and particularly why you want to catch it and treat it early if you do get it:
1) A bright young child (age about 7) who went to school with my children contracted LD. By the time they diagnosed it, he had suffered brain damage and was learning disabled after that.
2) A golf pro buddy at a local shop got it. He ended up unable to work or golf in his mid-forties.
3) A friend's wife got it in her mid-thirties. She now walks with a cane.
Not to mention another friend's husband who has gone through rounds of costly, antibiotic treatments and who still has periodic bouts of crippling pain, headaches, etc.
In each case I was told that it took a long time for the doctors to realize that LD was present - sometimes you need to lean on your physician to get the proper treatment and sometimes irrepairable damage has already been done.
I have poor eyesite and don't always find larger wood ticks, so deer ticks are very scary to me. I wish someone would come up with a way to spot them after a hike before they get a chance to do their damage.
Sorry to hear that LD is in the UK.
1) A bright young child (age about 7) who went to school with my children contracted LD. By the time they diagnosed it, he had suffered brain damage and was learning disabled after that.
2) A golf pro buddy at a local shop got it. He ended up unable to work or golf in his mid-forties.
3) A friend's wife got it in her mid-thirties. She now walks with a cane.
Not to mention another friend's husband who has gone through rounds of costly, antibiotic treatments and who still has periodic bouts of crippling pain, headaches, etc.
In each case I was told that it took a long time for the doctors to realize that LD was present - sometimes you need to lean on your physician to get the proper treatment and sometimes irrepairable damage has already been done.
I have poor eyesite and don't always find larger wood ticks, so deer ticks are very scary to me. I wish someone would come up with a way to spot them after a hike before they get a chance to do their damage.
Sorry to hear that LD is in the UK.
Sincerest thanks to all contributors for the advice, all of which is excellent. Incredibly, people here just don´t seem to be aware of LD, although anecdotally it is on the rise. All the kids on our housing-estate play in the local woods, long grass, ferns, etc., and there are deer in there, and now ticks too. I´ll acquire the tweezers/tick-removers as advised, and try to make people locally aware, without being alarmist about it. Thanks again.
Stewart J.
Well-known member
Excellent link Dave, many thanks now bookmarked (my wife picked up her first Tick after our recent hol in Bulgaria and it shocked her). Stewart
Marcus Conway - ebirder
Well-known member
I found a tick embedded in my arm after a day in the field a few weeks back. I caught it within a few hours of it getting attached and there was no mark after an hour (removed with the tweezers from my dissection kit). Now that I am more educated I have found deer ticks on my clothing each time I have been out and am getting somewhat paranoid! Some days, like today, I found three on my trousers. Last week I had one on my glasses. Ugh. I have found even walking in the middles of estate tracks with ankle deep vegetation does not limit the transferral onto a person.
I strip down on entering the house and get the missus to check me over before jumping in the shower (though I doubt that would do much in removing them). We haven't got to the stage of checking with a magnifying glass yet, but how else can you find the nypmhs? Clothes bunged in the wash. I don't wash my camera bag as it's not practical every time I go out.
I feel a bit helpless;
- they can't be deterred
- they are resistant to showers and soap etc
- they live for a while in clothing and bags etc
- you can't feel them crawling or biting or sucking
- you can't even see the nyphms sometimes
Then part of me thinks there must be all these country folk gamekeepers and beaters who just get on with it. Am I just being silly and worrying myself over a fairly low threat of LD - serious as it is?
And I've got an 'inny' belly button - there could be one there now!
I strip down on entering the house and get the missus to check me over before jumping in the shower (though I doubt that would do much in removing them). We haven't got to the stage of checking with a magnifying glass yet, but how else can you find the nypmhs? Clothes bunged in the wash. I don't wash my camera bag as it's not practical every time I go out.
I feel a bit helpless;
- they can't be deterred
- they are resistant to showers and soap etc
- they live for a while in clothing and bags etc
- you can't feel them crawling or biting or sucking
- you can't even see the nyphms sometimes
Then part of me thinks there must be all these country folk gamekeepers and beaters who just get on with it. Am I just being silly and worrying myself over a fairly low threat of LD - serious as it is?
And I've got an 'inny' belly button - there could be one there now!
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