An expert’s view on the prevention, symptoms and treatment of Lyme disease
‘The tricky thing is knowing if you have been bitten by a tick. They are hard to find and can be very small when they first attach because they’re not full of blood,” says Professor James Logan, head of the department of disease control at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. There are three sizes of tick, and they all feed on blood: the larvae are tiny, the nymphs are about the size of a poppy seed and are most likely to transmit Lyme disease, while the adults reach the size of a pea when they are full of blood. “If you are out somewhere where there are likely to be ticks – particularly moorland, but anywhere where there are deer – you need to be checking yourself and your kids every hour or so, and especially when you get home. Even Richmond Park in London has ticks with Lyme disease,” he advises. Organisations such as Lyme Disease Action and Public Health England have information on where there is a known prevalence of Lyme disease, such as Dartmoor, Exmoor, the Scottish Highlands and some national parks, but, warns Logan: “Technically it could happen anywhere.”
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