Lyme Disease

What is Lyme Disease?

• Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection.  Infected ticks spread the bacteria when they attach to your skin and feed on your blood.
• Lyme Disease is a relatively uncommon infection in the UK, but it has recently started to occur more frequently.

Who is at risk?

• You and your dog may be at risk when you visit the countryside.  Ticks are usually found in areas of rough grassland and heathland.  People who walk through or work in these areas are more at risk.  Most ticks are not infected with the bacteria that cause Lyme Disease.
• Late spring, early summer and autumn are the most likely times for infection as this is when ticks are most active.

How can it be prevented?

• Avoid tick bites by covering up and wearing long trousers, and long-sleeved shirt. 
• Check yourself and your dog after a walk.
• Consider using insect repellent
• Check the skin for any ticks that have become attached and remove them promptly

What are the symptoms?

• A tick bite looks like a lump with a small scab on the skin surface at the site of the bite.
  Reddish skin rash in a ring shape.
• The rash spreads out from the site of the bite after 3 to 30 days.
• Tiredness, headache, joint pains and flu-like symptoms.

Consult your doctor if a rash or other symptoms develop within a few weeks of a tick bite.