Ignorance of tick-borne Lyme disease 'costing lives'

I feel like I'm turning into a Public Service Broadcaster!!!

This is serious though:

BBC News - Ignorance of tick-borne Lyme disease

I had one last week and within a couple of hours was put on Dioxycycline by the Doc, so they are taking this seriously as well.

So many new stalkers come on here asking about what kit they need, and we all reply with rifle, scope, binos etc, and none of us talk about tick removal.

Do you have O'Tom Tick Twisters in your kit? Bl**dy glad that I had them at home, but had to root around as I couldn't put my hands on them immediately.


This was a Public Service Announcement by I. Farticus Broadcasting
 
Àt the moment due to a health problem I have no immune system so my weekend has been spent buying protective clothing from ticks and also locating some O'tom tick twisters. An expensive weekend but as they say you can't put a price on your health.
 
Yes it needs to be taken seriously,, but to be honest you said you had one and went to the doctor and was put on antibiotics, now thats all very well, but that would never happen where I am if everybody went to the Doctors with a tick bite they would be doing nothing else, here I am likely to come back with ten or a dozen after a stalking outing
some areas are worse than others places with bracken are worst.

The important thing is to check yourself and remove any ticks with a proper tick tool, there is not a great deal of risk if you manage to find them early on, the real risk is when the tick is full after having had a good meal of your blood, the real danger period is if its gone unnoticed on your body for twenty four hours or longer.

The article is a little misleading on the bulls eye rash, people think because they had no bulls eye , a tick bite
can't be the reason they feel unwell, not so the rash is often not present.


Actually only a small percentage of ticks carry disease, so be careful , just don't get paranoid.
 
I had Lymmes disease early last year and even the blood tests aren't reliable as I had several over a period.
I had one 'clear' then a 'positive' then a 'clear' then a 'trace' and from then on clear but I still don't feel as fit as I was before I had the disease.
I certainly had the big round rash around the bite and, luckily for me, the Dr was switched on to Lymmes, apparently not many are.
But as has been said, not all ticks carry it and to go running to the Dr every time one bit you would be a bit expensive for the Health service and I'm sure you would be told what to look for before visiting the Dr again.
 
There isn't a limit to how often this problem/risk can be broadcasted.

Our ground in S.Ayrshire nr the coast has very high tick densities, I seem to pick them up every trip from when the weather turns milder, as yet not had any symptoms but it worries me that our odds must be high in picking up a infection carrier tick :-|

As Ian states O'Toms (or other extrication products) are essential kit for the kit bag & a back up pair at home.
 
But how accurate is it? If proper health lab's find it hard to test for it it's hard to see how a DIY tester would work, althou may be different testing the actual tick compared to when diluted in human blood.
 
[it] may be different testing the actual tick compared to when diluted in human blood.

I think that's the main idea. Here's a video video
Note: includes violent scenes of tick mashing!

Some general info:

The Care Plus Tick Test is a self-diagnosis test used on the tick that has bitten you to indicate the presence or not of Borrelia bacteria in the tick. The Tick Test is a quick, easy and pain-free process for the person, requiring no blood samples to be taken or any other material from the person. Instead it works in much the same way as a pregnancy test. It is a lateral flow test which will detect the presence or absence of this bacteria in just 20 minutes.

Within 8 hours of being bitten by tick, remove tick carefully with Care Plus Tick-Out tick remover
Place tick in test tube
Crush tick with wooden stick
Add drop or two of liquid provided with pipette
Place on test cassette

The test indicates if the tick has tested positive or negative. Two red lines showing on the cassette means the tick is infected with Borrelia. The test is highly reliable and has 98% accuracy in its indication.

If present, Borrelia bacteria could lead to infection with Lyme Disease. It is worth noting that just because a tick is infected, it does not necessarily mean that the infection will automatically have passed on to the person bitten. However, it is a very good indication that medical consultation should be sought as soon as possible as Lyme disease can in some cases prove to be extremely debilitating, so it is better diagnosed early.


And some more specific stuff:
http://www.keebleagencies.co.uk/wp-...Test-Detection-Limit-and-Cross-Reactivity.pdf
http://www.keebleagencies.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Tick-Test-Sensitivity-and-Specificity.pdf

If you're not going to go to the doc for antibiotics every time you get a tick on you -and most of us aren't- this seems to be a sort of half-way house: an immediately available £10 test that in the event of a positive result will put you on track for treatment by your GP.
 
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OK if you live in an area with few ticks, in my area its quite common to come back with ten or so ticks on your person, two outings per day twenty ticks x £10 hardly practical.
 
OK if you live in an area with few ticks, in my area its quite common to come back with ten or so ticks on your person, two outings per day twenty ticks x £10 hardly practical.

Fair enough - though I wonder if you could mash them all together for a single test!

More seriously, though, I don't think this is offered as a substitute for prevention, and the first step for anyone working in tick-infested environments where there's a high risk of bites would clearly be to invest in some tick-repelling/resistant clothing.
 
Fair enough - though I wonder if you could mash them all together for a single test!

More seriously, though, I don't think this is offered as a substitute for prevention, and the first step for anyone working in tick-infested environments where there's a high risk of bites would clearly be to invest in some tick-repelling/resistant clothing.

I am not sure about the tick resistant clothing its a possibility, but the places that I find I get them most is around my waist as the little b***ers get in any gaps would need to wear all in one bib and brace to really prevent them getting access , lower legs again were they can get access ,though gaiters can help there, and arms etc when working in the larder.

The larder is where I probably get most of them.

Still think the best thing to do is a good check and remove them as quick as possible.


As I said in previous post you need to be careful but not paranoid, not all ticks carry disease and even when they do, you may still be infected.

I am not treating the risk casually but being realistic.

I did contract Lyme disease in 1995 making a full recovery or so I thought.

Now suffering from heart disease, which the specialist says may or may not be the result of an infection picked up years earlier ie. Lyme disease.
 
I appreciate the problem, and that you speak from a good deal of experience, whereas I'm just copying stuff I've come across at trade shows in the hope that it may be of some interest/help.

FWIW as well as clothing there are tick-repellent fabric treatments available, which might make it a bit more feasible to create a barrier at the waist - tick-repellent shirt tucked into tick-repellent trousers and the join overhung by a tick-repellent gilet/jacket?

As for the larder, are these any good? BushWear: HS Shoulder Length Field Dressing Gloves.
 
I appreciate the problem, and that you speak from a good deal of experience, whereas I'm just copying stuff I've come across at trade shows in the hope that it may be of some interest/help.

FWIW as well as clothing there are tick-repellent fabric treatments available, which might make it a bit more feasible to create a barrier at the waist - tick-repellent shirt tucked into tick-repellent trousers and the join overhung by a tick-repellent gilet/jacket?



I appreciate what you are saying and tick repellent clothing maybe the answer, what I would like to see is some input from users as to its effectiveness , not from manufacturers or agents nor weekend stalkers no offence to any of these but would like some feedback from those that use it on more or less daily basis
, in areas of heavy tick infestation.
 
What I would like to see is some input from users as to its effectiveness, not from manufacturers or agents nor weekend stalkers [but] from those that use it on more or less daily basis in areas of heavy tick infestation.

Agreed. Hopefully there are members on here who can help with that. I freely admit that I'm (barely) a weekend stalker myself -no offence taken- and my ground doesn't have a marked tick burden, so I'll leave it to others to comment about what works, as opposed to what's available.

P.S. I don't have any financial interest in tick control products BTW.
 
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