Will’s World: How to avoid uninvited summer guests
Will Evans © Richard Stanton
With most siblings, there’s one who gets the brains, and one who gets the good looks. In our family, my sister is a high-flying pharmacist in London, and I’m a poor tenant farmer in North Wales.
I’ll let you make up your own mind as to who got which attribute.
See also: Farm Doctor: When does a cut or scrape need medical attention?
About the author
A couple of weeks ago, my sister sent me a message saying she’s doing some work with a charity called Lyme Disease UK, and May is their awareness month.
It aims to highlight how to prevent tick bites and what to do if you’re unfortunate enough to get bitten.
As farmers are among the most likely professions to be affected by it, she asked if there were there any opportunities for me to support the campaign.
In the know
Before I read some of the information she sent, I didn’t know much about it.
I suppose I could have told you that it was transmitted to humans and dogs via ticks, but that would have been the extent of my knowledge on the subject.
It turns out that it’s extremely nasty indeed. It’s an infection caused by a spiral-shaped bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi (which if you ask me sounds a bit like a far-right Italian politician).
Ticks carrying this pass it on through their bites. The little bar-stewards have been found across every county of the UK, mainly in grassy areas and woodland, and it’s estimated that up to 10% of them carry Lyme disease.
Ticks vary in size from as small as a poppy seed to as large as a baked bean after a blood meal. (Apologies if you’re reading this while eating beans on toast – enjoy!)
They wait for food on blades of grass, and when a human or animal brushes past they can embed themselves and feed.
This activity is known as “questing” – an altogether too gentle and nerdish-sounding word in my opinion that should be immediately changed to “time-bombing”. Get it? Tick – time-bomb? Oh, never mind.
Stealthy stowaways
They’ll often crawl to warm, hidden parts of the body, and can go unnoticed while feeding as the bites are painless. How delightful. It gets worse, though.
What sometimes start as a circular, oval or bull’s-eye shaped rash that lasts for several weeks can lead to symptoms such as high temperature, feeling hot and shivery, headaches, facial palsy (especially in children), muscle and joint pain, and debilitating tiredness.
Some people even develop symptoms months or years later, which is more likely if treatment is delayed.
This can include severe pain and swelling in the joints, pain or numbness around nerves, heart problems, and trouble with memory or concentration, not to mention the mental health aspect of dealing with such serious conditions and being unlikely to be able to work or live an active lifestyle.
Once bitten…
But what can we do to prevent it? The charity advises wearing long-sleeved tops if possible, and light-coloured clothing, as this will make it easier to spot ticks and brush them off.
Shower every day and carry out a thorough check on yourself, dogs and children, paying special attention to the hairline and behind the ears.
As with most conditions, though, the key is awareness, and therefore getting diagnosed and treated early. So if you’re worried, get yourself along to a doctor as soon as possible.
Stay safe out there, folks.
For more information, visit lymediseaseuk.com