Warning to Highland dwellers over blood sucking arachnids
COMPETITORS and spectators at next month’s World Orienteering Championships in the Highlands are being warned about the dangers of blood-sucking ticks.
The Highland Council’s Environmental Health team is raising awareness of potentially fatal Lyme disease which can be transmitted to humans through a tick bite.
Ticks are very small spider-like creatures which feed on blood. In the wild they feed on animals like deer, foxes and rabbits and can be picked up by domestic pets such as cats and dogs and will bite humans if transferred onto skin.
The council’s project aims to target outdoor events over the summer including farmer’s shows, game fairs and the World Orienteering Championships which will be held in the first week in August in the Glen Affric and Strathfarrar areas.
The council is helping to ensure that everyone, including volunteers, spectators and participants are all ‘tooled up’ before they head for the countryside.
Project coordinator Bob Murdoch, who is Environmental Health Officer for Badenoch and Strathspey said: "I know a lot of people in my area who have caught Lyme disease and been quite ill. I feel it vital that we raise awareness of the issues surrounding ticks.
"Increasingly, more people are aware of someone among friends or family who has been bitten or affected by ticks. This is a widespread issue across the country and we should all take simple precautions like avoiding walking though long grass with bare legs or arms in the tick season of May to September. Tuck trousers into socks and inspect yourself when you get home. If you haven’t already got a tick tool, this is a great idea and something we should all have handy in the car, wallet or handbag."
Ticks are common in the Highlands and it is thought that 1 in 10 of them carry the bacteria which can cause Lyme disease. Environmental Health has secured funding to produce a handy tick removal tool which can help reduce the risk of contracting Lyme disease by allowing ticks to be removed from the body safely in the event of a person getting bitten.
Toni Vastano who runs La Taverna restaurant in Aviemore got bitten by a tick in the woods at Craigellachie. He said "I was training for a charity cycle at the time. I was really fit but I was getting exhausted and my joints were hurting."
He got a blood test at the local health centre and was diagnosed with Lyme disease a year after getting bitten.
Mr Vastano added: "I needed to stop working for a while. I had to take two rounds of antibiotics and get injections into my muscles. My immune system was so low that I had to go to hospital for even the smallest cuts. It was one of the hardest times of my life."
The European Space Agency has also given almost £180,000 to a Scottish project to test a new app mapping tick hotspots.
Blood-sucking ticks have been linked to a rise in Lyme disease in humans in the past 10 years, according to NHS Highland.
Between 2001 and 2010 the number of cases of the potentially deadly disease, which is passed on by infected ticks most often picked up on rough ground, soared from 28 to 308.
The disease – a chronic bacterial infection – can affect organs including the heart and brain. Although usually treatable by antibiotics, it was linked to the death of 44-year-old gamekeeper Scott Beattie, head stalker at the Wyvis Estate in Ross-shire, who died in December 2012.
Untreated tick bites can result in neurological problems and joint pain months or years later.
NHS Highland, the University of the Highlands and Islands and Scotland’s Rural College are involved in the new project which will test the new LymeMap app.
People out walking or cycling will be encouraged to use the app to upload information about where they find ticks.
Using GPS technology, the application will also gather details such as the height, temperature and vegetation cover of the location where a person uploads their information.
A one-year study will test the technical and commercial feasibility of LymeMap
NHS Highland said that if it is successful, and subject to funding, the project could eventually be commercialised.
The health board said the system could be extended to other diseases that can be passed between animals and humans, as well as to other countries - if funds were made available.
