Wow, this seems a pretty big deal.

Here in the UK, Lyme traditionally been a marginal problem (tick bites aren't) but we now have such rapid climate change, along with rapidly increasing wild deer and boar populations, that some areas in the UK are becoming risk zones on more or less the same level of risk as some US regions.

Alas the difference here is that education has not caught up to the USA: very few people have any grasp of the risk of Lyme because the high risk zones are, by and large, not well known, and they don't always correlate that well with the basic risk of acquiring a tick.

I think most specialists in the UK think this is likely to lead to a pretty big increase to infections before people learn, so maybe this sort of tool will help offset that.

I walk a lot in an area with some wild deer and boar, and I would love to have one of these in my cupboard as a precaution. Would be great to see them in supermarkets in high risk areas, too.

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afavour an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I have a friend who got a tick bite on holiday in America many years ago. Turns out they got Lyme disease but no doctors in the UK were experienced with it so they dealt with years of misdiagnosis. I really hope any education effort can get out ahead of that.

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dofm an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah. I think we simply did not see it enough and to be honest far too few doctors ask the "have you travelled" question about unusual disease. It is better now, but I think the "could it be?" thought doesn't occur because the incidence has been low.

There is a more severe risk around rabies. We basically do not have it in the UK or Ireland; it has been eliminated for over a century except a tiny incidence of a virus in the same family in bats. But because we have essentially eradicated it, doctors do not often think to ask about it, even in people who have travelled, which led to someone suffering awfully last year.

And since a dog bite or even a fox bite in the UK or Ireland carries literally zero risk of rabies, those who are bitten or scratched while travelling abroad do not have it uppermost in their mind.

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KellyCriterion 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Thats interesting, since there is a lot of research around face palsy & recovery in UK.

	▲	_puk 26 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yep. About 20 years ago my gran got to the facial palsy stage of Lyme's before it was even considered and diagnosed by a visiting locum doctor who'd grown up in another country. Antibiotics were given, her face recovered (albeit slowly). It's a horrendous disease.

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an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

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CalRobert an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Certainly had to convince my gp a few years ago that indeed there is Lyme in Ireland

	▲	nephihaha 14 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It certainly exists in Scotland. Wouldn't surprise me if it got there.

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CGMthrowaway 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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