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NorthTick 2023

We were able to send 3 people to Inverness at the end of May to attend the NorthTick 2023 conference.

Before you attend a conference you get a delegate pack with details of speakers and the abstracts of the talks, so you know more or less what is going to be said. You might think it is not worth the time, and the hassle of travelling, just to sit in an auditorium and see the speakers’ slides, but it is!

One of the main benefits is meeting people. LDA has been attending international conferences on tick-borne diseases since 2014: in both Europe and America. The academics and clinicians now recognise us and talk to us. So we really get to find out what is happening in research. This conference was the culmination of the EU-funded NorthTick project which involved countries bordering the North Sea, including the UK. As well as talks about aspects of the project itself, there were invited speakers from Canada, the USA and France. Topics covered Risk and prevention, laboratory diagnosis and management of tick-borne diseases.

You can read the schedule of talks here. We had a poster slot, and you can read the poster we presented.

20 years, and still in Action!

2023 was LDA’s 20th anniversary

20 years ago neither the Department of Health nor the Lyme Reference Laboratory would talk to us. Now they do.

20 years ago there were no uncertainties in Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment. Now these are recognised by many.

20 years ago researchers wouldn’t work with us. Now we are partners in several research activities.

20 years ago there was no publicly available, evidence based information on  tick-borne disease. Now there is, because we produced it and the UKHSA finally realised it was necessary and did it too.

20 years ago UK researchers were extremely rare at international conferences on Lyme disease. Then we started attending, and others have followed.

It has been a long haul. Sometimes it feels that there has been no progress, but looking back, we are getting somewhere. Not only can Lyme disease symptoms persist, but this charity can too! For details of our actions over the years, see our History page.

What we do

We are a charity dealing with Lyme disease throughout the UK. We provide accredited information that you can trust; for the public, patients and health professionals.

Find out the facts here on

We raise awareness, provide free leaflets and lobby for improved services. See our latest news items. We usually hold an annual conference. See the LDA conferences page for details of our conferences.

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