Two trustees from LDA travelled to Sweden to attend this European Conference. It enabled us to renew contacts with researchers and clinicians as well as to get an update on current research.

Below are the key points we noted. Where a comment on the situation in the UK is helpful for comparison we have put it in [square brackets]

• Norwegian studies in the conference were consistently reporting “no persisting symptoms more than the normal population”.
• However, Denmark & Sweden have noted genuine Post Treatment Lyme Disease (PTLD) symptoms in studies. There is recognition in these professionals that a sustained immune response may lead to continuing symptoms.
• Lyme Borreliosis seroprevalence is high in Europe. This is the percentage of healthy people who gave a positive reaction to a Lyme disease test, although they did not have a current infection. In South Sweden (an area with a lot of Lyme disease) more than a quarter of the normal population had detectable antibodies. This makes it difficult for the standard blood test to determine whether someone is suffering from a new infection, or just has remaining antibodies from a past infection.
  • Sweden overall – 160 people out of 1000 healthy people test positive;
  • S Sweden – 270 out of 1000 test positive

 [UK: For comparison: England – fewer than 5 people out of 1000 test positive in a recent study of English blood donors, so it’s not yet a big problem in the UK, though data from high risk areas might be different.]

• Throughout Europe there is concern about B-cell depleting therapy increasingly used for autoimmune diseases (eg rheumatoid arthritis) as this leads to negative serology in LB cases.
• Other Tick-borne diseases are clearly of rising importance in Europe:
  • Neoehrlichia cases are rising now that it is recognised. It is often a mild illness but there is increasing concern as it can induce a latent infection that reactivates when B-cell immunity is compromised.

[UK: No report yet in the UK & not found in UK ticks so far.]

• • Spiroplasma ixodetis – a cause of fever in adults and congenital eye problems in infants. Maternal infections and tick bites have been traced in some cases, demonstrating that an infection in the mother can cause problems in a new baby.

[UK: So far about 2 in 100 ticks collected on the Isle of Wight and 4 in 1,000 ticks in NW Scotland have been found carrying this.]

• • Alpha-Gal syndrome, an allergy to mammalian meat & products (ie beef, lamb, pork) caused by tick saliva, is increasing worldwide. Offal gives the worst reaction, then red meat and the lowest is dairy.

[UK: There have been some UK cases.]

NoSTick (The Nordic Society for Research on Ticks and Tick-borne Infections) of which LDA is a member, is theoretically for Nordic countries but now has 140 members from 20 countries. We are all in this together.

The full programme of the conference can be accessed on the NordTick 2026 website

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