Essentials
- UK ticks can carry diseases other than Lyme disease, but Lyme disease is the most common.
- The other tick-borne diseases discussed here are more common in Europe and N America.
- Most of the other diseases are treated with the same antibiotics as used for Lyme disease.
- Many of the other diseases have overlapping symptoms; headaches and fever are common in all.
- Several organisations are involved in research to track the diseases carried by ticks in the UK.
Diseases carried by UK ticks
Several infections are carried by UK ticks [1-3] but distribution and rate of infection is not fully documented. In current studies of UK ticks, Lyme disease is by far the most common infection carried – see our main Lyme disease pages.
Patients are rarely tested for the other diseases, many of which have symptoms that overlap those of Lyme disease, so how often people are infected in the UK is unknown. Most of these infections respond to the same antibiotic treatment as Lyme disease. The main tick-borne diseases are:-
Anaplasmosis is sometimes called Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (HGA) is caused by the bacterium Anaplasma phagocytophilum. It tends to cause more fever than Lyme disease and gives rise to abnormal liver function tests and low white blood cells and platelets[5]. There have been some UK cases, but testing of potential cases is rarely carried out [4]. Anaplasmosis responds to the same antibiotic as Lyme disease.
Babesiosis is caused by one of three species of Babesia parasite. [5] It infects red blood cells and can cause anaemia, dark urine as well as significant headache, fever and abdominal complaints. Most people have very mild symptoms but older people and those immunocompromised are at greater risk of severe disease. There was a suspected English case in 1974, the first Scottish case was reported in 1979 and a confirmed case in England in 2020. It is thought that most people will not need treatment, so it is possible that there may have been many un-diagnosed cases. Babesiosis is treated with specific antibiotics and quinine. See our news item.
Borrelia miyamotoi causes a Lyme-like illness but without an EM rash and with more fever (sometimes coming and going) and headache. In some cases meningitis develops [10]. There have been no reported UK cases, but this may be because the routine blood tests do not distinguish between this disease and Lyme disease.
Rickettsiosis is caused by species of Rickettsia bacteria and also transmitted by mites [6,7]. It can cause a spotty rash, fevers and sometimes a black “eschar”, or scab, at the site of the tick bite. Positive blood tests have been recorded in UK patients. Rickettsia infections respond to the same treatment as Lyme disease.
Tick Borne Encephalitis Virus (TBE) is relatively new to the UK. It was found in a few UK ticks in 2019 and two human cases were confirmed in 2022. The virus has now (April 2023) been confirmed in ticks in
- Thetford Forest
- Hampshire / Dorset border
- the New Forest
- the North York Moors
As with other viruses, not everyone falls ill. For those unlucky enough, the virus causes a few days of ‘flu like symptoms, a gap of some days, then possibly meningitis. [9] Read our more detailed 2023 news item. Note that TBE can be transmitted within minutes of the tick bite. [11]
The UK Risk Assessment is updated when new evidence is found. Currently the risk to people in the UK is very low, but TBE is endemic in much of Europe & Asia and the NorthTick project has produced a useful animation about TBE – click on the image on the left. The UKHSA has information for health professionals here.
A vaccine is available see the NHS website for information on countries affected and how to get the vaccine if you are travelling.
Bartonella – Cat scratch disease. The bacterium Bartonella henslae is found in cats and can be passed to a person by a scratch, a cat licking someone’s open wounds or by cat fleas. It has been found in a small number of ticks on cats in the UK [12], so it is possible it could be transmitted to humans by ticks. It can cause swelling and redness at the scratch or bite site and enlargement of lymph nodes. There is not a lot of evidence on treatment, some cases indicating that antibiotic treatment may not make much difference to recovery except in very serious cases. [13]
Louping ill virus is common in sheep, grouse and other animals [8] but human cases are rare. It is endemic to UK upland areas and causes a severe infection of the central nervous system.
All the above except Louping ill are more common in mainland Europe. North America has a different spectrum of tick-borne diseases as well as different ticks so American information is often not applicable to the UK.
UK Monitoring of tick-borne diseases. The UK Health Security Agency’s Tick Surveillance Scheme regularly screens collections of ticks for diseases. The UK Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance group (HAIRS) meets every month and issues reports and risk assessments on emerging tick-borne bacteria and viruses in the UK.
References
- Layzell SJ, Bailey D, Peacey M, Nuttall PA. Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks from four sites in the UK. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2017;9(2):217–24.
- Abdullah S, Helps C, Tasker S, Newbury H, Wall R. Prevalence and distribution of Borrelia and Babesia species in ticks feeding on dogs in the U.K. Med Vet Entomol. 2017;
- Smith FD, Wall R, Ellse L Prevalence of Babesia and Anaplasma in ticks infesting dogs in Great Britain. Vet Parasitol. 2013 Sep 4;
- Hagedorn P, Imhoff M, Fischer C, Domingo C, Niedrig M. Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis Acquired in Scotland 2013. Emerg Infect Dis. 2014;20(6):20–2.
- Azagi T, Hoornstra D, Kremer K, Hovius JWR, Sprong H. Evaluation of disease causality of rare ixodes ricinus-borne infections in Europe. Pathogens. 2020;9(2).
- Tijsse-Klasen E, Hansford KM, Jahfari S, Phipps P, Sprong H, Medlock JM. Spotted fever group rickettsiae in Dermacentor reticulatus and Haemaphysalis punctata ticks in the UK. Parasit Vectors. 2013 Jan;6(1):212.
- Portillo A, Santibáñez S, García-Álvarez L, Palomar AM, Oteo JA. Rickettsioses in Europe. Microbes Infect. 2015;17(11–12):834–8.
- Jeffries CL, Mansfield KL, Phipps LP, Wakeley PR, Mearns R, Schock A, et al. Louping ill virus: An endemic tick-borne disease of Great Britain. J Gen Virol. 2014;95(PART 5):1005–14.
- Public Health England. Tick-borne encephalitis Epidemiology , diagnosis and prevention.
- Kubiak, Katarzyna, Magdalena Szczotko, and Małgorzata Dmitryjuk. 2021. “Borrelia Miyamotoi-An Emerging Human Tick-Borne Pathogen in Europe.” Microorganisms 9 (154).
- Dekker, Margriet, et al 2019. “Emergence of Tick-Borne Encephalitis ( TBE ) in the Netherlands.” Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases 10 (1): 176–79.
- Duplan, Florent et al. 2018. “Anaplasma Phagocytophilum, Bartonella Spp . , Haemoplasma Species and Hepatozoon Spp . in Ticks Infesting Cats : A Large-Scale Survey.” Parasites & Vectors 11: 201
- Rolain JM, et al. 2004. Recommendations for Treatment of Human Infections Caused by Bartonella Species. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004;48(6)