LDA was invited by the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project to an event they organised at the end of July to brief farmers about the risk of tick-borne diseases. Most of the event was about the devastating tick-borne illnesses in livestock, with which all farmers are unfortunately familiar. Whether GPs in the area were familiar with human tick-borne disease, we were soon to discover!
Dr Nicholas Johnson from the Animal & Plant Health Agency gave an overview of tick-borne disease in the southwest. Cattle can fall ill with Babesiosis which infects their red blood cells. That is why some fields were named “Redwater” in the past. A co-infection with tick-borne fever at the same time can cause very serious disease.
Dr Beth Wells, from the Moredun Research Institute in Scotland, focussed on Louping Ill Virus which is responsible for significant deaths of sheep across the southwest as well as in Scotland. There is no treatment, but the good news is that a vaccine against this virus is finally in production. There was also a talk from a local vet giving advice on best practice on the farm.
LDA was asked to talk about tick-borne illnesses that affect humans, of which Lyme disease is the main one in the UK. The Southwest has the highest incidence of reported Lyme disease cases in England and mid-summer is the peak time for diagnosis.
A show of hands indicated that most of the farmers present had either had, or knew someone who had had, Lyme disease. Our chair, Stella Huyshe-Shires, described the main symptoms as well as the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. She also informed people about the emerging risk of Tick-Borne Encephalitis which has now been detected in UK ticks, though not yet in Devon.
It had been expected that this group of famers would be more interested in the diseases affecting their livestock, but there were some very interesting discussions around Lyme disease. It is clear that we need to increase the awareness of GPs around Dartmoor to enable people to get an early diagnosis and effective treatment.
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