Does it Bite (or sting or be horrid to me anyway?

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by pheonix

HORSE FLIES - They bite, and it hurts!

Im not sure about craneflies but i thought it was harvestmen that are the most venomous thing in the uk but their fangs can't penetrate our skin??

Horse fly bites really hurt big time.....................Jon (ouch)

[pheonix]

What about plants then?

I know of giant hog weed giving you nasty burns, and some garden plants like Rue.

[Imaginos]

Originally Posted by pheonix

What about plants then?

STINGING NETTLE: Stings

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by Imaginos

STINGING NETTLE: Stings

Not if you grab them hard and let them know who's boss. Having builders hands helps too................Jon (Had to gather some last saturday for a meal)

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by Jonny

Horse fly bites really hurt big time.....................Jon (ouch)

Yes they do.I was walking along a car park in Budleigh last summer near the Otter Nature reserve when I felt a very bad sting worse than a wasp sting.By the time I got home my elbow looked black and blue and was swollen.They said at the hospital it was probably a horse fly.
Mind you everyone laughed as I was wearing a new t shirt that day with a bunch of cherries on the front and above it said........................wait for it................................BITE ME

[Jonny]

Originally Posted by cherrybee

Yes they do.I was walking along a car park in Budleigh last summer near the Otter Nature reserve when I felt a very bad sting worse than a wasp sting.By the time I got home my elbow looked black and blue and was swollen.They said at the hospital it was probably a horse fly.
Mind you everyone laughed as I was wearing a new t shirt that day with a bunch of cherries on the front and above it said........................wait for it................................BITE ME

Lol.............I should keep that t shirt for winter use only, when you can wear something over it..................Jon

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by pheonix

What about plants then?

I know of giant hog weed giving you nasty burns, and some garden plants like Rue.

Not many people realise that wild parsnip can have a similar effect to giant hogweed, also pretty nasty and blisters can reappear in bright sunshine quite some time after the original wound has healed and of course there's plenty that are poisonous.

[Wordbender]

Grass Snakes can actually bite. I was bitten three times during my feral childhood, when catching Grass Snakes, lizards and Adders (not a bright child, sadly) was one of my obsessions. It has to be said that all three bites came as I grabbed the snake as it tried to escape, and was entirely my fault for taking liberties with a good-natured reptile.

Usually, Grass Snakes go through their defensive repertoire, which includes the 'swell-hiss-and-try-to-look-scary' routine, playing dead, and ejecting stinky muck all over you, which is nice. These days, as a near 50 year-old and slightly more sensible, I watch and admire, rather than hassle them in any way.

[Zildjian]

Hi everyone, just thought I was register to discuss ticks I am a Lyme disease sufferer...

I was bitten by a tick in 2002 in Kent and it took 12 months before I developed proper symptoms of Lyme disease. I was misdiagnosed with M.E, like most other Lyme sufferers are. I only found out 2 months ago (3.5 years after the bite) that I have Lyme disease. The problem is doctors in this country know barely anything about it, you would laugh if you knew what they were taught about Lyme disease in med school. British doctors are the worst doctors in the world when it comes to Lyme disease, the NHS use a test called the ELISA test which misses over 60% of cases, again, doctors don't know this. The rest of europe have tens of thousands of reported cases each year, the U.K only has 500. I guarentee you the actualy figure will be thousands, the problem is it is almost always misdiagnosed and tests are absolutely hopeless.
As for symptoms, they can be very severe indeed and the disease DOES NOT go away on It's own. I will need at least 12 months of very high dose antibiotics. I know quite a few people who have died in the U.K and quite a few who have been paralysed.
So I think Ticks are certainly one of the worst biting things in this country!

[nightshade]

There is a new Tick in the land ,a dog has just died as a result of this tick bringing in a new disease with it from abroad

[Imaginos]

Is the tick new, or the disease? Could be either, any more info?

[nightshade]

Sorry it was on todays local news PointsWest the tick was said to have come from abroad
and brought the disease with it missed the name of the disease but I think it was something like Berlise?? will update asap

[Imaginos]

Babesia? I think this disease can be transmitted by all ticks, not sure though.

Linky:http://www.scalibor.co.uk/tick-disease-babesiosis.asp

[nightshade]

HI yes that was it ,the disease was Babesia but the tick has not been seen on the mainland before according to Dr Susan Shaw (Bristol) after the death of a dog

[Zildjian]

It will be interesting to see what tick it was.
In the UK It's the sheep tick which is the most common, and that can transmit 5 diseases, including Babesia. I have met quite a few people who got Babesia in the U.K. I'm glad I didn't!

[Zildjian]

They just had it on the BBC south east news.

You can see more on this article;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4971460.stm

They don't say what specie of tick it is!

[Alan]

Does Lymes desease occur nationwide, or is it limited to the warmer south? Am I right in saying that the desease - and the ticks that carry it, dwell in bracken-rich areas?

[Zildjian]

Originally Posted by Alan

Does Lymes desease occur nationwide, or is it limited to the warmer south? Am I right in saying that the desease - and the ticks that carry it, dwell in bracken-rich areas?

Yes, it is nationwide. Scotland have it very bad, most cases are missed and misdiagnosed as M.E or M.S. Poland had one of It's coldest winters and it has seen a huge increase in tick borne diseases, they have tens of tousands of cases. In America it is the fasest spreading infectious disease, with an estimated 200,000 cases per year, some experts believe this figure could be very low.

It's in France, Poland, Hungry, Holland, Germany, U.K, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, America, Japan - all over the world, even in Australia.

They believe the ticks might be adapting and getting use to living through the cold winter, like Poland has shown.

Ticks LOVE bracken, but they are everywhere. A friend of mine was bitten in her garden and got three diseases. Borrelia, Babesia and Erhlicia.

Ticks infected with Lyme disease have been found in London Parks....

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Zildjian

Yes, it is nationwide. Scotland have it very bad, most cases are missed and misdiagnosed as M.E or M.S. Poland had one of It's coldest winters and it has seen a huge increase in tick borne diseases, they have tens of tousands of cases. In America it is the fasest spreading infectious disease, with an estimated 200,000 cases per year, some experts believe this figure could be very low.

It's in France, Poland, Hungry, Holland, Germany, U.K, Ireland, Scotland, Russia, America, Japan - all over the world, even in Australia.

They believe the ticks might be adapting and getting use to living through the cold winter, like Poland has shown.

Ticks LOVE bracken, but they are everywhere. A friend of mine was bitten in her garden and got three diseases. Borrelia, Babesia and Erhlicia.

Ticks infected with Lyme disease have been found in London Parks....

Thanks for that Zildjian. It's obvious why you know more about it than most!

Is there a common denominator about the ticks. I mean presumably they're associated with animals such as sheep/deer. So could it be that the desease is commoner in sheep/deer rich areas?

[Zildjian]

Originally Posted by Alan

Thanks for that Zildjian. It's obvious why you know more about it than most!

Is there a common denominator about the ticks. I mean presumably they're associated with animals such as sheep/deer. So could it be that the desease is commoner in sheep/deer rich areas?

Yes, that is how the ticks get infected. They feed on an infected animals, such as a deer, sheep, pheasant, mice, birds - pretty much any animal. So where ever there are animals such as deer, there is probably ticks and a percentage of them will be infected with Lyme disease or other tick borne diseases. Migrating birds can also carry ticks with tick borne diseases.

Another thing I should mention, you can get tick borne diseases by picking ticks off animals. So, if you have a dog and pick the ticks off, the diseases can actualy go through your skin, usualy through cracks in your fingers. I have met someone who owns a EuroLyme support group, she was infected with Borreliosis (Lyme) and Erchlicia just by picking ticks off her dog, her fingers were swollen and cracked.

The disease can also be sexually transmitted, although it is hard to be passed on sexualy, it can.
Also, it can be passed on from mother to child through breast milk, or through the placenta. If you think some people can carry this disease without any symptoms, then give birth and give it to their child who might be ill.
It can also be transmitted through blood transfusions, which the goverment has admitted Lyme disease is not checked in blood transfusions.

Hopefully you will be getting an idea of how widespread this disease is, how easily it can be passed on and how the British Health protection agency and Department of Health are barely doing anything to warn the public. Britain is by far the worse country for tick borne diseases, they deny the endemic and they are many years behind the rest of Europe and America. It's just so frustrating...

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Zildjian

Hopefully you will be getting an idea of how widespread this disease is, how easily it can be passed on and how the British Health protection agency and Department of Health are barely doing anything to warn the public. Britain is by far the worse country for tick borne diseases, they deny the endemic and they are many years behind the rest of Europe and America. It's just so frustrating...

Well at least here on WAB we've got a better understanding of it thanks to you Zildjian, but unfortunately at your expense!

I'm sure you'll eventually get over the desease mate. Best of luck