The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has named areas in southern England and the Scottish Highlands as being high risk regions for Lyme disease. However, the body also warned that infection can occur in many other places.
Around 2,000 to 3,000 new cases of Lyme disease are thought to occur in England and Wales every year. But in a draft guideline, Nice said that prevalence data is incomplete, and the body has called for a large study into Lyme disease in the UK.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread by ticks, and can lead to conditions like meningitis, facial paralysis or heart failure if left untreated. UK areas known to have a particularly high population of ticks include Exmoor, the New Forest, the South Downs, the Lake District, the North York Moors, and the Scottish Highlands. Ticks are also relatively common in parts of Wiltshire, Berkshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Norfolk.
Not everyone who gets bitten by a tick will be infected with Lyme disease, as only a small proportion carry the bacteria that cause the condition. However, Nice has suggested that cases of Lyme disease are underestimated in the UK because family doctors and hospital clinicians are not required to report the number of cases they see.