Last weekend in Toulouse doctors and health professionals were invited to seminars and presentations organised by the group France Lyme Occitanie.
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| Lyme's disease is spread by ticks |
Living in a rural area as we do the presence of ticks, by whom the disease is propagated, is widespread and vigilance is the first line of defence. Spotting the creatures when they are small, before they latch on is not too difficult. When you have been walking in grassy undergrowth check around your feet and ankles. Make sure you check over your dogs (and cats if they go out into the fields). From our experience ticks are easy to spot on white dogs, but they are there on black dogs too.
If the tick has embedded itself remove it with a tick fork, readily available in pharmacies and vet's surgeries. Pulling them off risks leaving the head in the wound which can become infected.
Symptoms of Lyme's disease include chronic fatigue, muscular and joint pains and skin lesions. These are easily confounded with other conditions. Of course, not every tick is infected, but it could pay to be aware - and alert.
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