Lyme Disease Cases Jump More Than 20% in England, Health Agency Reports

Climate Change implicated in future increase of Ticks

 

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of certain infected ticks (in the UK and Europe, mainly Ixodes ricinus, also known as the 'castor bean' or 'sheep' tick). Common symptoms are a characteristic bullseye rash, fever, and fatigue. If diagnosed early, it is highly treatable with antibiotics, but can lead to severe joint, heart, and neurological issues if left untreated. - UKHSA

Unionsafety has focused on Tick Bites and Lyme Disease for several years now, and with the increasing weather changes caused by climate change, many scientists believe that the increase in Lyme Disease recently seen, wil in fact keep increasing:

Lyme disease infections in England rose sharply last year, according to new figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which recorded 1,168 laboratory-confirmed acute cases in 2025 compared with 959 the year before — an increase of more than a fifth.

The agency's annual vector-borne disease surveillance report notes that case numbers have fluctuated considerably in recent years, and that the 2025 total is actually very close to the 1,151 cases confirmed back in 2023. Lyme disease, spread through the bite of ticks carrying the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, remains the most commonly acquired vector-borne infection in England.

Health officials say ticks are now found more widely across the UK, though their numbers still fluctuate year to year depending on weather patterns, broader climate trends, changes to habitats, and shifts in the animal populations that host them. While bites can happen at any time of year, they typically become more frequent in late spring and peak in June, with confirmed Lyme cases following a similar pattern and cresting in late summer.

 

Symptoms usually appear one to four weeks after a bite, though the window can range from three days to a month. The hallmark sign is a circular red rash, often — but not always — centred on the bite itself. Other early symptoms can include flu-like illness, facial muscle paralysis, and nerve pain.

Encephalitis and mosquito-borne threats also flagged

The report also documented two new, unrelated probable cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in 2025 — a disease long established in central and eastern Europe that was first found in UK ticks in 2019. Neither patient had travelled abroad, bringing the total number of locally acquired TBE cases in the UK to six since 2019.

 

Beyond ticks, UKHSA highlighted a rising threat from mosquito-borne viruses, notably West Nile virus and Usutu virus.

West Nile virus, first detected in UK mosquitoes in 2023, can cause anything from mild flu-like illness to severe neurological disease requiring hospitalisation, and can be fatal. Usutu virus, circulating in south-east England for six years, has yet to cause a confirmed human case in the UK and is considered a very low public health risk, as it rarely produces symptoms even when it does infect people.

 

Lea Berrang Ford, deputy director of UKHSA's Centre for Climate and Health Security, said the overall risk to the public from these diseases remains low, but that climate change, urbanisation, and increased global trade and travel are reshaping the landscape. She pointed to more frequent reports of mosquito-borne infections across Europe and continued detections of invasive mosquito species entering the UK, underlining the importance of sustained surveillance.

Arran Folly, who heads the government's vector-borne disease detection project at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, described ticks and mosquitoes as more than a seasonal irritant — calling them early indicators of emerging disease risks — and said ongoing monitoring is helping identify how threats are evolving and where new hotspots might emerge.

There are pracitcal steps you can take to avoid being bitten by a Tick, and also what to do to remove the tick and, taking care to monitor a bite and your health over the next feww weeks. These were advised in 2010 by unionsafety, and you can read that news report by clicking on the link below, or on the image above left.

 

The messages is clear, if you're concerned about tick or mosquito bite symptoms, it's worth speaking to your GP or pharmasist.

Source: BMJ / UKHSA

See also:

Lyme Disease – Patients Languish While Facts Are Buried

Warmer Weather Tick Alert (April 2010)