Thread: Lyme disease in Australia?

A friend of my wife's, from Melbourne, suffered from it for years. From memory she got it in Australia, but don't hold me to it.

At least officially it can't be said anyone here has it. The tests are not obtainable through anyone in Aus that will be recognised by any medical specialist practising here. You can send away for a test kit and get the results back from the US but it will not be accepted as a valid test result. But at least you will know why you feel like crap. Are there any people from the US reading this forum and can post some information? What happened, how long they have put up with it and did it get better over time etc?

I've had around 6-8 ticks last year. They tend to get at the back of the neck (3) , some in the midriff, a few at scrotum level.
Most have been grass ticks, a few brown, no paralitic.

We've burnt off around 200 acres around the houses last winter and the cattle have a lot fewer ticks this year....but it's been a good year for me....
Mine come from around the timber area where Mal at Boutique Timbers has around 10 acres of current and 25 years past stacks. They like the longer grass around the wood.

You get used to them, like leeches in the wet season.
I find 'soov' ointment works really well,
The difficult thing when you are alone, is getting them out of the back of the neck without leaving a head in...
The joys of country life......like peace and quiet...... have you head the cicadas this year????
Greg

My wife has an allergy to red meat (beef, lamb, pork, etc) following a bite from a paralysis tick in our North Shore garden 10 years ago. She was hospitalised twice, both times after eating corned beef, before being diagnosed with the allergy. As a result of the tick bite she can only eat feathers and fin - chicken, turkey, duck, etc & fish and other seafood. Eating red meat causes a severe rash and can result in anaphylactic shock. Hence, she must carry an EpiPen all the time. Once while away caravanning with friends, she ate duck sausages provided by a friend who was aware of her allergy, and early next morning broke into a rash. No hospital visit this time but to the local ambulance station, as early intervention with an antihistamine tablet had worked. Later inquiries of the supplier of the duck sausages found that, unknown to the buyer, they also contained pork.

My wife is one of the early patients of Associate Professor Sheryl van Nunen, at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, and has an annual test to determine if the allergy has lessened at all. Not yet after 10 years of no Christmas ham and pork.

If interested, there was an article about tick bites and red meat allergy in the Sydney Morning Herald on 27 December 2013. Just one bite: ticks and allergies on the north shore

John

Sorry to hear about your wife's allergy, such a tiny insect can have life changing consequences. I think they are only just starting to recognise there is something going on with these blood suckers. If something that is non sterile boring it's way into your blood stream doesn't do something nothing will. I have had them around my knee and it swells up and now it is constantly re-occuring on it's own but the worst ones where on the back of my neck, and yes the heads do get left behind sometimes as i found out when it got infected and had a egg sized angry red lump there for around a month. It is exactly where scans show it has fused together at three spots but still the doctors say it is not connected. If it is common knowledge that they are bad for dogs why do they seem uninterested in what it can do for us?

I received this in an email because of this thread.

Hello, I was reading that one of your members was concerned about tick-borne disease in Australia. Please would you be able to pass this info one to them and the following links. http://www.lymedisease.org.au/
These are about Lyme Disease in Australia;
1982 ? Lyme Disease in the Hunter Valley; Med Journal of Australia - Lyme Disease in the Hunter Valley Med Jnl of Australia 1982
1986 ? Lyme Disease on the SOuth COast of NSW; McCrossin Med Journal Aust - Lyme Disease on the South Coast of NSW McCrossin Med Jnl Aust 1986
1991 ? Detecting the Cause of Lyme Disease in Australia; Med Journal of Australia - Detecting the cuase of Lyme disease in Australia Med Jnl of Australia 1991
1998 ? Lyme Disease in Australia; Aust/NZ Journel of Public Health - Lyme Disease in Australia Aust NZ Jnl of Pub Health 1998 1998 ? Culture Positive Lyme Borreliosis; Hudson Medical Journal of Australia - Culture positive lyme borreliosis Hudson Med Jnl Aust
1998 A clinical advisory committee has been set up to investigate the presence of Lyme Disease in Australia and it co-infections. This has the Chief Medical Officer involved and various other patient and Government Organisations.

Can you Please Pass this info on,
Kind Regards,
Laura

Hi /Laura,
Thanks for the link. There are plenty more out there as well. Looks like i am finally starting to loosen up the fused areas. Quietly confident i can get it back to almost normal and work prospects seem to be opening up, things are looking up.