Mum warns of bug danger in the grass

11:30am Thursday 17th April 2008

Comments (4)   Have your say »

A MARLBOROUGH mum has warned that deadly danger lurks in the grass, especially as spring sunshine awakes sleeping bugs.

Mother-of-two Terry Riley, of Golding Avenue, is still recovering from Lyme Disease, which she picked up from a tick bite last May.

Ticks are tiny, spider-like insects that can be picked up when walking through long grass or woodland. They latch onto the skin of their victims, suck their blood and can pass on a number of diseases.

Mrs Riley discovered what appeared to be an insect bite on her thigh on May 3 last year. She said: "It felt very itchy and the redness surrounding the centre continued to expand, so I sought medical advice.

"I was assured it was an oedema caused by an allergic reaction, which could spread over my entire leg without need for concern, but was advised to replace anti-histamine cream with an oral preparation and analgesic until the oedema reduced."

But the rash continued to get worse and developed into what Mrs Riley now knows as the distinctive bulls-eye rash of Lyme Disease.

Still no health professionals picked it up. Mrs Riley said: "I triage nurse questioned whether I'd been anywhere new that I could have been exposed to ticks.

"Since I'd only been in my garden and school playing field it was thought unlikely, so she prescribed a course of antibiotics."

By the end of May, Mrs Riley was feeling exhausted and various medical practitioners diagnosed the settling down of tissues following cellulitis, and even a trapped nerve.

Finally she was sent to a neurologist, but by this time Mrs Riley had surfed the Internet and discovered the rash she had was a symptom of Lyme Disease, which can, in its most serious form, cause death.

She is now being treated for it but still has a loss of feeling in her hands and other parts of her body.

She said: "I know I have been lucky, in that I developed nerve problems and was treated within six months of the bite, but had I been aware this time last year about the danger that exists and been able to recognise the rash for what it represented, I might have been able to avoid the many trips to doctors and hospitals, not to mention months of fatigue, pain and anxiety for the future."