Miranda Hart is the latest celebrity to speak out about her Lyme disease diagnosis, following in the footsteps of Kelly Osbourne, Justin Bieber, Ben Stiller, Avril Lavigne, Bella Hadid and Shania Twain.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hart spoke openly about the chronic fatigue she suffered as a result of her illness.

“Unless you’ve had fatigue [like that], you don’t understand what literally not getting off the floor is,” she said. “I was basically bedbound and housebound. There’d be times where I’d look at a glass of water, and think, I don’t know how to pick that up.”

It’s a reminder that the tick-borne disease isn’t confined to the sunny hills of California; Lyme, while uncommon, does exist in the UK and it can affect anyone. And while the heights of tick season may now be mostly over, they can be active year-round, so it’s a good idea to understand how you get it, the potential risks, symptoms and precautions you can take. 

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is contracted after being bitten by an infected tick – small, spider-like creatures that live in forests, scrublands and other natural environments. Not all ticks carry Lyme, so being bitten by one doesn’t automatically mean you’ve got the disease. According to the latest government data, on average around 2.5%-5.1% of ticks in England and Wales are infected with Lyme, making the chance a tick is a carrier of the disease relatively small.

However, some areas are at higher risk of housing infected ticks, explains Julia Knight, press and community outreach officer at Lyme Disease UK.

“Ticks are endemic throughout the UK and infected ticks have been found in every region,” Knight explains. “Higher-risk areas are the Highlands of Scotland, the Suffolk/Norfolk border and south-east and south-west England. However, you can get infected by a tick bite anywhere in the UK.” 

While it’s hard to measure exactly how common general tick bites are here in the UK, Helen Todd – campaigns and policy manager for walking charity Ramblers Scotland – says they seem to be on the rise based on anecdotal evidence (or at least people are becoming more aware of them).

“Ticks are present across the UK and are usually found in woodlands and forests, moorland and grassland or in areas of bracken,” she explains. “However, they can also be present in urban green spaces and gardens – I managed to pick one up walking across an East Lothian golf course in March one year. They feed off birds and mammals (such as deer squirrels or sheep), so if there are animals around, there are more likely to be ticks too.” 

While the symptoms of Lyme disease you’ll often hear most about include flu-like symptoms such as stiff joints, headaches and fatigue, some people who contract Lyme develop a specific rash called erythema migrans after being bitten by an infected tick.

It’s shaped like a bullseye and will typically appear around three to 30 days following a bite (although in some cases, it can take longer, up to three months). “It is generally not itchy, painful or hot and gradually spreads outwards,” Knight explains. “This rash is diagnostic for Lyme disease and antibiotic treatment should be prescribed straight away.”

It’s worth noting that around 30% of people who contract Lyme disease do not develop this telltale rash, so it’s worth getting clued up on the other symptoms of Lyme disease too. It can also be harder to see the rash on brown and black skin and it may look like a bruise.

According to the NHS, symptoms to look out for in the aftermath of a tick bite include:

• a high temperature, or feeling hot and shivery
• headache
• muscle and joint pain
• tiredness and loss of energy

Some people with Lyme disease will also develop more severe symptoms months or years later, especially if treatment is delayed post-diagnosis.

These may include:

• pain and swelling in joints
• nerve problems – such as pain or numbness
• heart problems
• trouble with memory or concentration 

If you’re feeling a little freaked out right now, you can rest in the knowledge that, while Lyme disease is serious, the threat it poses in the UK is relatively low.

Indeed, Knight says, Lyme disease is completely “preventable” with a little bit of knowledge about ticks and the risk they pose, as well as the precautions you can take to protect yourself from getting bitten in the first place (more on that below).

Todd agrees, saying that for most people, ticks are generally “just an annoyance and a bit yucky” - and that we shouldn’t let a fear of Lyme disease stop us from getting outside and enjoying nature. 

“It’s important to know that a small proportion of ticks carry Lyme disease which can develop a serious illness if not spotted early and be aware of ticks and take precautions to avoid being bitten,” she says. “However, it’s also important to recognise that there are huge benefits to health and wellbeing from being active outdoors, or just being outdoors in nature.

“Together these benefits far outweigh the small risk to health of being bitten by a tick which also happens to be infected by Lyme disease. When considering how many people enjoy the outdoors each year, the risk of Lyme disease is very small and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to avoid getting outside.” 

When it comes to preventing Lyme disease, your best bet is to try to avoid getting bitten by a tick in the first place. They’re not always avoidable, but there are plenty of precautions you can take which will drastically reduce your risk of getting bitten.

1. Wear long trousers and socks

Ticks can only crawl – they can’t fly or jump – so you’re most likely to pick them up when your legs are brushing past vegetation. This can easily be avoided by simply making sure you’re wearing clothing that covers these areas, such as trousers or leggings.

While ticks can crawl up your clothing to attach themselves in higher areas of the body, you’re more likely to spot them and brush them off when your legs are protected.

They’ll typically find it harder to cling on to a pair of trousers – especially waterproof ones – compared to your skin. Wearing socks and boots will also stop them from clinging on and getting underneath the protective barrier from your trousers. 

Of course, during the summer months this isn’t exactly ideal, but covering yourself up is one of the best ways to prevent tick bites, so it’s well worth it – especially if you’re heading into an area where you know ticks are especially prevalent, like deer-inhabited woodland.

2. Avoid areas of long grass

Again, ticks will only be transferred to you if you brush past the vegetation they’re stationed on, so avoid areas of long grass where possible (particularly areas of bracken, which ticks are fond of) and check yourself over thoroughly if you’re forced to take a walk through a long, overgrown area. 

3. Check yourself after a walk

Once you get home from an outdoor adventure, it’s a good idea to give you and your clothes a once-over. Ticks don’t necessarily ‘burrow’ straight away – some will crawl over the body to find a good spot to bite – so it’s at this time when you can prevent tick bites that may be waiting to happen.

Both Knight and Todd recommend brushing off your clothes before having a shower and doing a thorough tick check over your body – they are often found in areas such as the armpit, behind and inside the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees and in and around the hair.  

In the days following an outdoor walk, you should continue to briefly check yourself over when you’re getting dressed and having a shower as the longer a tick is on your body, the greater chance of them transmitting an infection if they are a Lyme disease carrier.

4. Wear light-coloured clothes

Ticks are brown and black in colour, so wearing lighter-coloured clothing will make them easier to spot and brush off.

5. Use insect repellent

It’s not a groundbreaking piece of advice, but using insect repellent can help to make your body less of a welcoming place to ticks. You can get all-natural anti-tick sprays that will help to ward off the little critters without actually killing them. 

You might have seen a picture of a tick before – they look like little spiders – but you might not be aware of how tiny they can be. The smallest and youngest ticks can be the size of a poppy seed, while the biggest ones are more like money spider-size. 

Once they’ve bitten you, they swell in size as they fill with blood; they’ll ‘dig in’ to your skin and stay there for one or two days before letting go.

While that might seem like something that would be easy to notice, that’s not always the case, Knight says. “Many people never see the tick that bit them because of their size, and because they carry a local anaesthetic type substance in their saliva, making the bite painless.” 

Of course, if a tick bite is on an area of your body which is readily visible, you’ll likely see it – and even once a tick has ‘let go’ and fallen away from the body, you can identify a tick bite by looking for a small red area with a puncture mark in the middle.

Ticks are typically most active during the warmer months – usually ranging from early spring to late autumn – but warming temperatures across the UK mean that some ticks are staying active during the winter months in certain areas, so it’s worth keeping an eye out year-round. 

If you find a tick on your body, do not try to pull it off with your fingers. Not only do ticks tend to have a pretty firm hold once they’ve bitten – meaning that pulling at the tick can lead to some of its body being left behind – but squeezing a tick’s body can also lead to some of the fluid they’ve ‘sucked’ being pushed back into the body, putting you at greater risk of infection.

Knight recommends taking a look at the Lyme disease UK website for a full guide on safe tick removal; this includes using a tool such as a tick remover or tweezers and positioning the tool as close to the body as possible before gently pulling upwards. You should then place the tick between several pieces of tissue before giving it a squeeze and flushing it down the toilet.

Following removal, you should disinfect the bite and the area of skin around it and then make sure to keep an eye on the area for any signs of a rash. You should also be aware of whether you experience any flu-like symptoms or other associated signs of Lyme disease. 

For more information on Lyme disease and tick bite prevention, you can check out Lyme Disease UK or visit the NHS website.

Images: Getty