NEW research has concluded that potentially fatal blood-sucking parasites capable of infecting both humans and wildlife are on the rise.

Ticks infect hosts with pathogens that cause a range of very unpleasant diseases – the most dangerous of which is Lyme disease.

According to a study carried out by scientists from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Oxford Tick Research Group and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit ticks are increasing in Britain, coinciding with an increase in the deer population.

The study – published in the science journal Medical and Veterinary Entomology – has found that ticks are now present at 97 per cent of locations across Britain and there is a 41 per cent increase of tick-related diseases since the last study.

David Harpley, conservation manager at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, says the parasites are becoming a big problem.

“There are loads of them in particular places in Cumbria like the limestone cells, Hutton Roof, Whitbarrow Scar and in the bogs around Morecambe Bay. Basically, any bit of rough ground will have ticks on it. I get them on me all the time. Some people are a lot more attractive to ticks than others. They are everywhere in Cumbria and it’s because of a combination of climate and an increase in deer.”

Ticks attach themselves to wildlife from low-growing vegetation and the most common species, Ixodes Ricinus, transfers bacteria that enters the bloodstream and can cause Lyme disease, Babesiosis and Louping ill.

This can cause physical damage and irritation, flu-like symptoms and the area of the bite may display signs of a ring of redness around the bite site. Though Lyme disease is easy to cure, if left untreated it can eventually cause blindness, paralysis and even death.

The study revealed that Lyme disease and many other debilitating tick-spread diseases are on the increase. This could have serious consequences as these diseases pose a great economic threat to livestock and a health threat to humans.

Dr Adam Smith from the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust said the study raised a number of important questions about the growth of our tick population.

“We certainly need best practice management of hosts to be implemented to reduce their impact.

“Further studies are also needed to consider whether we need to better manage our rapidly expanding deer population or find ways of treating deer in order to reduce tick numbers. But this study highlights the fact that we need to develop an effective strategy.”

David Kenyon, of The British Deer Society, said: “What is clear from the paper is that more research is required to identify other factors which may influence the tick population.

“Until more definitive answers are found, any call for a reduction in deer numbers in an effort to reduce tick numbers is unfounded.”

The results of the new study follow a report by The Department of Health – the Infest-Nation: the ProMeris Parasite Report – earlier this year, which claimed there would be an increase in Lyme disease and related deaths as a result of climate change and cases of ticks and fleas had trebled in the past five years.

Warm climates provide a perfect breeding ground for ticks and as the UK gets hotter, the higher temperatures will allow them to live and breed longer, increasing the risk of Lyme disease.

For more information on Lyme disease visit: www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk