'It felt like my eyes were on fire': Ambleside chef tells of tick terror

Sous chef Tom Varga, of Ambleside, was struck down with horrific headaches which made him feel as if his eyes were on fire and skull embedded with needles.

He was eventually diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis - a viral disease widely assumed not to be present in Britain.

But Tom, 33, who works at the Langdale Hotel and Spa, says he was bitten by a tick - which he later removed - while walking his dog, Cher, on the fells near Millom.

He is convinced a bite from local parasites could be the root of his woes. And now he, along with leading veterinary surgeon Iain Booth, from vetuk.co.uk, is warning others to be vigilant.

Tom said: “I was bitten by a tick a year ago while walking in the Lake District, and I remember having to remove it with a pair of tweezers.

“I thought nothing more of it and felt fine and healthy up until around a month ago when I started experiencing extreme lethargy and headaches.

“It's hard to describe the pain. It felt like my eyes were on fire, as if they’d been replaced by two pieces of red-hot charcoal, melting my sockets.

“In my brain it felt as if a hedgehog had awoken and was trying to get out. I was in serious discomfort.

“At one point I had to wrap a dressing gown belt around my skull and bury my head in a pillow in order to apply pressure and try to ease the pain.

“I’d never been this unwell in my whole life. I’d never even been in hospital before.”

Tom initially saw his local GP at the end of June this year, who advised taking paracetamol and ibuprofen and monitoring the symptoms.

A day later, however, he returned to his doctor while experiencing a stiff neck and extreme light sensitivity - and was eventually blue-lighted to Furness General Hospital in Barrow.

“At this point I couldn’t move my eyes and it felt like my body was paralysing," said Tom. "I didn’t even have the energy to worry about the ambulance, the sirens and the blue lights - I just felt like my body was falling apart.”

With his partner Hayley Leece in panic mode, Tom was treated with antibiotics. Because he had returned from a holiday to Africa in February this year, he was also kept in isolation for six days, with hospital medics fearing he had a contagious disease.

His central nervous system was so badly compromised doctors also suspected he may have HIV.

But following a battery of tests - including lumbar puncture, CT scan, X Ray and blood tests - he was diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), which had then manifested itself as meningitis.

Humans are infected with TBE from a bite from an infected tick, and the brain becomes swollen and inflamed. Symptoms typically appear one to two weeks after the bite though it may be possible that TBE lays dormant.

In two per cent of patients the infection proves fatal, with death arriving just five to seven days after the symptoms first reveal themselves.

TBE is endemic in many parts of Europe, as well as Russia, northern China and Japan, and according to the charity Encephalitis Society, it is predicted that the areas affected will grow due to global warming.

They say that TBE virus has ‘never been present in the UK’ and ‘cases of TBE in the UK are those who travelled in the endemic areas.'

But Tom says the only time he's been bitten by a tick is in the UK and he regularly removes ticks from his dog Cher following walks in Cumbria.

He has also recently been spending a prolonged period of time on the fells as he attempts to ‘bag’ all 214 of the Lakeland fells documented by acclaimed author Alfred Wainwright.

Tom, who was discharged from hospital two weeks ago and is now '95 per cent’ back to his old self, adds: “I'm feeling okay now, but it's been a scary experience.

"I'm also being treated as a special case by hospital staff."

Tom - who originally hails from Hungary and who spends a week every year there visiting family - admits it's impossible to say whether he contracted TBE here or abroad.

But he explains: “I can't say with 100 per cent certainty, but I'd be amazed if the TBE hasn't been contracted here in the UK.

“We have a lot of ticks here in the Lake District. They’re a common sight for me. So much so that I end up picking them off the dog once a week. Cher often sleeps in our bed, too.

“My recent illness has certainly made me extra vigilant about protecting myself from ticks. From now on I’ll be wearing long trousers and tucking them into my socks.

“And I’d urge others to be wary, too.”

Iain Booth, veterinary surgeon and founder of online pet and vet supply firm VetUk.co.uk (www.vetuk.co.uk), has reiterated Tom's warning.

He reveals: "More and more vets are reporting increased numbers of parasites in the UK, including ticks and tick-borne diseases.

“One possible reason for the rise is the fact more dogs have pet passports to travel in Europe, as well as an increase in dogs being imported to the UK from rescue centres abroad.

“We already know that new pathogens, such as Babesia canis, have manifested in existing UK tick populations. Meanwhile infestations of brand new ticks - such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus - have also been reported in the UK.

“It was always the fear that tick-borne encephalitis could enter the UK and infect ticks here.

“And if Tom is correct in his assertions, his case could prove concerning indeed.”

Mr Booth adds: “What’s really important is to be aware of the dangers and to take pre-emptive precautions. To avoid being bitten wear trousers and long sleeves and get into the habit of checking your own body - and the bodies of companions - for ticks.

“And that’s obviously crucial for dogs, too.

“Meanwhile you should also have a good understanding of how to correctly remove a tick from the skin.

“If you get it wrong, and you fail to remove the parasite properly, it will regurgitate its stomach contents back into the host’s blood stream, leaving you or your pet even more at risk of infection.”

Ticks are generally oval, flat and small - roughly the size of a sesame seed when unfed.

Once engorged with blood, they can grow to the size and shape of a coffee bean. They look for hosts to cling to, often by climbing to the top of a long blade of grass and waiting for a host.

They are found all over the UK, but high-risk areas include grassy and wooded areas in southern England, East Anglia, Yorkshire moors and the Scottish Highlands.

In humans, ticks can transmit Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection where early, flu-like symptoms include a high temperature, feeling hot and shivery, headaches, muscle and joint pain, tiredness and loss of energy.

Public Health England estimates suggest there could be up to 3,000 new cases occurring in the UK every year.

Meanwhile ticks can infect dogs with Lyme disease or in rare cases Babesiosis - a malaria-like tick-borne disease which attacks a canine’s red blood cells.