Pharmacy First: Recognising tick bites and the symptoms of Lyme disease

As we enter the Spring/ Summer season, pharmacy teams may see patients presenting with tick bites and potential symptoms of Lyme disease. Although tick bites and Lyme disease are not treatable under the clinical pathways, it is important for pharmacy teams to recognise the signs and symptoms and appropriately signpost patients for further care.

Lyme Disease UK are running 'Wake Up to Lyme' campaign during May which aims to raise awareness of tick bite prevention and offers resources such as diagnosis help, awareness packs, and an animation.

Resources:

• Key considerations and photo examples to help diagnose the rash;
• A Wake up to Lyme awareness pack – that includes posters, leaflets, tick cards and suggested social media posts
• An animation that can be played (if you have a digital screen) in your pharmacy.

The Royal College of General Practitioners website also has a Lyme Disease e-learning toolkit which is available for other healthcare professionals to access (please note, you will need to register on the website to be able to access the e-learning).