Of the interior minister after violent clashes with police without the minister has a cute opposition politicians of stirring up trouble. The resignation of her. Now on bbc news. Disclosure under the skin. Fiona stalker investigates the spread of lyme disease. 0ne tiny tick under the skin can cause chronic illness but gps are often slow to diagnose and to give treatment. More and more of us are catching a lyme disease. One tiny tick under the skin can cause debilitating illness. Nine years on from having started treatment, my life is still com pletely started treatment, my life is still completely dominated by this disease. Are some gps too slow to diagnose and to give treatment that can stop it in his tracks . diagnose and to give treatment that can stop it in his tracks . I went to the doctor and she said no, you havent got lyme disease. None of that around here. And our doctors in denial about how patients can suffer a long term . Basically told what are you making up your illness . So i think even worse than being sick, being told you are not sick. There will be a tendency to not believe the patient and tell them it is in their head. As the Climate Changes and more of us are at risk, we reveal the truth about lyme disease. Callu m callum kober is 18. He lives with his parents and younger brothers in this beautiful part of the aberdeenshire countryside. He has grown up aberdeenshire countryside. He has grown up loving the outdoors and two yea rs grown up loving the outdoors and two years ago, he went on a hill walk that would change his life. Like any country boy, he was well used two insect and tick bite. He never imagined being written to buy something so small could be so dangerous. I sort of got tix throughout my life. Always been very outdoorsy and camping and going up hills. Callums mum if you have a lwa ys hills. Callums mum if you have always been very aware of tics. He had gone off and came back we always doa had gone off and came back we always do a check list that we knew he had been bitten but when we did the tick check i could get like 20 of them off of him. But there was no marking. They didnt exhibit too many ill conditions or anything. He seemed 0k. For a few weeks. Then he started getting ill. I was in bed all the time and can get up or move. I was losing weight ridiculously quick. Ijust i was losing weight ridiculously quick. I just couldnt i was losing weight ridiculously quick. Ijust couldnt carry on it with normal life. Three months after he fell, callum was tested for it lyme disease. It came back positive. Actually another word. I met him and said you have lyme disease. Actually another word. I met him and said you have lyme diseaseli couldnt said you have lyme disease. couldnt do anything. My life wishes coming toa couldnt do anything. My life wishes coming to a standstill basically. Callums lyme disease took a while to diagnose that is not unusual. Around 200 people a year and scotla nd around 200 people a year and scotland are recorded with the disease. The true number is not leigh not to be much higher. I was one of the lucky ones. Is thought to be. I love the outdoors whats up im always outside with the dock, or outdoors with the children. But about 12 years ago, i tested positive for lyme disease. I notice a bulls eye type rash on the back of my calf. I went to my gp and my gp said he wouldnt take any chances and gave me antibiotics. A few weeks later, that test came back again negative. The treatment i received for my gp was quick and successful. But i have been reading about a rise in lyme cases in the uk in instances where sufferers say they have struggled to get help. Light was on the recorder for the first time in the recorder for the first time in the 1970s. By doctors in the usa. It is on the rise here in the highlands have been identified as a hotspot for infections. This is the arbor, one of the hotspots must have a good place then to speak to a gp who regularly sees patients with the disease. Lyme disease is an illness caused by a bacteria called a brilliant bacteria, that is transmitted by tics. That bacteria can be transmitted to the humans and cause a whole variety of different diseases. So i write about the focus of the tick bite, over about a week after the original tick bite, a rash developed. Around about a focus for us on spreading and that is the first and obvious sign that somebody has picked up and affected tick. And if the bacteria goes deeper into the body, it can cause really quite significant illness and effect primarily from the nervous system, so we can primarily from the nervous system, so we can start causing paralysis, it can affect the joints. When he gets at this stage, again, antibiotics certainly can get rid of the bacteria, but in a percentages of people, their the loupe the lf went some symptoms for quite some time. They are left with symptoms. It is hard to believe that a tiny take it can cause such Serious Health problems. And it turns out there are far more of them around us than we might think. The east and breaks, i met doctor lucy gilbert. She brought a blanket along, we were going for a picnic. That along the eastern banks. along, we were going for a picnic. That along the eastern banks. I will ta ke that along the eastern banks. I will take this little square of blanket material. We are going to walk to the vegetation for a ten metres slowly. At the end of that i will turn the blanket over and see whether any tics have attached to. We have a few tics on this. It is probably about 13 celsius today. Probably about 90 of the tick population are active today. Scottish tics are quite hardcore and even when it is 6 degrees, about 20 of them are active. Whereas if you go to central france, if 6 degrees, none of them are active. They are used to the heat. Lucys interested in how Climate Change can affect tick numbers. She and her team are also looking into how atlanta management and their numbers and scotla nd management and their numbers and scotland can influence how many tick we find around us. There is one. So tiny. Only about one and a half millimetres long. These guys are that. They are so difficult to spot unless you know what youre looking for. They really are. They can get through holes in stocks and hide in little crevices, and here tell me buddy. You have three little ones in these asked about a year ago. We called these nymphs. This is an adult female, the biggest type and has a very red abdomen and this is the adult male who is a bit smaller than the female and he is a black rather than red. Which ones can be infected . These can all be affected. But the ones that are most responsible for lyme disease case in humans are the nymphs and they might be infected. In scotland, the average infection rate of these is maybe three or 4 of these might be infected. But obviously, that will va ry infected. But obviously, that will vary enormously depending on where you are. A lot of places, none of them will be affected. 0ccasional place in scotland were maybe 20 may be infected. Lucy told me about her own brush with lyme disease. Her expertise in ticks and the Health Threat they pose that little sway with her gp. I noticed a little classic bulls eye rash, only a little one, i went to the doctor, and she said no, you havent got lyme disease. None of that around here. I said oh, lyme disease. None of that around here. Isaid oh, i lyme disease. None of that around here. I said oh, i do work on lyme disease on ticks and this is one of my study sites and i do know it is around here. She said no i will not shoot you. And i got flu like symptoms, and joint aches. Shoot you. And i got flu like symptoms, andjoint aches. I shoot you. And i got flu like symptoms, and joint aches. I will not treat you. A strange sensation on my skin. Eventually i went back to the doctor and there was a nice young local doctor and he said i have to refer you to the hospital. And they gave me a months of ib by eight products and luckily that declarative. I am fine now. Intravenous biotics. It mustve been difficult to be told you didnt have it when you knew about it. It was really frustrating. I knew i had it. I found really frustrating. I knew i had it. Ifound a really frustrating. I knew i had it. I found a tick on me into really frustrating. I knew i had it. Ifound a tick on me into it really frustrating. I knew i had it. I found a tick on me into it was the right type, been on for at least 2a hours, from an area i knew people had got lyme disease previously. I got the bulls eye rash which is supposed to be diagnostic. So it was frustrating. Getting a diagnosis of lyme disease can be a complicated business. Marvin fell ill suddenly wish he was 1a. She says it changed her life. Theres usually mountain biking, horse riding, iwas her life. Theres usually mountain biking, horse riding, i was in training for climbing. The mountain at cape ness. I was one of these really annoying people who never stop. Ijust kept going and going i bounced everywhere. All that changed when what started off feeling like the flu became more serious. when what started off feeling like the flu became more serious. I would come home and i collapse on the couch in a heap and i would literally get up come and go to and utter exhaustion each day. We got to the point where i had to leave school at 16 because by the time i got home from school, i was so weak and couldnt physically walk. Her doctors believe that she was suffering from Chronic Fatigue syndrome. Then a neighbour who had lyme disease intervene. They had see me struggling to walk. They said to my mother have you considered lyme disease. She really researched this and she presented that research to the doctors and to the specialist that i saw and they refused again to accept that it could be lyme disease. Because all my blood test kept coming back as negative i was a confirmed as line disease . I want to a private clinic down south. There isa a private clinic down south. There is a lyme disease specialist. She clinically diagnosed me with lyme disease and then she ordered a blood test which went to germany and they came back positive for lyme disease and from that i started my treatment. Which is been ongoing for about nine years now. How could a test for the same infection produce such variable results . Read more hospital and inverness is the home ofa hospital and inverness is the home of a scotlands specialist Testing Centre for tick bone diseases. They collect lyme tests and data from across the country. His head is doctor roger evans. Lyme Disease Testing is complex. The disease presents a different way. If you presents a different way. If you present acutely with a rash, and we doa present acutely with a rash, and we do a normal tests, if that is positive, with the clinical indications of a rash or flu like illness after a tick bite, we will think it is lyme disease and we would treat it. The difficulty there of course is in an acute infection, the antibody response might respond very quickly. And so the test that we use may be negative, even though the person has a disease. So what we get is a false negative result. In that false negative results can have serious consequences. that false negative results can have serious consequences. I think for a person who has been bitten by a tick with in a week or two, they may have very fa ke with in a week or two, they may have very fake symptoms or flu like illness, not feeling terribly unwelcome not the classic rash. So it is not immediately identified by the gp. If we do a test and it is negative come the person might think i dont have lyme disease. But in fa ct i dont have lyme disease. But in fact they may do have a what can happen then is they go on to develop delay lyme disease or other symptoms and then it is more to diagnose possibly a get treatment for it. It is more difficult to diagnose. Jenin experience a long delay in getting a lyme diagnosis. She has been living with the fx disease since being bitten by a tick while walking in west 15 years ago. since being bitten by a tick while walking in west 15 years ago. I was in bed virtually all the time. I had headaches that felt like somebody has stuck a kitchen knife in the side of my head. I couldnt move for about six hours each night because it just was so about six hours each night because itjust was so painful. What does it feel like mentally . Torture. Torture. Cheney had never heard of lyme disease was up and it would be three years before a specialist diagnosed her as having it. Janie. That was the end of her problems. I was put on antibiotics. That was not the end. There were long term high dose antibiotics. I was treated for over three years by the nhs for my lyme disease. The treatment only really began to be effective at five weeks in and i had a day when i had the most severe headache and just was in bed all day feeling awful and then woke up the next day it felt like somebody has switched a light bulb on in my head, it was a really dramatic sudden improvement. And then about ten months and, i had an attempt to come off the antibiotics, and it took five days before i crashed completely. Janies experiences mirror those of a number of lyme disease sufferers. To say it is become a long term illness, which only responds to long term antibiotic treatments. Janie pays for all of these medicines privately. They are prescribed by a doctor who lives and works here in dublin. Doctorjack doctor who lives and works here in dublin. Doctor jack lambert doctor who lives and works here in dublin. Doctorjack lambert believes the effects of lyme disease can last far longer than current medical advice suggest. I see patients who are previously hundred percent well, high functioning in two years later, nobody can figure out what is going on with them. And basically they are told it is put back on them, are you depressed . Why are you making up your illness . So i think become even worse than being sick is being told youre not sick. Do you think lyme disease is they chronic long term illness . I think is absolutely. And thatis illness . I think is absolutely. And that is the debate in the medical community. Most medical texts describe lyme disease is a tick bite, you get an acute infection and thatis bite, you get an acute infection and that is the end of it. But i think it actually goes on to cause chronic persistent infections and it is well documented in medical literature, people ignore the fact that lyme can persist for years and years. If it is untreated. Even if you treated, or short course antibiotics, it can have persistent symptoms and that is enough proof to me that yes, it can cause chronic persistent infections. It is reversible with antibiotics. This is a minority view among those treating lyme. Most doctors say that definitive evidence of chronic or long term lyme disease has not been established. I think there are a lot of uncertainties and scientific uncertainties and understanding about the disease and how different people immune systems respond to a bacteria. But also the way that peoples bodies respond to that infection is all about the immune response and how our body tries to fight off that infection, i think what is happening is the bacteria is no longer there but i think the immune system is still very active and that is where they are getting symptoms from because of the activity of the immune system, the body kinda fighting itself. Now research is under way to try and resolve this debate. The ideal would be to for us to devise a test that can detect active lyme disease. If we could devise that has come we would be made for life because that will be eight test, or we could try and identify that patient, you have lyme disease and need to be treated. He did not have lyme disease, you need to consider another diagnosis was up and both aspects are very important because for those who have lyme disease, they need to be identified and be treated appropriately. For those who do not have it, another diagnosis needs to be sorted because they need to be helped. They are very unwell and need to find out what is causing get that disease. Until then, need to find out what is causing get that disease. Untilthen, a patients best bet is finding a gp who knows about lyme disease. They work to uk wide guidelines set out bya work to uk wide guidelines set out by a nice, the National Institute for clinical excellence. These tell gps that the standard treatment is a three week course of antibiotics. A second course of different antibiotics. If the first is u nsuccessful. Antibiotics. If the first is unsuccessful. If that doesnt work, referral to a specialist and telling them the symptoms may take months or even them the symptoms may take months or eve n years them the symptoms may take months or even years to resolve. Even after treatments. The people i have spoken to it believed gps need more support in tackling lyme disease. If somebody is coming to a doctor think i have all the symptoms and they cant find anything wrong because they dont have the test to cover it, ican they dont have the test to cover it, i can completely understand that it, i can completely understand that it is difficult, and not make there will be a tendency to not believe the patient and tell them it is in their heads. But what we need to make doctors aware of is this is a real illness and really serious. And patients need an enormous amount of support. Column culberts mum believes that he might doctor should believes that he might doctor should be better at picking up clues which could lead to a lyme diagnosis. would have thought one of the first conversation should have been on the lines of you are very outdoorsy and have a history of being bitten, lets give you a test. I cannot reiterate how lucky callum is to get in and theyjust positive test compared to people we know who have been left for years. Thats nhs positive test. I want to meet scott and apostle chief medical officer. I wa nted and apostle chief medical officer. I wanted to know if the government is doing enough to combat this disease. We have some really good resources. Resources that are on the website, at the member for patients and professionals. We have developed some really good, new guidelines for professional specifically. I asked chief medical officer in writing to all of the doctors in scotland in particular to the gps to highlight these Educational Resources are available. They can look at those themselves where they can also point out to patients if there are symptoms or issues to look out for. Getting better Awareness Among doctors in the public is clearly going to be vital in tackling lyme disease. It is notjust those of us who love the countryside who need to ta ke who love the countryside who need to take care. It is absolutely stunning care. It is like a wild park land. But it is in the middle of a city. You have arthurs seat over there in hollywood park. You will have dear all around here that i carry ticks, foxes, rabbits, birds, even the dogs that we walk up here come even we carry text. I think it is important to understand about lyme disease in scotland. Yes, there are hotspots, but it is notjust a rule problem. We have come across cases of lyme disease that are in cities. If you live in a city, it is no guarantee that you wont be bitten by a tick, and if you are bitten, there is a chance you will get lyme disease. It isa chance you will get lyme disease. It is a problem we all need to be aware of. The Scottish Government is committed to raising awareness and more research. There is so much more we dont know. Including exactly why cases have written so much over the past 20 years. Professor Dominic Miller heads up scotlands Research Response to lyme and other tick bond diseases. I started working for into the other sets and even then we knew lined disease was a problem. Between their in 2010, the numbers of cases being diagnosed take a big jump. It is difficult to know for sure whether that all because there were that many more cases, or whether pa rt that many more cases, or whether part of that was because people were coming more aware. Our changing climate is one of major area for future research. Climate change is an obvious thing. It is very difficult to predict what is going to happen. Probably some areas more common and less, if but for Climate Change, it affects notjust the text with the host in the habitat and the behaviour of the people. We put all that together and work out the tricky bits. Certainly, my first two or three decades and practise here i very rarely saw lyme disease. But certainly over the past five years, we have seen an increasing problem. That is reflected notjust here, but in the wider harbour area and many parts of heilan. Conversations with the gp, colleagues, other colleagues within the hospital are single more patients in their own observations, there is a lot of tics around now and it is beginning to warm up and more ways than one. Whether you live in the city or the country, there are practical steps we can all take to reduce our risk. We start with this one here. The twister type device. It looks a little bit like a claw hammer and has a beveled edge. The idea is if i had a tick on the back of my hand, i would go along and underneath the tick, and twist and underneath the tick, and twist and lift off us up the idea is that if you are not squeezing the tick, this is the alternative method. The so called card device. Produced by the nhs and scotland. It has a little magnifying glass on it so if it is one of the tiny nip tics, you can see it more clearly by looking through the glass. If it is the big tick, you use a little bubble asked to go underneath and just left off and it looks out. Similar to that. The slightly larger size. 0n the backis the slightly larger size. 0n the back is how to remove it. It would be so tempting to use tweezers. Yes. The trouble with as everybody then uses eyebrow tweezers or domestic tweezers. Where some people say if you use fine point tweezers they are 0k you use fine point tweezers they are ok but i think that creates confusion in the public and i think the plastic remove the device is much better. I guess you would like to see more of these. Exactly. Everywhere. It is impossible not to be moved by the suffering ive heard about. Lyme disease changes lives. It is still a slow battle getting back to what i felt before before i got seriously ill. Still getting ill a bitand got seriously ill. Still getting ill a bit and struggling with getting my health back in shape. It has been a long battle. In reality, even nine years on from having started treatment, my life is so completely dominated by this disease. Not a single second in which i feel like it is not control of me. And that it not monopolizing my body. The whole world is in its infancy dealing with lyme disease. There is so dealing with lyme disease. There is so much complexity about it. And so much that the scientists do not know. I feel passionate that this is something which needs to change. And i will keep pushing forward as much asi i will keep pushing forward as much as i can. As i will keep pushing forward as much asican. Asa i will keep pushing forward as much as i can. As a patients struggle on, sometimes for years, it is clear much more needs to be done to get under the skin of lyme disease. Hello. Most of us on friday had a fine of weather with plenty of sunshine, made for quite a nice change given how wetjune has been. Skies like this will continue onto the first part of the weekend. The change in fortunes down to this area of High Pressure. Believe it or not the first High Pressure we have seen for the whole of the month ofjune. It does mean weather wise at the crossing the wales we will see plenty of sunshine and for a good pa rt plenty of sunshine and for a good part of northern ireland, there will bea part of northern ireland, there will be a few patches of cloud and i like passing shower, certainly some showers in the forecast for shetland what it will be quite cloudy and fairly breezy. In the sunshine for most of the uk, things are warming up. Temperatures reaching a high of 19 degrees in edinburgh and quite widely, across England Wales temperatures pushing on into the low 20s. There will be changes in the forecast for the second half of the weekend. High pressure still there but we see this low pressure edging in from the southwest and that is likely to cause some trouble later on. For sending money, likely to cause some trouble later on. Forsending money, most of likely to cause some trouble later on. For sending money, most of us will start off dry with hazy spells of sunshine soon developing and it will start to feel increasingly warm and humid across the south of england and wales as those temperatures continue to rise. As far as the temperature go, the afternoon which is see highs reaching 2a degrees towards london, high teens further the them you cannot help but notice this area of rain. Through sunday afternoon, and sunday night time we will see that every rating to break out, the amount of rain we see from place to place will vary significantly. With this amount and place of filing in a short space of time, the scope of localised flooding. We could see as much is 100 mm over the high ground and scotland. In the week ahead, some areas could get the highest temperatures of the year so far. 0thers temperatures of the year so far. Others are contending with the threat of baked in every downpours and some localised flooding issues. The parents of a british teenager who travelled to syria to join the Islamic State group are found guilty of funding terrorism. Jack letts dubbedjihadijack was a muslim convert. Police warned his parents not to send money. Today, john letts and sally lane said theyd done what any parent would do if they thought their child was in danger. Their son, whos been held in syria for two years now, admits he betrayed britain and regrets joining is. Idid i did what i did. I made a big mistake and thats what happened. I regretted what i did. Also on tonights programme. Reports this evening that police we re reports this evening that police were called to the home of Boris Johnson and his partner after screaming and shouting were heard