Lyme Disease Bad facial paralysis caused by a tick bite?

Wrong diagnosis: face of a Briton disfigured by Lyme disease

Health experts continue to point out the importance of protecting yourself from ticks while traveling in nature. After all, the little crabs can transmit dangerous diseases. Unfortunately, such diseases are not always correctly diagnosed. This also shows a case from Great Britain: The face of a mother of three was severely disfigured after a tick bite.

Illnesses with serious consequences

Anyone who is out and about in the spring and summer months has to expect to be bitten by ticks. The small bloodsuckers can transmit dangerous infectious diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) or Lyme disease. In some cases, the illnesses can have serious consequences. So also with a woman from Great Britain, whose face was paralyzed after a tick bite.

A woman from Wales has been infected with Lyme disease after a tick bite. The disease remained undetected for a long time. Due to the lack of treatment, she suffered severe pain and facial paralysis. (Image: Smileus / fotolia.com)

Bitten by a tick three years ago

According to a BBC report, a woman from Wales suffered severe facial paralysis following a tick bite. The mother of three was able to feed herself for a longer time only through a straw.

The 43-year-old Rachel Foulkes-Davies from Llanarmon-yn-Ial, Denbighshire, was bitten by a tick in her garden in June 2015.

The mother of three explained that the bite was a small red mark on her neck. This was getting bigger and white after some time.

When the woman went to the hospital, the doctors there diagnosed facial paralysis and sent the patient home with a blindfold.

Diet by a straw

But her condition did not improve, on the contrary: "In the course of seven to eight months, my ability to speak worsened," said the 43-year-old.

"I could not talk for two years. I only lived on soups and stews and had to drink them through a straw. The same was true for hot drinks. "

Eventually, Ms. Foulkes-Davies herself paid further tests and was diagnosed with Lyme disease caused by a tick bite.

The most common tick-borne disease

According to experts, Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in Europe. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), between five and 35 percent of the ticks are infected with Borrelia, the bacterial causative agent of Lyme borreliosis.

The disease begins in humans symptomatically often with the so-called Wanderröte (erythema migrans) around the tick bite.

Other symptoms include fever, muscle and headache. Fatigue and blurred vision are also often described. Some complaints can occur only after months.

In the worst case, paralysis may also occur in chronic neuroborreliosis.

The disease should be treated with antibiotics as soon as possible. However, according to physicians, the diagnosis is often difficult, especially when no wandering occurs.

Early diagnosis would have saved much suffering for the patient

Ms. Foulkes-Davies told the BBC: "If the disease had been diagnosed immediately and treated with doxycycline, I would not have had to go through all that."

Now, three years later, she is still in pain and suffering from chronic fatigue: "I am constantly tired and have no energy to do simple tasks."

She was furious that the correct diagnosis was not made earlier: "I was very healthy before the bite."

A spokesman for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board said he could not comment on individual cases "in every detail," adding, "We would encourage anyone with care concerns to contact us directly for this to discuss."

And further: "In Wales and elsewhere in the UK, cases of laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease have increased in recent years."

This is the result of better reporting, increased diagnostic testing and increased awareness among the general public and health professionals. (Ad)