Comment by v-erne
4 years ago
It depnends on the country I suppose. Here on Poland the problem is real . I personally know two persons (my father and my cousin) who were affected by it. My father had to go to early retirement and stop being a laywer beause lyme destoyed his nervous system and he could not read longer texts anymore. My cousin almost got thrown from medical university (he could not keep up after the symptoms kicked in).
Both of them did not even noticed when the tick bitten them and got through quite a long period of no symptoms.
After this events I am seriously afraid of lyme - as a knowledge worker this is like a death sentence.
Nice anecdata to share from Poland! I did not know that Lyme disease also exists in Europe. Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)?
>> Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)?
I would say yes, but only on case by case basis - it's recommended for people who work around and in forests (forest rangers, holiday camp caretakers etc.).
I believe TCE is far more rare so the vaccine is not so important for regular people as vaccine for lyme would be (if I read stats correctly there is two orders of magnitude difference between them - 200 cases per year for TCE versus 20000 for lyme)
Wow 20 000 per year for lyme is a lot. Are these ticks everywhere in Poland?
2 replies →
> I did not know that Lyme disease also exists in Europe.
I guess it exists anywhere the ticks do.
> Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)?
Not obligatorily, AFIK. But I, personally, got my vaccine some years ago.
the only person i've heard that were affected by lyme also were living in Poland, in the woods.. They were badly taken care of for years until they couldn't even move from their bed.
Seems like poland really is a danger zone..
Yeah I also have some anecdote from 20 years ago.
There was this guy that was locally known gangsta-like alcoholic - this whole thing taking place in small town, gangsters life style were scaled down to the size of the town. He lived in apartment in residential estates near one of my best friends (hence I know the story). One day, after some big party, he got so drunk that while getting home by foot, he fell asleep in some gutter (or rather trench full of grass).
Next day, after regaining consciousness, he found more than 30 ticks stuck all over his body. Being gangsta and all around tough he just removed those and failed to go to doctor in time.
Only after some serious symptoms started to appear he managed to get to hospital but it was to late - the damage was done. He lived about few months after this and died because his nervous system was so devastated that there was no way to for doctors to help him.