Thank you for your support!
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our Be Tick Aware Campaign 2026 for Lyme Disease Awareness Month this May! Our campaign aimed to raise awareness about how to prevent tick bites, how to safely remove ticks, and the importance of early treatment for people who become unwell following a bite.
We are so grateful to everyone who shared our social media posts and photos online, ordered awareness packs and distributed posters, leaflets and tick awareness cards throughout their local communities. Also those who supported Wear Lime for Lyme and Light Up for Lyme, organised awareness events and activities, took on fundraising challenges and donated, and those who bravely shared their Lyme disease stories.
You’ve all been integral to our campaign’s success this year! We couldn’t have done it without you!
With special thanks to our sponsors
THEYE® offers a range of plant-based and alcohol, preservative and DEET-free insect repellents, approved by the NHS, UKHSA and WHO. Effective against ticks, mosquitoes, horse-flies, gnats and midges, all products are cruelty-free. Suitable for all environments, including tropical climates, and for pregnant women and children from 6 months.
Use the code LYME-DISEASE-UK for a 15% discount on all products.
Learn more about and order THEYE® products.
Tick Twister® tick removers allow quick, simple and safe removal of attached ticks. Easy to store or carry, and essential to take to all of your outdoor events this year!
Tick Twister® products are available via their online retail partner, distributor Stelr Group Ltd t/a Stelr Pets.
Stelr Pets is a UK pet wellness brand specialising in high-quality products for pets with specialist needs, from targeted nutrition to practical care solutions that help both pets and their owners.
Use the code LDUK25 for an exclusive 25% discount on all Tick Twister® and Smartick® collection products.
For orders of 100 units or more, Stelr Pets are offering a 35% discount and free next day delivery using the code LDUK35. Please note that for every unit sold, 25p will be donated to LDUK. Thank you in advance for your support.
Learn more about and order Tick Twister® tick removal products.
Our campaign in numbers
With your help we have sent out clear messages about the importance of tick bite prevention and the risk of Lyme disease, and are delighted to report the following success!
- Achieved over 739,500 views on our social media platforms in May (82% non-followers).
- Distributed over 6,000 leaflets, over 5,500 tick awareness cards, over 4,100 posters, and 150 children’s activity packs.
- Welcomed over 93,000 visitors to our website and received over 251,000 campaign webpage views in May.
- Enjoyed seeing 44 landmarks and sites across the UK and Ireland light up for Lyme.
- Displayed our awareness literature in over 3,000 GP surgeries.
- Played our Be Tick Aware animation on over 800 pharmacy screens (displayed 1,037,396 times in total!).
Read more about our awareness activities below.
Media highlights
We were pleased to see media attention on Lyme disease having shared our comprehensive press release with over 500 media outlets (TV, radio and press). With more to come, coverage reported includes:
- The Guardian – Lyme disease cases in England rise by more than 20% in a year.
- Daily Mail – Lyme disease cases in England up by more than 20 per cent in a year.
- Top Santé – Tick talk: what every woman needs to know about Lyme disease.
- The Press & Journal – Interview with Morven-May MacCallum MSP – New MSP’s Lyme disease journey.
- BBC Radio Devon – Interview with Public Health Specialist Kirstie Hill, and Lyme patient Chris Ward.
- BBC Radio Devon – Interview with Lyme patient Olivera Marshall.
“‘Some days I can’t walk, talk, read, write, nothing. Other days I manage a walk but it’s very debilitating’ ~ Olivera Marshall
Official cases of Lyme disease are ‘likely to be a gross underestimate – given they don’t include the roughly 70 per cent of patients who develop the telltale rash and are treated immediately without laboratory tests’ ~ Julia Knight, LDUK Trustee, Press and Community Outreach Manager
Important May updates
- UK Health Security Agency – One Health Vector-Borne Disease (VBD) Surveillance Report in England (New!)
- UK Health Security Agency – What is Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus and is it Found in the UK?
- Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) – Course of the Month: Lyme Disease Toolkit
Social media impact
Our awareness information created meaningful impact across social media platforms during May. We extend our thanks to everyone who shared and commented on our posts as well as the many organisations who showed their support, including:
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Our awareness animations
Our Lyme disease awareness animations once again proved a great way to share our key messages. Simple to share online, we also provided over 800 pharmacies with a download for their display screens. The perfect spot to inform staff, and patients waiting for prescriptions, or worried about a bite or a rash!
Patient advocacy
We are very grateful to all Lyme disease advocates who work hard to improve the lives of those affected by tick-borne diseases. Thank you to our community members who have bravely shared their patient stories with the media and across our platforms. These stories are crucial to raising awareness of the massive challenges Lyme patients face in gaining a correct diagnosis and effective treatment, and the dreadful consequences of limited medical understanding and care.
Taking patient advocacy to another level, we thank independent Lyme warriors Kirstie Haysman, Ms. Great Britain 2025-2026, and Hannah Green, who has now fully recovered, for going above and beyond! Here’s a snapshot of their recent awareness raising adventures!
Kirstie Haysman, Hannah Green and Dr Horowitz!
- ILADS Conference, London: Kirstie shared her family’s moving battle with Lyme, while Hannah covered the event as a voluntary ILADS reporter.
- Lyme Warrior Gala: The dynamic duo then self-financed a trip to the USA to attend the Lyme Warrior 10th Anniversary Gala in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, joining researchers, clinicians, and advocates for an evening of science, music and hope, plus a little laughter for good measure!
- East Coast USA Tour: The event kickstarted an awareness raising tour including Old Lyme, Plum Island, and New York. Dressed in lime green and covered from head-to-toe in tick repellent, Kirstie and Hannah chatted to locals, listened to patient stories, and spent the day with Professor Eva Sapi and her team who focus on researching tick-borne disease.
Check out this video of Kirstie and Hannah’s USA road trip and follow them on social media to learn more!
Wear Lime for Lyme
Wear Lime for Lyme Day kickstarted our awareness campaign activities on Friday 1st May! Thank you to everyone who dressed up in green, along with their pets, and ordered our Be Tick Aware pet bandanas, heart lapel pins, awareness T-shirts, hoodies, and other accessories from our LDUK online shop.
Our pet photography competition was a firm favourite once again! Congratulations to prize winners Kate Proctor and her dog Poppy, and runners-up Ann Gregson and her Cavachon Marvin, and Hannah Green with her horse Lusso!
Read Wear Lime for Lyme to learn more!
Light Up For Lyme
This year 44 venues and landmarks across the UK and Ireland were keen to light up in green to help raise awareness of Lyme disease. We are very grateful to Lyme Resource Centre, Tick Talk Ireland, all patient advocates involved, and of course everyone who organised light-ups at participating sites.
Special thanks go to BCP Council and the team at the Twin Sails Bridge in Poole, who went above and beyond to ensure LDUK’s Co-founder and Chair, Natasha Metcalf, was able to get the perfect shot! An extra thank you also goes to Hotel La Tour in Milton Keynes, and Jenny Wallace and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, for lighting up throughout the whole of May!
We are also particularly grateful to Tower 42 in London for displaying our Be Tick Aware campaign slogan in lights. Not forgetting Lyme advocates Hannah Green and Nigel Wilson for raising awareness and sharing drone footage of St Edmundsbury Cathedral lit up in green, plus Katie Nolan and her family and friends for attending a light-up at Alexandra Palace…twice!
We were delighted to see growing support throughout Ireland and particularly thank Councillor Liam Callaghan, Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council, Dr Martin Daly TD for Roscommon-Galway, community advocate Paddy Joe Burke, patient advocate Jennifer O’Beirne and her parents John and Patricia O’Beirne, for attending the light-up in Market Square, Roscommon.
View our Light Up For Lyme photo gallery!
Collaborating with organisations and charities
This year we’ve been thrilled to build and continue relationships with a variety of organisations and charities. We are very grateful to those who aim to share or refer to our information via their websites, social media, newsletters and updates. Examples include:
- Community Pharmacy England – Pharmacy First: Recognition of Tick Bites and the Symptoms of Lyme Disease.
- Community Pharmacy Scotland – Be Tick Aware: Tick Bites and Lyme Disease.
- The Crown Estate at Windsor Great Park
- The Long Distance Walkers Association
- National Farmers Union (NFU)
- OS Maps – Ticks on Dogs: What UK Walkers Need to Know About Lyme Disease
- School And Public Health Nurses Association (SAPNHA) – Spring 2026 newsletter item Be Tick Aware: Lyme Disease Advice for School Nurses
- ukcampsite.co.uk – Tick Bite Prevention and Lyme Disease Awareness
- Wiltshire Scouts
We sponsored the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH)‘s Workshop and AGM in London on 14th May, which helped raise our profile with key decision makers in the health sector. Our thanks go to the ADPH for promoting our sponsorship on their social media, website and in their newsletter, featuring our logo on event slides, and including our profile in delegate packs.
Working with Healthpoint TV, we shared our Be Tick Aware animation on over 800 pharmacy screens throughout the UK (displayed 1,037,396 times in total!) and thank them for extending our booking to show their support. Our thanks also to the team at award-winning Wicker Pharmacy in Sheffield for sharing our animation.
In addition, we sent our awareness posters to over 3,000 GP surgeries across the UK. See if you can spot one when you next visit your doctor!
We congratulate Leeds City Council for their commitment to raising awareness of the risks of tick bites and Lyme disease throughout the city. They have displayed large LDUK designed awareness banners in 5 parks and other awareness posters across 20 parks and green spaces. We’ve since reached out to various councils promoting our awareness materials and designs for them to print their own banners.
Leeds City Council awareness banner at a park in Leeds.
‘Leeds is a city that prides itself on its parks and green spaces, and we want our residents to enjoy them safely. Tick bites and the Lyme disease they can carry are a growing concern across the UK, and far too many people don’t know what to look out for until it’s too late.
By installing clear signage in our outdoor spaces, we’re giving residents and visitors the information they need to protect themselves and their families. It’s a small step that could prevent a serious long-term illness, and we’re proud to work alongside Lyme Disease UK to make it happen.’ ~ Leeds City Council
Our thanks also go to Upton Country Park in Poole for sharing our awareness materials and Broadstone Neighbourhood Forum for displaying our information on their Community Board.
Children, young adults and information for schools
Lyme disease symptoms can present somewhat differently in children. Year round we offer comprehensive information for parents, teachers, school nurses, nursery staff, and youth groups on our website. You can read our content via the links below.
- Lyme disease in children
- Supporting your child’s recovery from acute Lyme disease
- Information for schools – includes free resources such as ideas for lesson plans, activity packs, a school trip checklist and risk assessment form, free webinar training and more!
Poster competition!
Please note that our Be Tick Aware Poster Competition for children is still running! Submissions are welcome until 16th July 2026. Please email any entries to admin@lymediseaseuk.com.
As mentioned above we were very grateful to the School And Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA) who shared our information for school nurses in their latest newsletter, ensuring vital information directly reached key staff.
Thank you also to Wiltshire Scouts for incorporating our information into their safety training and for sharing our awareness materials. It’s great to see organisations proactively protecting local communities.
‘As Scouts we believe it’s vitally important for all our volunteers and young people to be tick aware, including knowing the best ways to prevent tick bites, and to seek help and take the correct action if they are bitten. That’s why awareness of Lyme Disease and tick removal is part of our syllabus for First Response.’ ~ Scouts
Events
A big thank you to LDUK Trustee and Business Development Manager James Herbert, who recently represented Lyme Disease UK at the Bushcraft Show in Leicestershire from 22-25th May! James shared our awareness information far and wide as the event proved a valuable opportunity to convey key messages to the many visitors to our stand.
We also send our thanks to organisers of the Royal Bath & West Show in Somerset (28-30th May) who also agreed to display our awareness material. As a huge show with visitor numbers expected to total over 100,000 we were excited to be included. Visitors were apparently keen to better understand tick bite prevention tips, plus what to do in the event of a bite, and our symptoms poster proved particularly popular.
‘The Royal Bath & West Show brings thousands of people together to enjoy the countryside, and we want every visitor to do so safely. Tick bites are a real and growing risk in rural areas, but the signs are easy to miss. We’re proud to share information from Lyme Disease UK in our Safety Zone so visitors leave informed and protected.’ ~ The Royal Bath & West Show
The organisers of Devon County Show near Exeter (21-23 May) also kindly agreed to display our posters at the event – we’re very grateful for their support. This show is also another major event (106,000 visitors this year) and a valuable opportunity to spread our awareness information.
Thank you also to Surrey Nature Partnership for hosting an awareness talk delivered by James Herbert, at their Surrey Biodiversity Working Group meeting in May.
Keeping Lyme disease on the political agenda
LDUK recently updated our information for MPs ahead of our campaign, helping to ensure Lyme disease remains on the political agenda. We encouraged community members to promote this to local MPs during May and beyond.
In addition, were were recently delighted to report that Julia Knight, LDUK Trustee and Press and Community Outreach Manager has joined a key NIHR Public Advisory Panel to give her opinions on a range of emerging and zoonotic infections. Read more about Julia’s new role working with the NIHR.
We recently offered our congratulations to LDUK Patient Ambassador, Councillor Morven-May MacCallum MSP on her election as Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Highlands and Islands Region.
Listen to Morven-May’s first speech as MSP in support of Lyme disease patients. We send our sincere thanks to her and to all of our elected supporters.
Morven-May MacCallum
Lyme disease is definitely something I would like to focus on – it’s a huge issue within the region that I represent.” ~ Morven-May MacCallum MSP
In recent months we have also been conducting a review of progress against research recommendations for Lyme disease outlined by NICE in 2018. We are due to meet with NICE for an update in the coming month and will report back to the patient community in due course.
Fabulous fundraisers!
As a small charity fundraising is critical to enable us to continue to help Lyme patients. We are so grateful to all of our amazing fundraisers and everyone who has donated.
The power of community
When Marilou Delignieres, a FIGAS pilot in the Falklands Islands, discovered she had Lyme disease, a whole community stepped up to offer their support!
We were incredibly grateful to recently receive a donation of £4,000 from the Lyme Runway Runners who completed an amazing 107km ‘Airstrip Challenge’ in April, running across 17 airstrips in East and West Falkland and surrounding islands to raise money for Lyme disease charities and the Steven Jaffray Memorial Fund. Learn more about this amazing event in this Falklands fundraisers’ TV interview.
Lyme Runway Runners celebrate in style!
Going the extra mile
A huge thank you to Joanne White, Daniel Newton, Michelle Brown and Laura Goldsmith for fundraising £6,400 so far following the London Marathon 2026! An amazing achievement by those who have either battled the illness themselves, or run in support of loved ones and friends.
In addition to the marathon and the 32 mile Haworth Hobble in March, Jo will be also tackling a brutal 109 mile Montane Summer Spine race along the iconic Pennine Way in June! We’re blown away by Jo’s commitment to helping Lyme patients! You can read Jo’s Lyme story, donate and send messages of support on Jo’s fundraising page.
Jo White at the London Marathon 2026
Thank you
We are so grateful to everyone that has supported our Be Tick Aware Campaign 2026, not forgetting our surprise supporter, Mr Blobby! Thanks to all of your hard work and generosity, we can continue to raise awareness during the coming months and prevent even more Lyme disease infections throughout the year ahead!
Mr Blobby, you’re the best!