Lyme disease: what is Lyme disease, how do you get it and what to do if you find a tick

It's usually easier to treat if it's diagnosed early.

According to charity Lyme Disease UK symptoms include malaise, unexplained flu-like symptoms, soreness and achiness, light and noise sensitivity, cognitive problems, fatigue, a stiff neck, facial palsy, numbness and tingling.

It also notes that not every Lyme disease patient will experience a rash, figures state that the rash appears in two out of every three. It may not appear straight away and they advise people to draw a ring around suspicious looking rashes to track any potential changes.

Gaye Neve, from Mid Sussex, has had Lyme disease since September 2010.

It started off with flu like symptoms - a sore throat, shivery, stiff neck which gradually got worse over a couple of weeks.

Gaye commented on Facebook: “I thought in fact I had tonsillitis. I then discovered a teaplate sized red coloured rash on the back of the upper part of my left leg. I actually thought I had an infected scratch as had been out blackberrying but no.

"The rash was circular with a spot in the middle often called the bullseye rash which I now know is called erythra migrans (EM ras