'First of its kind' – Inverness hosts conference to share findings of tick-borne diseases project
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A "first of its kind" conference to develop and exchange knowledge on how to curb the rise of tick-borne infections is set to take place in the Highlands at the end of May.
Co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund and the North Sea Region Programme, the ‘NorthTick 2023’ International Conference on Tick-borne diseases will be hosted at the Centre for Health Sciences in Inverness from May 30–31, 2023.
The event will involve eleven groups from seven different countries - Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
A transnational and multi-disciplinary project, NorthTick aims to meet the challenges associated with tick and tick-borne diseases by enhancing cooperation between academic institutions, national/regional health authorities, patient organisations, industry, and policy makers.
The ‘NorthTick 2023’conference is the first of its kind to be held in the UK and will be used to disseminate findings from the project to researchers and medical professionals as well as enable other international colleagues to share their work in similar fields.
Dr Sally Mavin, director of the Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-borne infections Reference Laboratory, said: "The distribution of ticks is expanding and the number of people and animals afflicted by tick-borne infections is on the rise. The reasons for this are complex and may include climate change, increased urbanisation and other human influences on ecosystems.
"While the probability of a tick-borne infection is low, the health impacts can sometimes be large. It is challenging for health services and authorities to be updated on optimal strategies for prevention and management of Lyme disease, to keep up with other emerging tick-borne microorganisms and infections, and to give adequate information to a concerned public.
"The conference is a great opportunity for us to share our findings to both a local and International audience and also to get together as a community and share learning from this and what we see as the way forward.
"We have fascinating keynote speakers from North America and Europe as well as a very interesting scientific programme, which will cover the topics of risk and prevention, laboratory diagnosis and the management of tick-borne diseases."
Members of the general public with an interest in tick-borne diseases are encouraged to attend a special public event in association with the conference on June 1, 2023 at the Centre for Health Sciences, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness from 1.30pm to 5pm.
During this event a range of international experts will discuss recent work that has been carried out on tick-borne diseases as part of the NorthTick project and what this work means for Scotland.
For further details and to register for the public event please email: nhsh.rdi-innovation@nhs.scot or visit northtick2023.scot
