article_snippet.sent: With the forecast of increasingly damp winters and hotter summers - ideal conditions for the ticks to thrive - as well as growth in deer numbers, the concern is that the incidence of Lyme disease will rise further.
article_snippet.sent: The increase in incidence of illnesses such as Lyme is 'a serious' cause for concern and 'ticks will become a very serious public health issue in the UK as a result of climate change', claims Julie Barratt, the director of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.
article_snippet.sent: Professor Richard Wall, from the University of Bristol, will be part of a team studying the ticks, and says Professor Richard Wall, from the University of Bristol numbers have soared in the last 10 years.
article_snippet.sent: He said: 'Current evidence suggests that many tick-borne diseases in northern Europe are increasing in prevalence as a result of factors.'
article_snippet.sent: He explained this is due to changes in their habitat, increasing pet travel and climate change.
article_snippet.sent: He added: 'Warmer and wetter winters and milder wetter summers, in particular, may allow the normal highly seasonal pattern of tick activity to be extended, giving more continuous periods of exposure. '
article_snippet.sent: In Great Britain the distribution of ticks is estimated to have expanded in the last 10 years by 17 per cent and the abundance of ticks to have increased at 73 per cent of locations surveyed.'
article_snippet.sent: He said: 'Research suggests that ticks are a growing problem whether that's urban parkland to woodland and open country. '
highlights_snippet.sent: Vets warned of a rise in disease-spreading ticks in the last 10 years .
  