Is this a tick bite /start of Lyme?

[stirling]

In a real panic! Dd is away with her dad in North Italy, due back this week. But my son has just photographed this and it looks like the start of a bullseye ring.. I'm really panicking as my sister had Lyme and it really destroyed her life for a few years.
Any advice please? She's 14

Looks like a normal bite to me.

It certainly looks like it could be. It's worth a trip to the GP, doxycycline can stem the effects if it's prescribed quickly enough.

Yep, textbook bullseye rash. Needs mega antibiotics ASAP.

I can see a ring forming, I would contact your gp to get checked over. My friend had a tick bite but caught it early enough and was okay after a round of antiobiotics so hopefully you’ll be okay!

It's not a normal bite - you can see a second (faint!) red ring which means it's a bullseye rash and needs checking. Only saying this because it may help you if you ever suffer the same.

Thank you everyone! She's on a flight tomorrow evening so I'm hoping I'll be able to get her to A&E at night or should I see a gp the next day? Got useless gp

I'd do urgent care/A&E personally. Hope she's okay!

This was ds’s tick bite and bullseye ring. We took him to the gp who also thought it was probably a tick bite and gave him antibiotics (doxycycline I think) for 21 days and he’s been absolutely fine since.

(the hole in the middle lump is because he wouldn’t stop picking it!)

I can imagine how worried you must be, especially as she’s so far away, and with your sister’s experience. At least you knew what to look out for though which is a very good thing!

OK thank you. Feel gutted 😥

Is she able to go to a hospital in Italy to get antibiotics? We arrived at our gp’s at closing time with no appointment, and they told us to go to A&E that night rather than wait until the next morning. Sorry, that sounds really scaremongering but we didn’t know exactly when he’d got bitten so they were erring on the side of caution. And it might be good peace of mind to start the antibiotics as soon as possible, and give you one less thing to worry about when she gets home.

I had same in Florence Italy. Saw GP when retuned home and he gave me course of antibiotics.

I'll call her useless, utterly useless dad first thing. See if he can get her to a gp. I saw a photo of the holiday house surrounded by forest and tall grass and said "what about ticks? '. She was not made to wear the deet lotion I packed, or long trousers... Argh. Just so so upset

ThelmaDinkley how long were you on antibiotics for? Twenty one days sounds horrendous...

Oh @stirling you must be so stressed! If it’s any help at all, ds got his either on a bog standard football pitch or friend’s garden, which I didn’t really expect! Just thought it was a mosquito bite until I saw the ring, so I could have easily missed it. You’ve been super aware from the start which has helped her avoid any illness after <flowers>

Thank you BewareTheLibrarians, I'm grateful my son spotted it.

Typical bullseye that. Good luck.

Hi Stirling, I can’t remember if it was two or three weeks of antibiotics. I think it was Doxycycline. I would get your dd done probiotic tablets too as they will help with the antibiotics. Hope you get sorted and your dd is ok x

Why? It’s really good to get it identified and treated at this point.

Well spotted op! Anti-biotocs for Lyme and don't take no for an answer. My friend has chronic Lyme which is now suspected as likely cause of her ME she now suffers with. 😭

I left mine way to long (weeks), leg ended up swelling to twice its size . Course of ab and it was fine. Could you phone the gp and see if they'll prescribe by taking a look at the picture so you have some ready for when she gets back?