1 July, 2015 11:53AM AEST

Researchers find bacteria in tick that may cause Lyme disease-like symptoms

Flu-like symptoms, headaches, aching joints, lethargy, rashes, paralysis, blurred vision, digestive problems, ringing in the ears - the symptoms attributed to Lyme-like disease read like a playlist of misery.

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Lyme disease is officially known to occur only in the Northern Hemisphere but, for many decades, people in Australia have been reporting Lyme-like symptoms.

However, a team of researchers from Murdoch University, the University of Sydney and Curtin University have found organisms in one tick that could trigger a similar illness to Lyme disease.

Lead researcher Professor Peter Irwin, of Murdoch University, said they had tested 196 ticks predominantly sourced from Sydney's northern beaches area and they had discovered a single isolate of Borrelia bacteria that is known to cause relapsing fever.

He said there were several types of Borrelia bacteria, but the ones that caused Lyme disease were referred to as the Borrelia Burgdorferi group.

"What our research has done is to look inside some of the ticks that we got from New South Wales and we've been looking for the Lyme disease-causing bacteria, but we've not found it here in Australia," Prof Irwin said.

"That said, we did find another type of bacterium that's closely related to Lyme disease and it's the cause of relapsing fever which is another Borrelia-caused disease."

Of the 196 ticks tested, Prof Irwin said just one contained the Borrelia bacteria.

"So it's very difficult to know if it's a widespread infection of ticks, or whether it's very localised or whether it's a one-off finding," he said.

"More research needs to be done to see if this is something that is common or not.

"It's certainly possible that the bacteria inside these ticks could make people ill, for sure.

"There are lots of different bacteria. There's a long way to go in terms of the research to investigate this, but it's something that a lot of people will be looking at now in great detail."

Prof Irwin said his team planned to study many more ticks collected from around Australia.

Lyme disease-sufferer

One person who will be watching the research with interest is Nimbin resident Michael Bienke who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease that he believes he caught from an Australian tick.

"I got bitten all the time when I was a kid, then this one time I got bitten and three days later I woke up and my head was numb and it was like when your leg goes to sleep but it had happened to my brain," he said.

"I couldn't work it out and then I started getting nervous, anxiety, a bit of a panic attack and then you're off to the hospital and they reckon nothing's wrong.

"Two years later, after five doctors, I got diagnosed with Lyme disease."

Mr Bienke believes if Lyme disease was recognised in Australia it would save a lot of people from experiencing the pain he has endured.

"I've been turned away from hospital and made to feel like a psychotic idiot because I was so sick I didn't know what to do," he said.

"I had a headache for two years, you can't think, you have a cloud in your brain, you can't sleep, it affects your eyes.

"This could be beaten so easily and so many people's lives could be saved, and so much misery."