A WORRYING new report due out this weekend will reveal that Perth and Kinross is among the most active hot-spots for ticks— putting locals at increased risk of contracting potentially deadly Lyme disease.

Set to be released by insecticide experts ProMeris, the report will suggest the number of parasites is at an all-time high. Official findings are due out as well and it is understood the report reveals that Perth and Kinross is among the areas most badly affected.

Experts are blaming climate change and a damp summer for a rise in ticks.

The “parasite nation” dossier includes testimony from vets who warn the problem is growing and set to worsen, leaving both pets and humans at increased risk of killer Lyme disease.

“The new study will show that cases of fleas and ticks have trebled in the UK,” said a spokesman for ProMeris.

“Vets, environmental health officers, pet owners and pet-sitters have all recorded rising numbers of disease-carrying parasites.”

With autumn upon us, tick numbers are set to soar over the next few weeks.

“In the report experts will outline fears that the parasite feeding season will peak over the next four weeks,” the spokesman said. “Effects of this summer’s damp weather and climate change will take hold during the critical autumn feeding period for fleas and ticks.

“The study will reveal the problem is set to worsen with humans as well as pets at growing risk from Lyme disease—a paralysing blood disease which can cause blindness and death.”

A highly debilitating condition, Lyme disease has a variety of symptoms including changes affecting the skin, heart, joints and nervous system.

It is also known as borrelia or borreliosis and is caused by an infection from a micro-organism, itself transmitted by a bite from the wood tick, a blood-sucking parasite which normally lives on deer.

A tick will settle anywhere on a human body but prefers warm, moist and dark places like the crotch or armpits.

Some patients with Lyme disease feel as if they have caught influenza and the symptoms may include drowsiness, headaches, mild fever, joint and muscle pains and swollen lymph glands.