A warm welcome to Vis-à-Vis Symposiums
Our organisation is run by a small group of volunteer trustees on entirely charitable terms, we are unpaid.
We are a small charity focusing on the welfare of patients whose lives have been decimated, courtesy of a tick. A parasite so invasive, with the capability to destroy and reduce formerly active healthy humans, and their companion animals, to lives of complete devastation and miserable existences.
Quoting from a patient, and echoed by thousands of others globally;
“ Lyme won’t kill you………… but there are days when you wish it would”
Correction: in extreme cases tick-borne diseases will kill you – that is why you need to know about them.
Tick associated health problems are increasing at an alarming rate throughout the world. The level of worldwide travel is extensive, meaning more exposure to the various vector- borne infections not usually considered a problem in the UK. The UK is certainly not the ‘sterile’ land that it is perceived to be. The current and future situation, at home, and abroad, regarding the impact of harmful vectors needs urgent consideration and education to avoid serious and prolonged future health problems.
Our first symposium was held in June 2014. It was funded and organized by a patient, and the event was supported both by patients, and a team of dedicated USA tick-borne disease specialists. We joined forces with the aim of bringing together doctors, veterinarians and researchers, in a united effort to discuss, share knowledge, and tackle the dilemma of ill- health caused by, on this occasion, the many infectious agents harboured primarily by ticks.
The event attracted and generated a vast amount of interest and goodwill. By keeping the momentum in a unified and concerted way it will allow us to attract research, drive advancement in specialist clinical expertise, encourage successful methodologies needed to tackle the many challenges posed by ticks and other vector-borne diseases and the many associated consequential health problems and uncertainties.
