Characterising DSCATT: A case series of Australian patients with debilitating symptom complexes attributed to ticks.
Schnall, Jesse, Oliver, Georgina, Braat, Sabine et al.·The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry·2022
Researchers studied 29 Australian patients who believed their symptoms were caused by tick bites. Most had severe tiredness, headaches, and joint pain, and many had previously been diagnosed with conditions like ME/CFS or fibromyalgia. When doctors tested these patients, they found no evidence of Lyme disease or other common infections from ticks. The study suggests that tick-attributed illness in Australia remains unexplained and may overlap with other medically unexplained conditions.