The Tick Alert campaign group says there were 285 cases of Lyme disease – also known as Borreliosis – in Scotland last year, compared with only three recorded cases in 1999.

NHS Borders recorded only two cases of Lyme disease in 2008 and there are none up to March 2009 this year.

And VisitScotland say there is little concern from visitors about the disease in the Borders.

Rising tick numbers will have “little or no impact on tourism” in the region, said a VisitScotland spokesperson.

He said: “There is no evidence to suggest people are not coming to the region for fear of getting Lyme disease from ticks.

“We have checked with our visitor centre staff manager and there have so far been no enquiries of this nature as far as we are aware.”

But while the Borders is not a high-risk area for Lyme disease – unlike the Highlands – there are increasingly high numbers of the blood-sucking insects.

Borreliosis and Associated Diseases Awareness (BADA) UK director Wendy Fox told us: “As a charity we are contacted by more and more people who either have contracted Lyme disease or who are concerned about the number of ticks. People are reporting high densities of ticks where previously there appeared to be few or none at all.”

The charity Tick Alert says numbers of ticks are on the increase worldwide.

A spokeswoman said: “We are getting longer and milder summers and that gives more vegetation for tick hosts such as deer which are increasing in numbers, and hence the number of ticks is also increasing.Climate change is extending the tick season and making them live longer.”

And she said: “The traditional tick areas are changing as they are coming into towns and cities on hosts such as birds and rats.”

Changes to farming practices, too, are allowing the proliferation of ticks.

Ms Fox said: “The growing number of people involved in outdoor activities is almost certainly contributing to the rise in cases of tick-borne disease and as there are no vaccines to defend against them: awareness is the best defence.”

Tick Alert wants people to take tick bite protection as seriously as sun protection and urge people to wear insect repellent and tuck trousers into socks.

And BADA advises ticks should be pulled directly out with tweezers taking care not to squeeze the tick’s body (to avoid the tick’s stomach contents or saliva going into the bite area and possibly infecting the host) and to avoid old wives’ recommendations of using vaseline, paraffin or lit matches.

The most common symptom of Lyme disease is a slowly expanding rash, which spreads about five to 14 days after the tick bite.