Cases of ‘silent’ disease common among A-listers are surging in UK

Public health experts have revealed that cases of a specific disease that’s common among celebrities have risen more than 20% in England in the past year.

As reported by The Guardian, the UK Health Security Agency, UKHSA’s One Health vector-borne disease surveillance report has laid bare the statistics.

It revealed that there were 1,168 laboratory-confirmed cases of this illness in 2025, which is an increase of 22%, up from 959 in 2024.

However, it does remain ‘similar’ to 2023 when 1,151 cases were reported, the authors outlined.

The illness we’re talking about is Lyme disease - a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks.

It presents with a ‘bullseye’ rash, and some people also get flu-like symptoms such as high temperature, headache, muscle or joint pain, and fatigue.

Justin Bieber is among the A-listers who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease (Aeon/GC Images)

Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber, Shania Twain, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Osbourne, Avril Lavigne, and Justin Timberlake are just some of the celebrities who have gone public with their diagnosis.

The new report also outlined that two probable cases of a potentially life-threatening disease linked to tick bites were ‘locally-acquired’ in the UK last year, bringing the total number of locally acquired cases to six since 2019.

One case of probable tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) was reported by a person who was bitten by a tick while visiting Dartmoor.

The second person did not recall a tick bite, but had visited the Peak District and the Outer Hebrides, according to a new report.

While both Lyme disease and TBE are generally transmitted by tick bites, the former is caused by bacteria, while the latter is caused by a virus.

The first-ever case of locally acquired TBE in England was recorded in 2019 after a person was bitten by a tick in the New Forest.

Until then, TBE was considered an ‘imported disease’ to the UK, according to the new report; illnesses caused by parasites, viruses, and bacteria.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that's spread by tick bites (Getty Stock Image)

Dr Claire Gordon, the head of the rare and imported pathogens laboratory at UKHSA, told The Guardian: “While the number of laboratory-confirmed acute cases of Lyme disease in 2025 is an increase on numbers reported in 2024, we expect overall case rates to vary year to year depending on awareness, testing rates, and factors that impact outdoor activities such as weather. Broader trends in 2025 remain consistent.”

She added: “In recent years, we have seen an increasing geographical distribution of ticks across the UK.

“But tick numbers continue to vary due to changes in weather conditions, climate trends, habitat changes, and shifting host populations.”

Why is Lyme disease 'more common' among celebrities?

As mentioned, a number of A-listers have opened up about their struggles with Lyme disease in recent years, fuelling the idea that it’s more common among the rich and famous.

Theories on why it feels like this is the case include the lifestyle factors that would put celebrities more at risk of being bitten by infected ticks - for example, when you have a lot of money and time, you're more likely to splash the cash on countryside estates in places like the Hamptons and the Malibu canyons, where ticks are more prevalent.

There are a number of theories why the illness seems more frequent among celebrities (Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

Those who have more money are also more likely to take on more expensive hobbies, such as horse riding in woodland areas, which have higher tick populations.

Professor Paul Hunter, an expert in infectious diseases from the University of East Anglia, previously told MailOnline: "If there is a rich and famous or class bias in this, it's probably because they spend more time walking around in wooded parkland, more money to go out to those areas, or have big homes with these sorts of places.”

Finally, famous people are likely to have access to better healthcare than the rest of us, meaning they may get to the root of the issue quicker as Lyme disease is often described as ‘silent’ and difficult to diagnose.

Not to mention that famous people may simply be more likely to speak about Lyme disease to raise awareness since they’re in the public eye, rather than being more likely to get it.