Huge rise in Tourettes cases since Covid

Cases of Tourettes in school children have skyrocketed since the pandemic (Image: Getty)The numbers of youngsters suffering from the symptoms, which can lead to involuntary swearing, twitching and yelping, are now overwhelming specialist health services which are seeing three or four girls a week compared to no more than a handful a year before the pandemic.Specialists say in some schools up to half of pupils in a classroom are now affected by the new ‘sudden onset’ condition.Experts say since the pandemic and associated lockdowns there have been a rising number of people with symptoms which are distinct from tic and Tourette disorders seen previously, with many sufferers failing to respond to traditional treatments.A new global study of 294 – mostly female adolescents and young adults – with ‘sudden onset’ tic disorders, published in the European Journal of Neurology, found 66 percent had anxiety disorders, 28 percent had depression and 60 percent reported exposure to tic-related social media content.The research, which involved centres in the UK, Australia, the US, Germany, France, and Canada found patients did not ‘report benefit ” with tic suppressing drugs. The research concluded environmental factors associated with the pandemic were ‘the most relevant contributing factor’.Dr Tammy Hederly, a neurologist at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital who co-authored the study said: “There is a huge rise in young people with tic like movements which we have named functional tic like behaviour. Our services are seeing three or four cases a week when before the pandemic we would only see about five of people with tic disorders a year. We have schools contacting us with as many as fifteen cases in one school year.’She added: ‘We’ve seen this rise, predominantly in girls and since the pandemic which seems to be linked to wider psychosocial and environmental factors including social media. We fear it may be associated with high levels of anxiety and we know more people become distressed and mental health problems rose during lockdowns.’Tourettes Action which supports patients with the disorder has been campaigning to improve services and treatment for sufferers. Emma McNally, its Chief Executive said: ‘Since the pandemic there has been a huge cohort of people who overnight have complex tics who missed out on the first stages of the disorder which normally starts in early childhood.”Many are struggling as they have nowhere else to go because services are not there for them. Schools are getting in touch with us to ask for our help in how to deal with the rising number of cases. We need better medical care and better guidance on how to manage sufferers.’There are over 300,000 people diagnosed with tic disorders in the UK.A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said ‘We are committed to supporting people living with Tourette’s syndrome and other tic disorders and have invested over £3m in Tourette’s syndrome research since 2011.’