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“Lyme disease exists anywhere songbirds fly,” says Jim Wilson of the
CLF, noting that ticks attach to migrating birds and fall off when the
birds alight. In Canada, ticks that most commonly spread Lyme are the
blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis, also known as the deer
tick) and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus).
In Ontario, ticks are most likely found in Long Point, Point Pelee
National Park, Rondeau Provincial Park, Turkey Point, Prince Edward
Point National Wildlife Area and in the Thousand Island region of
eastern Ontario, according to the PHAC. “However, we are starting to see
them in urban areas,” says Dr. Robbin Lindsay. Ticks are also found in
southern Quebec, according to a 2010 study in Environmental Health
Perspectives, an area previously not thought to be a concern. They
are also in parts of the Maritimes, southeast Manitoba and in B.C.,
especially in the lower mainland, Vancouver Island and the Fraser
Valley. “There were 69 confirmed cases in Ontario in 2007, 108 in 2008
and 79 in 2009,” says Dr. David Williams, the associate chief medical
officer of health for the Ontario Ministry of Health.
In the U.S., where the Center for Disease Control estimates there
are about 29,000 confirmed Lyme cases and about 7,000 unconfirmed ones,
the ticks are most common in the northeastern and Midwestern states and
northeastern California. Internationally, it has been found on all
continents except Antarctica.
“It is an emerging disease and is on the move,” says Lindsay. But
it’s not an epidemic in the sense that Canadians are at great risk of
being infected.
“You have a greater chance of being killed by a car on your way to
cottage country than of getting Lyme disease there,” says Mount Sinai’s
Dr. McGeer, director of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital in
Toronto.
Prevention and detection
The best way to avoid being bitten by a tick is to wear shoes and
long, light-coloured pants in any grassy areas. Tuck the bottoms of the
pants into socks or footwear. Spray uncovered skin with a citronella- or
DEET-based repellent. Don’t apply it to the hands or face of children
and not at all to young infants.
Ticks are also believed to dislike pine scents, bamboo, eucalyptus,
and tea tree oil.
Since covering children at the cottage or while camping is likely
not an option, daily tick detection is recommended for both children and
adults. Ticks especially like the groin area, the head and behind the
ears.
Look for a rash on the body, especially one that resembles a
bull’s-eye. It occurs in about 80 per cent of those bitten by an
infected tick.
“Check every nook and cranny of their body [and] their hair as if
you’re looking for head lice,” says Dr. Maureen McShane, a Montreal
resident who has a Lyme practice in Plattsburgh, N.Y. She was bitten by a
tick eight years ago. Before being treated with antibiotics (after a
long period of misdiagnoses) she compared the pain in her bones and
muscles to having been shot.
If you find a tick, you can try to remove it with tweezers,
grabbing the tick’s body as close to the person’s skin as possible. Pull
upwards slowly. This can be tricky. If you squeeze or twist the wrong
way it can increase the possibility the tick will disgorge bacterium
into the victim.
If possible, go to an emergency department and have a medical
professional remove the tick. This also makes it easier to have the tick
sent out for analysis.
Not all ticks carry the spirochete, so unless the bitten
person becomes ill or develops a rash, chances are the tick wasn’t
infected.
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