I attended an excellent presentation by a University of Guelph professor on ticks and Lyme Disease in Ontario.
I took a lot of notes but here are a few points:
- Only 2 types of ticks in Ontario - American Dog Tick and Deer (Black-Legged) Tick.
- Although in other parts of North America, dog ticks transmit some diseases, they don't do that in Ontario. We only need to worry about the deer tick. We learned how to tell them apart when engorged, which is challenging but that's when you really *need* to tell them apart.
- Since 2007, the % of Lyme infection in Ontario deer ticks has gone from 7% to 18%. The traditional hot spots have been major parks along the north shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. At Long Point, 60% of deer ticks are infected. There's a growing hot spot in the Kingston-1000 Islands-Ottawa region. ('Bent picked up a deer tick at the North American Orienteering Champs near Arnprior in October.)
- In Guelph, the prof starts seeing deer ticks around mid-April. They live under the snow. Adult ticks are typically seen until early June, then again in mid-September and October. In between, there are nymph ticks that are smaller and much harder to see. Most human Lyme infections are thought to come from nymphs.
- A deer tick needs to be attached 36 hrs to transmit Lyme. (I've read 24-28 hrs elsewhere.) This article suggests an even shorter time.
http://lymedisease.org/news/hardscienceonlyme/hard...
- DEET on lower legs is helpful.
- Daily tick check is a good idea from April to October in our area. Daily shower is another good tick removal strategy since they don't attach immediately. In Ontario, thousands of deer ticks are submitted for testing each year after being removed from a human host.
- 95% of dogs infected with Lyme will never display clinical signs. Humans are not so lucky! About 70% will see a rash 7-14 days after the tick bite. You only need to worry about rashes that are at least 5 cm in diameter and appear in the right timeframe (although you may not notice the tick bite). They may or may not have the classic bullseye appearance - and a third of infected people don't get the rash at all. Some other common early symptoms are muscle and/or joint pain and fever. At this stage, antibiotics will usually cure you.
Climate change, bird migration patterns and healthy deer populations are a few of the factors driving Lyme farther into Ontario. It will become a much bigger problem over the next 30-40 years.