Three blacklegged ticks in the region have tested positive for Lyme disease.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health manager of health protection Shawn Zentner confirmed on April 21 the health unit received positive results from ticks collected in 2016.
However, he stressed that this does not mean the region is an endemic area.
“We’re not a high-risk area relative to … some of the areas of the province,” said Zentner.
Each year public health conducts passive surveillance, gathering as much information as possible about the potential of Lyme disease in its coverage area.
“We’re not looking for ticks,” Zentner explained, adding the health unit works with veterinarians and physicians who treat animals and humans that have had contact with ticks.
“We work with those people,” he said, adding officials ask them to notify public health, “If people are reporting concerns about ticks or coming to you because they have a tick.”
Zentner said public health encourages both doctors and the public to bring suspicious ticks to the health unit.
“We’ll identify it and send it off for testing,” he explained.
Local researcher and Lyme disease advocate John Scott says the disease has been in Centre Wellington for a number of years.
Scott’s recent peer-reviewed article in the International Journal of Medical Sciences proves that over a three-and-half-year period 36 per cent (15) of the 42 blacklegged ticks the researchers collected in Centre Wellington tested positive for Lyme disease.
The study was conducted from May 2013 to August 2016 in much the same way that WDGPH does its passive surveillance.
“We worked with veterinarians primarily and we got them off of dogs, cats and people,” Scott said.
His study also showed that Lyme disease-bearing ticks often latch onto birds and are transported.
“We can conclude that migratory song birds widely distribute Lyme disease vector ticks across Canada,”
Scott said.
“So people do not have to visit an endemic area to contract Lyme disease … whenever somebody has an infected blacklegged tick it’s a public health risk.”
Scott said acknowledging the presence of Lyme disease is essential to prepare physicians and the public.
“Lyme disease can ruin people’s lives and it can be fatal,” he said.
“It’s really important that people know that ticks carrying the Lyme disease bacteria are in the area so that when they tell the health care professional they get the proper diagnosis and treatment.
“It’s equally important that the health care provider know … so they don’t misdiagnose patients.”
Zentner explained that when patients with a tick bite are seen by a physician, the doctor does not wait for the results of the tick’s testing to decide on treatment.
“If the doctor makes an assessment that they think it’s a blacklegged tick and that the tick has been feeding on the person for 24 hours or the person has signs or symptoms associated with Lyme disease, (or) they no longer have the tick but they think they got bitten by a tick then they’ll use that information to make an assessment of whether or not to prescribe antibiotics,” Zentner said.
“And they don’t wait to find out whether it was a blacklegged tick and whether it had Lyme disease or not to make that assessment.”
Zentner explained the presence of Lyme disease in blacklegged ticks is still in the early stages in Canada. By giving dead ticks to public health, people can help with the overall surveillance in Canada.
When a positive tick is located, the provincial government adds it to a map that identifies all the positive Lyme disease ticks and helps to show where endemic areas are located, Zentner said.
Both Zentner and Scott said it’s important to stay vigilant about tick exposure, particularly at this time of the year.
“Migratory songbirds can drop Lyme disease-carrying ticks anywhere in the great outdoors, so they could potentially drop one in somebody’s backyard, particularly if they’ve got a bird feeder that is up during spring migration,” Scott said.
Zentner focused more on the trails.
“If you’re walking on a rail trail where there isn’t really vegetation around you, than you don’t really have to worry about it because the ticks don’t fly or jump on you,” he explained.
“They literally kind of crawl up to the end of a long piece of vegetation and grass and put their hand out and hope to grab you as you walk by.
“But if you’re in a single-track trail where you’re hiking or mountain biking or something like that then you’re coming across brush all the time.
“That’s when you have to be concerned and that’s when it would be good to have light (coloured)clothing on, because it’s hot but also … so you can see if there’s anything on you.”
Zentner said it’s a good idea to wear a deet repellent, long pants and long sleeves when in high probability tick locations.
Scott suggested doing a full body scan after spending time in those areas.
For those who find ticks attached to their body, Zentner said it’s best to use fine tweezers to grab the tick where it’s attached to the skin so the body isn’t squeezed.
He said it’s beneficial to keep the tick by putting it in a jar with a little bit of rubbing alcohol and then taking it to public health for testing.
While Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph are not in an endemic area, Zentner said it’s not impossible to contract Lyme disease here.
“Certainly you could come across a positive blacklegged tick in our jurisdiction and get Lyme disease,” he said.
“I’m not saying that you could not.”
