Tick-Borne Diseases
Let's Talk Ticks with Public Health Nurse Joan
Let's talk ticks with Public Health Nurse Joan - Transcript |
| Hi Joan let's talk about ticks today okay so could you tell us a little bit about uh tick season now that it's upon us and uh what we can do to prevent uh tick-borne illnesses like lime hey jen so so ticks ticks are actually out um most often at this time of year and and it's the nymphs that are out right now so they're the smallest form that bite us and so this is the time that that people actually get are most commonly affected by lyme and other tick-borne illnesses ticks actually can be active though any time it's above four degrees so so anytime it's about four degrees you want to be aware that you could get bitten by a tick so how can we prevent being bitten by a tick or what can we do to prevent illness right right so so i guess just to be aware about ticks so ticks live near the ground they need to be near humidity but when they when they want to attach to get a blood meal they come out of the foliage and they quest so anything that brushes by them they they just uh climb aboard so so one of the things you want to do if you're outside you know stay on the path keep your pets on the path when you're when you're outside where an insect repellent that that repels ticks so follow the follow the instructions that for tick prevention and in canada those products are deet and the keratin um we also are starting to see uh permethrin treated clothing on the market so that's another way that you can prevent ticks around your house you can create a tick-free zone by keeping you know things manicured and so that there's less humidity get rid of leaf litter things like that you can use pet prevention for your pets or maintain prevention for your pets so that's another way um and then and then when you come inside so check for everything around you when you come inside so check your shoes check your clothes check your kids check yourself and and then you can also put clothes in the dryer for for 15 minutes when you come in if they're wet already dry them and then and then add 15 minutes on high heat those are things that you can do when you come inside okay and um can you clarify some myths or if they are myths um do you ticks like fall from a tree should we be protecting our scalp so it takes no they don't fall from trees so they don't fly they don't fall from trees they really do need about eighty percent humidity so we're talking about the black like a tick here black like a tick is the tick in our area that carries diseases uh and so they need high humidity they need to be near the ground they come up they go they attack they they sit on like a like a stem and then and then they uh they climb onto us from there so so then when they dry out a bit they go back down they get moist again and they come back out so that's how they they attach to us so really we're getting them from from up to maybe knee level or so so what should i do if i see a tick on me and it's already in my skin right so so once you see a tick that's attached you you want to remove it promptly so when you see it remove it you use fine tipped tweezers you want to get as close to the skin as possible and you just pull up nice slowly steadily to remove that tick and and then and then you know if you do see like a couple of black spots some mouthpiece left behind don't worry about that it is really just the mouth parts so the tick doesn't burrow his head doesn't go inside it is just the mouth part so they won't transmit disease you can just leave them clean the skin and then what you do over the next 24 to 48 hours you might see redness you want to just watch it watch that that site but that though that redness should go away over the next 24 to 48 hours that's just from the bug bite but then for the next month three to 30 days after the tick bite you're looking you're monitoring for signs of early tick-borne illness so fever achiness extreme fatigue severe headache neck ache and an expanding rash at the site of the bite that's what you're looking for that rash we used to say you know look for a bull's eye rash we don't say that at all anymore it might look like a bullseye rash but more often it'll just be an expanding rash and and we don't even say look for an expanding red rash anymore because if it's below the waist it might look more like a bruise if you have some if you have dark skin it's not going to be red so you're just looking for an expanding rash expands over several days it's bigger than five centimeters across generally that's what you're looking for okay that's the lyme disease rash okay thanks so i hear that there is um a new tick-borne illness in our region and it's called anaplasmosis what can you tell us about anaplasmosis and the difference between that and say lyme right so anaplasmosis is another bacteria that the black licotic can carry and we're starting to see that here we would call it an emerging tick-borne infection and the good news is is that it is treated with doxycycline so it's the same antibiotic that is treated um lime that we treat lyme disease with it it it has some of the same similar symptoms so five to 14 days after a tick bite a person might start with some of those same symptoms it doesn't have a rash usually and and unlike lyme disease it's a little different because because if you are young if you're healthy you have no problems with your immune system you might just have a mild illness or never know you had it and it goes away without treatment but if you're older if you have problems with your immune system and you start to have symptoms and it's not recognized or if you have delayed treatment then it can get more severe and it can be a severe illness so what we need to do is if we've been in tick habitat we know we've had a tick bite then if we have signs and symptoms you need to see your health care provider and and and and see whether you need to be treated for a tick-borne illness if if we do find a tick do we take this tick as a sample to public health to be looked at or does that exist anymore it doesn't exist anymore um now that we know that our area is endemic for lyme which means that more than 20 of our ticks are positive for for lyme disease infection our the lab doesn't accept our tics anymore and and really actually no um no health units in ontario are can submit their ticks to the national microbiology lab anymore because because we have black liquid ticks and they carry the bacteria that causes lyme disease so now all health units go out and drag for ticks we carry a flight we drag a flannel behind us and we we collect the ticks so we do that every spring and every fall we send those ticks in and they're analyzed for tick-borne illness so so we don't accept ticks anymore we do have if people are wondering what kind of ticket is um there is there is a website um called e-tic.ca you can take a photo of your tick and upload it to the site and you'll get an answer about what kind of ticket is as well as usually an indication of whether or not it's been how you know whether it's partially fed whether it's engorged or whether it hasn't been feeding for very long so that's something that people can do are there any other tips that you can give us to prevent ticks and tick-borne illness so one of the things we haven't talked about yet one of the things that's really important is that at least once a day when you've been outside in our area in tick habitat that you do do a daily tick check so one thing ticks do is generally they you know they they do um come aboard at a lower level and then they climb upwards often they stop then at a spot where there's clothing that that that stops them or or like the crook the back of the knee or the crook of the elbow uh maybe the belt something like that and then that's where they are they'll attach so you're so you have to look back front all areas of your body and and doing that once in every 24 hours is is is a great thing to do something that we really want everybody to do in our area when they've been outdoors um and then as well some of the other things you can do especially if you're an outdoor worker if you're wearing a long pants tuck your pants into your socks uh wear long sleeves and tuck your shirt into your pants that gives you you know more time to to um to see a tick and to to brush it off um wearing lighter clothes so that you can so that you can see a tick when you come indoors if you you know you could have a shower um so that you brush off ticks that um that haven't attached yet or also gives you a time to to check for ticks and in our area if you have had a tick that you you know is a black like a tick and it's been attached for longer than 24 hours and it's within 72 hours of removal you can see your healthcare provider and talk about taking a single dose of the antibiotic doxycycline to prevent lyme disease you still you still monitor for for symptoms of lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses early tick-borne illness for three to thirty days the next three to thirty days because it's you know not a hundred percent and there are other emerging infections so so you still want to do that but that's something that we can do in our area because we are endemic for lyme disease and should parents be checking their children when they come in as well absolutely absolutely just kidding kids are you know kids are really susceptible to lyme disease they are they're the ones that are out rolling in the in the grass and and uh yeah yeah so they're they're at the level of of our take so we want to absolutely check check our um children when they come inside and do a daily take check okay and for more information about this uh where can people find prevention tips you you can go to the website which is kflaph.ca for slash line okay thanks very much joan okay thanks |
Lyme disease |
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Lyme disease is spread to humans through the bite of an infected blacklegged tick. Not all blacklegged ticks carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Public Health Ontario has identified the KFL&A area as a high-risk area for Lyme disease. There are other areas in Ontario that are risk areas for Lyme disease (PDF). While the greatest risk of exposure to a tick is during the spring, summer and early fall months, ticks can be active any time the weather is above freezing. It is important to know that during the spring and early summer months, ticks can be very small (the size of a poppy seed) and once attached will often go unnoticed. This results in a higher chance of being infected with Lyme disease. The sooner ticks are removed from the body the less likely they are to spread Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases. |
Preventing tick bites |
| Blacklegged ticks can be found almost anywhere outdoors, but are most often found in habitats that maintain ground-level moisture and humidity such as in tall grasses, bushy, wooded and forested areas.
Preventing tick bites is the key to preventing Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Take the following precautions when spending time outdoors:
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How to remove a tick |
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Remove the tick promptly to decrease the risk of getting Lyme disease.
In the KFL&A area, ticks do not need to be submitted to KFL&A Public Health for testing. The testing of ticks is not intended to guide diagnosis and could result in a delay of appropriate treatment. |
Identify ticks and see tick activity across Canada at etick.ca |
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e-tick.ca is an online tool that allows you to upload and view images of ticks submitted from other users in Canada. Interactive maps allow you to monitor tick populations across the country. |
Lyme disease symptoms |
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Symptoms of Lyme disease often occur within 1 to 2 weeks. Sometimes symptoms can appear as early as 3 days or as late as 30 days after a bite with an infected tick. Symptoms can include:
See your health care provider right away whether you have symptoms or are just feeling unwell in the weeks following a tick bite. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics. Left untreated, Lyme disease can last years and cause recurring arthritis, and neurological problems. |
Anaplasmosis |
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Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease that has been identified in the KFL&A region. It is caused by the bacterium Anaplasmosis phagocytophilium and is transmitted to humans through the bite of a blacklegged tick, the same tick that transmits Lyme disease. In most cases, anaplasmosis is mild and self-limiting. Symptoms usually resolve within 30 days, even without treatment. However, more severe illness can occur in certain populations, such as older individuals and those with a weakened immune system, as well as those in whom diagnosis and treatment are delayed. SymptomsThe first symptoms usually appear within 1-2 weeks following the bite of an infected tick and include:
See your health care provider if you become ill after being bitten by a tick or having been in tick habitat.
If treatment is delayed or if there are other medical conditions present, sometimes anaplasmosis can cause severe illness. |
Tick surveillance |
Tick drag sampling happens in Spring and FallKFL&A Public Health performs Drag Sampling twice a year to determine the risk of tick-borne infections in our area. Drag sampling involves dragging a large white flannel cloth over and around vegetation where ticks may live. Ticks that attach themselves to the flannel are removed and sent a way for testing. Drag sampling surveillance supports what we know about the high levels of tick activity in the area that make the KFL&A region a hot spot for Lyme disease. |
Resources:
- Lyme disease - Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
- Personal insect repellents - Government of Canada
- Insect repellents for children - Caring for Kids
- Permethrin-treated clothing - Government of Canada
- How to remove and identify a tick - eTick