By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

Public health officials and scientists are warning hikers, gardeners and dog walkers in an ever-growing swath of Quebec to be on the lookout for black-legged ticks.

The ticks, which can carry Lyme disease, have only been endemic in Quebec since the late 1980s or early 1990s, according to Bishop’s University medical entomologist Jade Savage. In that time, the Eastern Townships have become a tick hotspot, and the range where the insects are considered endemic has gradually crept north, with health regions in Portneuf (south of Quebec City) and Lotbinière (south of Lévis) appearing on the Institut national de la santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) list of tick-endemic regions for the first time this year.

“In areas where five years ago we only had a few ticks, now we see a lot. This means that they’ve established and now they’re happily reproducing in those areas where they were not seen even five or 10 years ago,” said Savage, who maps tick distribution patterns with the crowd-sourced eTick.ca mapping platform.

The Townships have been a hotspot for some years, due to the region’s relatively warm climate, increasingly mild winters, the prevalence of deer and the fact that a growing number of humans live close to, or even in, forested areas, she explained. While ticks have not necessarily been more abundant this year than in the past, they have been active earlier in the spring, shifting their growth calendar.

Black-legged ticks only feed three times during their yearlong life cycle, at the larval stage, the nymph stage and the adult stage. For a tick to transmit Lyme disease – or any disease – to a human, it must first bite an infected animal, usually a deer or a rodent. When it bites a human for its subsequent meal, it can transmit pathogens including the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. In June and July, the poppy-seed-sized nymphs are most common – which is riskier because they are harder to see than the sesame-seed-sized adults. About 40 per cent of black-legged ticks carry the bacteria which causes Lyme disease, and smaller percentages carry other pathogens, explained Dr. Mirabelle Kelly, a microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at the Hopital de Granby and a member of the Institut national d’excellence en santé et services sociaux (INESS) Lyme disease working group.

Kelly noted that ticks like hot and humid places, such as dense bush or unmown grass. She encouraged hikers and gardeners to stay on marked trails, discourage children from playing in bush or tall grass, wear pale, long-sleeved clothes and inspect their bodies thoroughly after outdoor activities to reduce the risk of tick bites.

If you see a tick that has latched on to your skin, Kelly advised, remove it quickly and carefully with ridged tweezers. It is highly unlikely that the tick will cause disease if it has been latched on for less than a day. If you think you may have been exposed to Lyme disease, a pharmacist can prescribe post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent the disease. Early Lyme disease symptoms to watch for include rashes, dizziness, headaches and joint pain, according to Health Canada.  “It’s important to go outside and stay active and not fear Lyme disease – it is treatable,” Kelly said.