Welcome to the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation

The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (CanLyme) was created to promote a more complete and comprehensive understanding of Lyme disease and related illnesses through research, education and advocacy to help reduce misdiagnosis and improve treatments for Lyme disease.

Get help for Lyme

Recognizing symptoms and learning how to talk to your doctor are the first steps towards treatment.

Learn more about Lyme

Understanding Lyme disease is the best way to prevent, diagnose and treat it.

Get the facts

Get the facts on ticks and tick-borne diseases. There are many myths! 

Recent dispatches

Travel makes tick diseases tougher to diagnose, paper finds

ByCanLyme TeamNov 19, 20243 min read

Climate change and increased travel are leading to significant diagnostic challenges and shifting epidemiology.

Machine learning algorithms help predict tick-borne pathogen risk across Europe

BySarah HackettNov 15, 20242 min read

A new study published in Annals of Medicine explores the potential for machine learning algorithms to predict the risk…

Study: Current and emerging approaches for alleviating persistent Lyme disease

BySarah HackettNov 8, 20242 min read

Prevention and the need for better diagnostic tools also recognized by researchers.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to Borrelia burgdorferi – an excellent backgrounder on Lyme disease for biologists

ByCanLyme TeamNov 5, 20244 min read

By the end of the review, you may discover that you have more in common with the bemused Arthur…

Where there are ticks, there’s often Lyme disease

Lyme disease is caused by an infection that is most often transmitted by ticks, but it can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy.

Ticks can attach to your body without being seen or felt, and diagnosis can be difficult due to symptom presentation, testing protocols and other challenges. 

Learn to protect yourself

You can support our work

CanLyme is a registered Canadian charity. We rely on the financial support of donors. You can help save lives.

Stay connected

Sign up and get our occasional updates, educational resources, and news from our community of experts.

All of the tools in the most fully featured tick removal kit are on display.

Tick removal kits

We are a volunteer driven, registered charity. All proceeds go to education, prevention, awareness, research, and support.
A diagram of tick hotspots hover over top of an image of a hiker carrying a backpack.

Prevention tips

Regular tick checks are a way to check your body for crawling or embedded ticks. Check everywhere including these hotspots.
Mother and child sit together tenderly in the beautiful light streaming into the kitchen through a multi panel window.

Donate now

Your donation helps us to fund research and education for health care providers, advance prevention and awareness of Lyme disease – and more.
Illustrations in four panels of how to remove a tick by using tweezers and grabbing way low down near where it's embedded on the skin and pulling straight up, and then washing the skin around where it was embedded.

Tick removal

If you’ve discovered an embedded tick on yourself or someone else there are a few important things to remember.
A microscopic view of borrelia burgdorferi, a corkscrew shaped bacteria.

Lyme basics

Although it is most commonly associated with a tick bite, many people who have Lyme disease do not recall seeing or feeling a tick bite.
A woman walks with her two dogs along a path near in the forest.

Prevention

By taking the right precautions and spreading the word, you can effectively protect yourself, and your family, from Lyme.

More news

Recent snapshot of ticks, pathogens, and mammalian hosts in Southern Ontario and Quebec

ByRachel LiNov 4, 20243 min read

Interrogating mammal species richness as a predictor of the number of pathogens in black-legged ticks.

Incremental steps make a difference for Lyme patients in Canada

ByRachel LiOct 31, 20242 min read

Acknowledging small wins is important for building momentum.

The science of the global coverage of lichen is a cautionary tale

ByJanet Sperling, PhDOct 29, 20243 min read

The history of science is replete with successes and failures, leaps and missteps. The missteps can be instructive to…

Remembering Jim Wilson

ByRossana MagnottaAug 12, 20243 min read

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my dear friend, colleague, and former board director…

In memoriam: Jim Wilson

ByCanLyme TeamJul 23, 20242 min read

Jim Wilson was the founder and past president of CanLyme and his work changed countless lives.

Remembering Jim Wilson

ByJanet Sperling, PhDJul 9, 20241 min read

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the death of our founder and past-president, Jim Wilson.

Researchers study ticks in Ottawa where residential zones border woodland areas

ByCanLyme TeamJun 17, 20242 min read

32% of the adult and nymph ticks tested positive for Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

Bartonella DNA more common in patients with psychosis

ByCanLyme TeamJun 14, 20242 min read

Research also identifies limitations with antibody testing.

Count me in

ByCanLyme TeamJun 13, 20246 min read

Why case reporting underestimates risk and why it matters.