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

It’s all in your head: Medical gaslighting a common problem for women, including those with Lyme, study finds

ByEmmett ShaneMar 26, 20255 min read

Health-care professionals often don’t listen to their female patients, researchers say.

Researchers probe the secret of how ticks stick

BySarah HackettMar 14, 20253 min read

Several creatures are able to glue themselves to rocks or solid surfaces – think mussels or spiders – but…

Lyme’s effect on pregnant women and their babies has largely been ignored by researchers, report warns

ByEmmett ShaneMar 10, 20257 min read

‘Future large-scale prospective studies are warranted,’ authors say.

‘A great scientist’ and a ‘fun guy to talk to’: A tribute to Reuben Kaufman 

ByEmmett ShaneFeb 25, 20256 min read

World renowned expert on ticks retires after nearly 20 years on CanLyme board.

A special thank you to CanLyme volunteers, Sue and Gary McDougall

BySarah HackettFeb 21, 20253 min read

From videography, to Lyme prevention education and tick kit fulfillment — they’ve done it all.

The U.S. is improving its tick surveillance programs. But they still paint an incomplete picture as Lyme cases mount

ByEmmett ShaneFeb 11, 20256 min read

Mapping of disease-causing ticks is ‘currently insufficient,’ new report says.

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

A special thank you to CanLyme volunteers, Sue and Gary McDougall

BySarah HackettFeb 21, 20253 min read

From videography, to Lyme prevention education and tick kit fulfillment — they’ve done it all.

The U.S. is improving its tick surveillance programs. But they still paint an incomplete picture as Lyme cases mount

ByEmmett ShaneFeb 11, 20256 min read

Mapping of disease-causing ticks is ‘currently insufficient,’ new report says.

Manitoba Lyme cases far higher than official count, study finds

ByCanLyme TeamFeb 5, 20253 min read

Lyme is widely recognized as an underreported illness. For example, a 2015 American study shows cases in the U.S.…

Incidence and economic cost of Lyme disease cases in Canada given climate change projections

ByRobert G. MurrayJan 27, 202521 min read

Grappling with the challenge of estimating future Lyme disease incidence and economic costs for the 21st century with projected…

Epidemiology of Lyme Disease in Canada 2009-2019

ByRobert G. MurrayJan 22, 20255 min read

While the current numbers likely underrepresent the number of people living with Lyme disease in Canada, it is still…

Exploring how environmental factors might relate to the presence of pathogen-carrying ticks

ByRachel LiJan 20, 20253 min read

The work of understanding why some ticks carry pathogens and others do not, while not straightforward, is important.

Meet Mario Levesque, a tireless advocate for patients living with long Lyme

ByEmmett ShaneJan 16, 202517 min read

Professor of Public Policy and Canadian Politics joins CanLyme’s advisory board.

Canadian Lyme Alliance conducting patient survey

ByMary KeatingJan 9, 20252 min read

Please consider taking 15 minutes to share your valuable input and experience.

Permethrin: An underused tool for prevention of tick-borne infection

ByDr. Sarah KeatingDec 10, 20242 min read

Permethrin treated clothing is often recommended as an evidence-based means of preventing tick bites. Unfortunately, in Canada, there are limited…