Not all tick removal methods are safe. Certain removal methods may increase your chances of contracting Lyme disease.
Safe Tick Removal
[CanLyme Note: Powassan virus was first reported in Powassan, Ontario, Canada in 1958. (McLean DM, McQueen EJ, Petite HE, MacPherson LW, Scholten TH, Ronald K. Powassan virus: field investigations in Northern Ontario, 1959 to 1961. Can Med Assoc J (1962) 86(21):971–4.) 2017… “The prevalence of POWV in endemic areas may be much higher than originally believed. Some asymptomatic people in these areas have serologic evidence of Continues →
Listen to researcher John Scott’s warning that physician knowledge needs to improve relative to Lyme disease. Watch news clip
Global News “Our public healthcare system should be dealing with this appropriately and it’s not clearly, and it needs to,” added Coon. “And that really goes to the heart of this in a way that there are a significant percentage of people who get bitten by an infected tick who fall through the cracks and don’t get diagnosed.” Access full Continues →
Fredericton, NB: Dr. Ralph Hawkins is a Calgary physician and one of this country’s leading voices in the fight against Lyme disease. He says patients are being ‘profoundly disrespected”, and it’s time to step up the fight. The public roundtable on Lyme disease is tonight from 7 to 9 at the Crowne Plaza in Fredericton. Aired: May 22, 2019 Listen Continues →
[CanLyme Note: Here we are in 2019 and doctors are still telling patients not to worry about a tick attachment. Ticks are nature’s dirty little needle and they carry much more than just Lyme disease. Some of these other diseases can be transmitted shortly after attachment. Watching and waiting only allows disease to spread making treatment much more difficult, and sometimes Continues →
[CanLyme Note: The title is a bit misleading. The bacteria that causes Lyme disease is millions of years old according to research. Why it spread so quickly in the past 60 years is the question, and climate change (warming) only accounts for some of that spread because countries with colder climates than Canada have had Lyme disease occurring for many years.] Continues →
May 15, 2019 Health officials to present information about blacklegged ticks and Lyme disease in Toronto Toronto Public Health will hold a media event tomorrow at Morningside Park to describe the City’s blacklegged tick surveillance activities and provide tips to help Torontonians avoid contracting Lyme disease. The event will include a demonstration of “dragging” for the collection of blacklegged Continues →
April 4, 2019 No matter where you are in British Columbia, our province is blessed with some of the finest hiking terrain in the world. However, at this time of the year especially, it comes with a downside: Ticks. A little bug with a potentially devastating bite! “If you’re an entomologist and you like to study ticks, B.C. is the Continues →
November 21st, 2018 Abstract Human babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne disease caused by apicomplexan parasites of the genus Babesia. Clinical cases caused by Babesia duncani have been associated with high parasite burden, severe pathology and death. In both mice and hamsters, the parasite causes uncontrolled fulminant infections, which ultimately lead to death. Resolving these infections requires knowledge of B. duncani biology, virulence, and susceptibility to antiinfectives, but Continues →
People have ‘let their guard down’ and aren’t checking for ticks as weather cools, says zoologist Laurenne Schiller loves taking her dog Cousteau for walks along Halifax trails as the weather cools. But even after the first dusting of snow this week, each walk finishes with a head-to-toe check for blacklegged ticks on her and her collie. “”They’re Continues →
Nov 26th, 2018 Ehrlichiosis “Ehrlichiosis is a disease caused by several Gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria that are transmitted by a tick vector. The frequency of ehrlichiosis is increasing, which is ascribed to the increased awareness and diagnostic availability, as well as the expansion of regions populated with the most common tick vector – Amblyomma americanum (also known as the Lone Star tick).” Continues →
Nov 3rd, 2018 Chronicle Herald newspaper Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada by Jane Bailey. Re: “Nova Scotia’s health system has a handle on Lyme” (Sept. 18 opinion piece by Dr. Robert Strang). I was appalled at the inaccuracy and inadequacy of the information that he is supplying to Nova Scotians — patients and doctors — about Lyme disease. A 2012 Health Continues →
[CanLyme Note: There is already another pan-Canadian research network that has been up and running for over a year, the Canadian Lyme Consortium. This network works closely with the patient groups together with physicians and scientists and has from it’s formation.] Joint press release “Lyme patient groups from across Canada are unified in their concern over the federal Minister of Health’s Continues →
Mount A biologist co-authors research that suggests only 3-4% of Lyme cases are officially diagnosed Friday October 20th, 2018 A new study published in the journal Healthcare suggests the vast majority of Canadians who have Lyme disease are slipping through the cracks. The research was done by Vett Lloyd, a Mount Allison University biology professor, and Dr. Ralph Hawkins, a Continues →
Oct. 2, 2018 Caledon Enterprise newspaper Janice Barry was at a vet office in Alliston with her dog when a poster caught her eye. It listed the symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs. It sounded familiar. For over a year, the former Caledon resident had been experiencing flu-like symptoms — daily nausea, weight loss, chronic fatigue, her hair was falling Continues →