Precautions against Lyme disease

As the weather warms up and tick season begins, the province is working on educating the public about ticks and the risk of Lyme disease.

“The risk of getting Lyme disease is low, but not zero and so we do want to make sure that people are aware of how to prevent themselves from getting that disease and other diseases that ticks carry,” said Dr. Denise Werker, deputy chief medical health officer for the Government of Saskatchewan.

To raise awareness, Werker and entomologist and zoonotic diseases consultant for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, Phil Curry, spoke to media Thursday morning.

Since 2009, the province has collected more than 25,000 ticks. Of those, 65 were identified as Blacklegged (deer) ticks, which can carry Lyme disease and other diseases.

The most common tick in Saskatchewan is the American dog tick, which Werker says does not transmit Lyme disease.

In 2017, there were four confirmed cases of Lyme disease (specifically, Borellia burgdorferi) reported to the Ministry of Health. Only one of those cases was acquired in Saskatchewan.

“There has been active work to look at whether ticks were where that person most likely acquired the disease, whether there were black-legged ticks in that area and we did not find any. We will continue to survey that area,” said Werker.

The presence of the American dog tick has grown in the province, according to Curry. He said the increase in ticks means that more people — many of whom might not have much experience with ticks — are getting exposed.

“By all means get out and enjoy the outdoors, just be aware that ticks are out and there’s a number of preventative measures that you can take,” said Curry.

Ticks live in tall grass, brush or wooded areas throughout southern Saskatchewan. If you find yourself in such an area, take precautions.

Curry recommends wearing long pants and close-toed shoes, using repellent and most importantly checking for ticks — on you, your kids and your pets — when you come back inside.

At this point in the season, ticks are in the nymph stage of development, which means they are quite small and therefore hard to spot.

“If you do find a tick, it’s the head that’s buried in the skin and what you want to do is pull that tick directly out in the way that it went in,” said Werker.

Use continuous, steady pressure to pull the tick out.

Do not light a match, use fuel, Vaseline or jelly to smother or kill the tick. Doing so increases the risk the tick will push infected material into the bloodstream, explained Werker.

She also recommended a gadget called The Tick Key, which can be purchased in your local hardware store. It is a little metal “key” with a tear drop shaped opening, which is placed around the tick and used to pull it out.

Triant Steuart, president of the Saskatchewan Lyme disease Association, attended the Thursdaymorning news conference. He applauded the government for raising awareness about ticks and Lyme disease, but said more needs to be done.

“They key issue for us is changing the conversation to vector-born illnesses and zoonotic illnesses as opposed to Lyme, specifically Francisella tularensis,” said Steuart.

Steuart contracted a strain of Lyme disease not tested for in Canada — also know as tularemi — after being bitten by a tick in 2014.

He shared his story with LeaderPost in July 2017, in which he said people with other strains of Lyme disease and other diseases contracted by ticks are falling through the cracks.