Living with ticks ‘becoming the norm’ in Niagara
The prevalence of Lyme disease in Ontario doesn’t warrant declaring an epidemic, despite an increasing number of disease-carrying ticks locally, Niagara health officials say.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik told Niagara Region’s health and social services committee members officials in New York have recently declared a Lyme disease epidemic, “and I find it interesting that in Ontario they refuse to.”
“It’s only a river that separates us and yet, from a physician’s point of view or from the medical practice point of view, it seems to be that they’re willing to identify this as an epidemic (in New York), but in Ontario we haven’t gotten there yet?” he asked at Tuesday’s meeting.
Associate medical officer of health Andrea Feller said the number of cases of Lyme disease in Ontario do not qualify as an epidemic.
“It’s not a new disease or … a new situation that’s popping up at a significant increase in rates where there’s an intervention that could cut it off,” Feller said.
But due to climate change, she said, dealing with ticks and the tick-borne disease “is slowly moving up to become the norm here.”
Niagara’s manager of environmental health, Peter Jekel, said there has been a significant increase in the number of ticks found throughout the region that have been brought in for identification and testing after biting people.
“It was an ideal spring for ticks. It was cool, it was moist and that’s the type of environment that ticks like,” he said.
So far this season, 2,251 ticks have been submitted to the health department for identification and testing — including 245 blacklegged ticks which are responsible for the spread of Lyme disease.
In comparison, 1,853 ticks were submitted to the department last year — including 321 blacklegged ticks.
Despite the increasing prevalence of ticks, Niagara’s infectious disease manager, Kathy Bell, reassured committee members “it actually is quite challenging to acquire Lyme disease.”
“A tick crawling around on you … or even a tick attached to you for a short period of time doesn’t mean you’re going to get Lyme disease,” she said. “It has to be a blacklegged tick and it has to be attached to you for greater than 24 hours, and the tick actually has to carry the Lyme bacteria.”
Only 18.8 per cent of ticks tested by the health department were found to carry the bacteria.
Bell said only one Niagara case of Lyme disease has been confirmed this year, compared to 10 cases in 2018 and 19 a year earlier.
Feller said Lyme disease is also easily treatable if caught early.
“It’s a simple antibiotic and the knowledge around when to give it preventatively and when to give it for treatment is excellent,” she said. “This has been excessively studied.”
However, if it is undiagnosed it can lead to serious health issues including arthritis, meningitis, encephalitis, heart infection and potentially paralysis.
Jekel listed several high-risk areas where an increased number of blacklegged ticks have been found by dragging white flannel sheets across vegetation.
They include Mud Lake Conservation Area in Port Colborne, Point Albino in Fort Erie, Rotary Park in St. Catharines and Wainfleet Bog Conservation Area. Signs posted in those areas warn people to “be tick smart” and refer them to the health department’s website for more information.
A map provided by Public Health Ontario, however, identifies all of Niagara’s east as being a risk area for blacklegged ticks.
“We also want to emphasize that ticks are found anywhere,” Jekel said. “They normally are brought in through migratory birds.”
Feller said the increasing number of ticks in Niagara is a “culture change here for all of us.”
“Living with the reality of ticks is kind of a new thing for all of us here in Niagara,” she said.
“Some of us who have lived elsewhere like in Maryland, you were used to it. You did tick checks on yourself. It became a part of life.”
Jekel advised people to be aware of areas where there’s tall grass along trails and at the edge of wooded areas.
He suggested people keep grass cut short, rake up leaves, wear light-coloured clothing and closed shoes, apply insect repellent containing DEET or ICARDIN, shower or bathe within two hours of being in an area where ticks could be found, and check for attached ticks daily.
“It was an ideal spring for ticks. It was cool, it was moist and that’s the type of environment that ticks like.” PETER JEKEL Manager of environmental health