TICKS TAKE TOLL, PARTICULARLY ON SOUTH SHORE
New Lyme disease strain found in area called ‘probably the worst place in Canada’ for bugs
News that a Bridgewater massage therapist picked ticks off three of her clients in one week came as no surprise to an expert on the bloodsucking parasites.
Vett Lloyd, a Mount Allison University biologist, says no other place in Canada rivals the ballooning tick population on the province’s South Shore, with Ontario being the possible exception.
“The South Shore area is probably the worst place in Canada,” said Lloyd, a member of the university’s tick and Lyme disease research centre.
“Ontario might give you a run for the money, but you may win.
“The ticks aren’t going anywhere so we have to adjust to them. It will probably get worse, but the South Shore is probably as close to as bad as it can get, and that includes the whole South Shore, Yarmouth up to Chester.”
Massage therapist Kelly Cook said she removed four ticks from three of her clients during the first week of May.
She shared the news in a May 13 Facebook post that garnered plenty of replies, including one from a woman saying she had contracted Lyme disease last year and never saw a tick or a bite mark.
The personal accounts coincide with a Lyme disease education and prevention campaign launched by the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg this month. Lloyd says the initiative is essential, and residents must be on a constant lookout for blacklegged ticks especially.
“Because you have such a high tick population there’s really not a lot of places you won’t find them,” said Lloyd.
“It’s got to become like brushing your teeth. You do it before bed, and really you should be doing it every time you come indoors. Once they start biting and feeding they can start transmitting disease. There’s no vaccine for humans. The only way to protect yourself is catching the ticks before they bite.”
According to the province’s Heath and Wellness Department, the risk of Lyme disease is increasing. This year, 13 areas of the province are considered highrisk, up from six last year. In 2016, the number of reported cases of the disease in the province rose to 326, up from 247 in 2015. This year’s figures have yet to be released.
But how did the South Shore become a tick haven?
“The South Shore has the perfect climate for ticks,” said Lloyd.
“The climate is mild, it’s moist, lots of fog, you have plenty of boggy areas that keep everything moist. They were introduced primarily on migratory birds.
“Once they came, they decided they liked it, and once an adult female gets a full blood meal she can lay 2,000 to 5,000 eggs.”
Scarier still is that there is a new European strain of Lyme disease emerging that standard testing doesn’t pick up, Lloyd said. It’s a particular pathogen strain found in European ticks, which have made their way over to Canada via birds or humans.
They’ve been found in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, leading Lloyd to believe some Nova Scotians are unknowingly infected.
“It’s almost certain. I can’t see how that would not be the case.