Health

Experts expect bad year for ticks as disease-carrying bugs expand range in Canada

Published

2 years ago

June 1, 2022

HALIFAX — The prevalence of ticks that can carry Lyme disease is expected to be higher than ever in much of Canada this year, researchers say.

Vett Lloyd, a researcher and director of the Lloyd Tick Lab at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, says that as the impacts of climate change progress, each tick season will likely be worse than the last.

“As the winters are getting milder and shorter, the ticks are surviving better, and they have more time to feed and have a tick romance,” Lloyd said in a recent interview Friday. “Once a female tick finds a male and food, she can produce for roughly 3,000 eggs. When this starts happening, (the population) explodes very quickly.”

Nova Scotia has the highest ratio of ticks to people in Canada, Lloyd said, and is second to Ontario in the total number of reported ticks. But the insects can be found across Canada.

People will notice ticks, maybe on their pets or in their hair, after spending time outside near long grass. They’re active in late April through June, and then they typically rest through the hottest months, Lloyd said. Tick presence then peaks in late September through to November.

The tiny bug is a concern because it spreads Lyme disease, which is harmful to humans and pets. Not all ticks carry the Lyme disease bacteria, but black-legged deer ticks are most likely to be infected, Lloyd said.

Cases of the tick-borne disease increased in Canada by 150 per cent between 2020 and 2021, with almost 2,900 cases reported to the federal government last year. The report notes that its tally of Lyme cases may still be low, “because some cases are undetected or unreported.”

The most common sign of Lyme disease is an expanding skin rash that typically begins at the site of the tick bite. Other early symptoms include fever, chills, fatigue and headache. If left untreated, the infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system.

Justin Wood, CEO of Ontario-based tick-testing organization Geneticks, said tick activity keeps rising. “I think everybody will say they’re seeing more ticks each year,” Wood said in an interview Tuesday. Geneticks’ lab has received more than 400 ticks to test in the last six weeks, he said. About 1,600 ticks were sent to the lab throughout the 2021 tick season.

Lloyd agreed: “It’s a bad year for ticks,” she said.

Ticks can reproduce locally, and new populations of ticks are introduced on migratory animals, typically by hitching rides on birds, Lloyd said. Ticks also travel and spread locally on mammals such as deer or mice.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association says on its website that ticks are expanding their range in parts of Canada at a rate of about 46 kilometres per year.

In Ontario, a 2019 University of Ottawa study found that one-third of black-legged ticks in the Ottawa region were carrying Lyme disease.

Manisha Kulkarni, an associate professor with the University of Ottawa who studies ticks and tick-borne illness, said in an interview that over the last five to 10 years, researchers have noticed “a big northward expansion” of black-legged ticks in the Ottawa region.

“Ticks are being detected in more and more locations around the city of Ottawa and closer to areas where people are living, so there’s also more chance of people coming into contact with them,” she said Tuesday. The City of Ottawa reported 180 cases of Lyme disease in 2019, 120 in 2020 and 290 in 2021.

The northward expansion of ticks is also seen in Quebec. McGill University associate biology professor Virginie Millien says the movement of ticks means they can now be found in suburban areas in the southern part of the province where they were not living even five years ago.

About 10 years ago, there were a few locations in Quebec where researchers would find established tick populations, she said, all on the south side of the St. Lawrence River.

“Now they have crossed the river, and the warmer it gets and with more humidity … the conditions are perfect for ticks,” Millien said Monday. “In southern Quebec, they’re now pretty much everywhere. Including in my backyard.”

In Nova Scotia, ticks can be anywhere, but they are most populous in the South Shore and Annapolis Valley regions. They are also frequently found in Halifax and the surrounding areas. Researchers collecting and sampling black-legged ticks found that in Nova Scotia, 30 to 50 per cent of them carry Lyme disease.

In order to keep Lyme disease manageable for Canadians who may be infected, Lloyd would like to see ramped-up Lyme disease testing offered in the health system. Early detection and treatment can dramatically improve disease outcome, she said.

Health officials also advise people be diligent when spending time outdoors, which means wearing long pants tucked into socks, using insect repellent and thoroughly checking for ticks after returning home.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press

Health

Canada to donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to combat mpox outbreaks in Africa

Published

18 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.

It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.

Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”

Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.

Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.

On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.

Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”

But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”

“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.

Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.

Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.

Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.

“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.

“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

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Health

How many Nova Scotians are on the doctor wait-list? Number hit 160,000 in June

Published

2 days ago

September 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.

The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.

Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.

“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”

The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.

A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.

Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.

“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.

Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.

The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.

“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.

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Health

Newfoundland and Labrador monitoring rise in whooping cough cases: medical officer

Published

3 days ago

September 10, 2024

Anne Joseph

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.

Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.

Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.

The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.

“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.

Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.

Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.

A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

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