THUNDER BAY — Active surveillance for blacklegged ticks that have the potential to spread Lyme disease will expand to areas outside Thunder Bay starting next year.
Ticks can infect humans and animals with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and a variety of serious health impacts.
The Thunder Bay District Health Unit already conducts active surveillance for ticks, using the proven method of dragging a white cloth sheet across the ground, to which ticks attach themselves and are easily spotted.
In 2023, the program will grow significantly with the support of the Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network.
Thunder Bay is a new addition to its list of “sentinel regions” being monitored across the country.
Funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research supported the launch of the network in 2018, followed a year later by the Canadian Lyme Sentinel Network.
It’s a multidisciplinary project involving patients, doctors, social scientists, veterinarians and academic and government researchers focused on improving the diagnosis, surveillance, prevention and treatment of Lyme disease.
One of the first initiatives was the establishment of a national surveillance structure to collect comparable data using standardized methods.
Ken Deacon, coordinator of the Thunder Bay District Health Unit’s vector-borne disease program, said Thunder Bay’s inclusion in the program means that active monitoring for blacklegged ticks will take place next year in five rural areas.
The chosen sites include:
- Sleeping Giant Provincial Park
- Hazelwood Lake
- Upsala (provisional – may be changed)
- Cloud Lake
- Rabbit Mountain off Belrose Road
Blacklegged ticks have never been identified in the first four spots, but the Rabbit Mountain site is what Deacon described as “our guaranteed location” for them, based on several years of ongoing active surveillance.
On Oct. 25, a public health inspector working with a student located 18 blacklegged ticks at Rabbit Mountain in a period of only 45 minutes.
Deacon called that extraordinary, saying the ticks were “super-active” for whatever reason — possibly the mild weather.
“It just goes to show that you have to be at the right place at the right time. If you happen to be walking your dog or going for a hike, this could be very unfortunate for you,” he said.
All 18 ticks have been shipped to a federal lab in Winnipeg for testing for Lyme disease.
“At this time of year, most people think they are safe, but ticks are active right up to 4 C. Today we’re talking about 15 C,” Deacon said in a Monday interview.
He emphasized that personal protection remains necessary unless there is snow on the ground.
If blacklegged ticks are collected at any of the new monitoring sites, Deacon said it will be an indication the population is spreading.
In the case of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, “It’s under a flyway, so there are migratory birds going through, and there’s a good chance they will be dropping off blacklegged ticks.”
Thunder Bay was declared a risk area for Lyme disease by Public Health Ontario in 2019.
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