Lyme Disease Now in Ontario
Durham Region Health will now be providing information on Lyme Disease as part of their investigation and reporting as cases have been found close to this region. With warmer winters, it is expected that this tick bourne disease will become more and more common. www.canlyme.com/ontario.html
After you, your children or your pets have been walking in tall grasses or shrubs in the country, check for ticks looking especially at any exposed area of skin, especially around your shirt collar and pantlegs. (You will probably not feel the bite or the tick until much later.) Before you try to remove a tick, which may or may not be infected with Lyme disease, please ensure that you know how to do it correctly by checking with your doctor, various websites or Durham Region Health. Improper removal may leave the critical mouth parts still within your skin and complicate treatment. Call your doctor to report your tick bite and ensure quick treatment should Lyme Disease be present.
Quick treatment with anti-biotics can stop this very dangerous disease.
See photos at right for how ticks are acquired, what they look like before they engorge themselves with blood, and what an untreated bite will often look like.