Province seeks help from public to monitor deer tick population
By: Jen Skerritt
Updated: July 28 at 11:45 PM CDT
The province is resurrecting a campaign to get doctors and veterinarians to submit suspicious ticks plucked off dogs and patients this fall so scientists can track whether Lyme disease-carrying bugs are breeding in more Manitoba communities.
Dr. Robbin Lindsay, a research scientist with Winnipeg's National Microbiology Lab, said the recent spike in the number of human cases of Lyme disease in Manitoba has prompted health officials to ask veterinarians and doctors to submit ticks to the University of Manitoba entomology department this fall -- the time of year when adult deer ticks are most active.
University of Manitoba entomologist Prof. Terry Galloway studies deer ticks and Lyme disease.
So far this year people have sent him 10 deer tick specimens.
If multiple deer ticks are found on one person or pet or a cluster of deer ticks are submitted from one community, Lindsay said research teams will comb the area to see if the black-legged bugs are breeding and have established a new population.
Scientists recently revealed that deer ticks are spreading from their foothold in southeastern Manitoba to more communities and the risk of being bitten by an infected tick is on the rise.
Last year, seven Manitobans tested positive for Lyme disease -- up from two people in 2006.
If left untreated, the disease can progress and cause serious symptoms ranging from cardiac problems to paralysis.
"It's one of the cheap and easy ways to find out if you've got something going on," Lindsay said.
"It can find new populations (and) it's a pretty good starting point to doing tick research in a bigger way."
Manitoba Health first petitioned doctors and veterinarians to be on the lookout for the black-legged bugs in the late 1990s, when the province began doing surveillance for deer ticks -- the species known to carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Deer ticks, unlike wood ticks, can carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
The program was halted several years later, partially because scientists had trouble keeping up with hundreds of submissions of wood ticks that were coming from the public.
Lindsay said it's important to reinvigorate the campaign to get a more stable number of tick submissions and a clearer picture of Lyme disease in the province.
In recent years, Lindsay said, the number of deer tick submissions has fluctuated from year to year, making it difficult to determine the risk of infection.
The U of M will send submitted deer ticks to Lindsay's lab, which will log information about where the tick came from and determine whether it's infected and relay the information to public health officials.
Winnipeg's National Microbiology Lab has studied deer ticks found in more than 90 different communities in Manitoba -- including as far north as Flin Flon -- and about 10 per cent are infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Most of the deer ticks are from Winnipeg and are submitted by veterinarians to U of M Prof. Terry Galloway, an entomologist who spends the bulk of his time studying mites, fleas and other insects.
Galloway said veterinarians typically have the best eye for spotting deer ticks, and held a tiny glass vial up to the light to inspect a black tick pulled off a child's earlobe in Miami, in southwestern Manitoba.
Galloway suspects his latest specimen is a juvenile deer tick, and will forward it to Lindsay to confirm.
October is peak season for deer ticks, and Galloway said people should be vigilant to continue to check themselves and their pets since 99 per cent of ticks found in autumn are deer ticks.
Wood ticks, or American dog ticks, are non-infectious and are most active in spring.
-------------------- My Lyme dx:11/05. My Mom's Lyme dx:5/16. ISO ASAP-Lyme Literate Dr & Neurologist-Prefer IL, IN, KY, MO, OH, TN. Can travel farther. Finances limited. Prefer Drs take Medicare or Payments. Need great list to find best fit. Tyvm. Posts: 701 | From Owensboro, KY | Registered: Sep 2005
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Yup, our health department is starting to realize that they can't deny it much longer. Too many people are sick and too many people are bringing it to the media.
This tick collection nonsense is just a waste of time but it's paving the road for Dr. Lindsay et al to stand as heros.
They already have the information they need but how can they change their tune without looking like the criminals that they are.
Gee, maybe I'm just a wee bit bitter, eh?
-------------------- The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation www.canlyme.com Posts: 128 | From Canada | Registered: Sep 2006
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"Wood ticks, or American dog ticks, are non-infectious and are most active in spring."
The above statement is interesting, being that I asked the question about dog ticks before, and posters on here told me that you can contract Lyme from dog ticks. Now mind you, I'm not taking the chance, and am going to exhaust treatment options first, but I did find that statement noteworthy.
-------------------- Craig Posts: 207 | From Tallahassee, Florida | Registered: Nov 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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but they got this right:
" . . . if left untreated, the disease can progress and cause serious symptoms ranging from cardiac problems to paralysis. . . . "
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