Lyme Disease - Peel Public Health

Prevention

Protecting yourself

Avoid tick bites

People who live or work in high risk areas should apply insect repellent to their skin and clothing.

Travelers to areas where infected ticks are commonly found should try to avoid areas where ticks live.

If you can’t avoid exposure to tick habitats you can reduce the risk of infection by checking regularly for ticks and removing any attached ticks immediately.

If infected ticks are in the area, wear long-sleeved shirts that fit tightly around the wrist and long-legged pants tucked into socks or shoes or boots. Light-coloured clothing makes it easier to see if ticks land on your clothing.

Tick bites: what to do if you're bitten

The longer an infected tick is attached to your skin, the more likely you’ll become infected with Lyme disease.

Infected ticks don’t usually spread the bacterium during the first 24 hours. Since tick bites don’t hurt, you might not even know you’ve been bitten.

If you get bitten by a tick:

Remove the tick immediately with tweezers. Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible. Gently pull the tick straight out until the tick releases its hold on your skin.
Don’t squeeze the tick. Be careful not to twist, crush, or turn the tick while removing it because this might separate the head from the body which will make laboratory identification difficult.
Use soap and water to clean the spot where you were bitten. You can also disinfect the area with rubbing alcohol or use antibiotic ointment.
Wash your hands.
It isn’t unusual to have more than one tick attached, so check your body.
Put the live tick in a small container with a tight fitting lid. Place a cotton ball dampened with water in the container to keep the tick alive. Only live ticks can be tested for infection.
Contact your doctor or Peel Public Health (if you reside in the Region of Peel) to see if you should have the tick tested.
See your family doctor if you develop any symptoms of Lyme disease.

Lyme disease vaccine

While there is no vaccine for Lyme disease for people, there is a Lyme disease vaccine for dogs. A veterinarian can advise you about vaccinating your dog against Lyme disease.

Actions Peel Region is taking against Lyme disease

The Region of Peel is monitoring the tick population in Peel annually as part of our Vector Borne Disease Prevention Plan (PDF 132KB, 33 pages).

Right now there isn’t an established black-legged tick population in Peel.

Types of tick monitoring

There are 2 types of tick monitoring: active and passive. Active monitoring means collecting ticks in their natural habitat, while passive monitoring means studying ticks brought to Peel Public Health offices by Peel residents.

Peel Public Health is doing passive tick monitoring in Peel. If passive monitoring shows an increase of ticks in a certain area, then we will start active monitoring.

Identifying ticks

Tick specimens collected through either passive or active monitoring will be shipped to and identified by the provincial Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL). The CPHL will send the identified ticks to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory for Lyme disease testing.

Only the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, will be tested for Lyme disease.