Ticks

ATTENTION: Black-Legged Ticks and Lyme Disease are becoming a big concern for the MCA Tehotiienawakon—Environment Program with the warm weather we have been having lately as the ticks become more active when temperatures are above freezing. We have already sent a few ticks off to the lab to be tested for Lyme disease due to the fact that some people have been finding them on their children and pets. A test result from a tick taken off a pet has come back with positive results (the tick had Lyme disease). If you find a tick on yourself, a child, or a pet please remove it properly and bring it to the Environment Office at CIA III so that it can be prepared properly. We also have a few simple questions to ask about where and when the tick was found and when and where you think the tick may have been picked up. If you find a tick on yourself or your child, please go to the community health nurse or to one of the clinics where they will remove it properly and prepare it to send it to the lab. You can also stop by the Environment office at CIA III for assistance.

It’s Tickening Out There…

Within the past couple of years MCA’s Department of the Environment and Health Department (Environmental Health Office) have been involved in a project where different areas of Akwesasne were sampled for black-legged ticks (Ioxedes scapularis). Black-legged ticks (formerly known as deer ticks) are carriers of a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. This corkscrew-shaped bacteria causes a disease called Lyme Disease.

Ticks are closely related to spiders. Black-legged ticks are generally very small, from 1 to 5 mm in length, before feeding. This picture shows a female tick just waiting on a blade of grass for a suitable host to pass by that she can grab onto. Ticks cannot jump and are generally slow-moving. They usually wait in bushes or on tall grasses for a human or an animal to walk by. All active stages of the tick life cycle are able to feed. Once a tick grabs onto an animal or a person, it may take several hours for it to find a suitable spot to attach for feeding. Most tick bites cannot be felt. Not all tick bites will result in a person or animal catching Lyme Disease.

There are three different stages in the tick life cycle. This photo shows the different stages. Number 1 is the larva, 2 is the nymph, 3 is an adult male and 4 is an adult female. They are all positioned on a dime so you can see how really tiny they are. Most people that become infected with the disease get it from the nymphs because they are really difficult to detect.

Within Akwesasne, the black-legged tick has been found in Tsisnáihne, especially near Woodland Road, and on Kawehnó:ke, near the American bridge. Other areas that were sampled included the Border Road area, Whoville, Sugarbush, McDonald Road and Wade Lafrance Road. Please note that these are not the only areas where the ticks are, they are the areas where an actual search was done for them. Within Ontario, ticks have been found on the north shores of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and along the St Lawrence River at various locations. It is thought that the ticks may be hitching rides on migratory birds and are able to spread out further that way. The major vectors for the tick are small rodents and white-tailed deer. In the US, infected black-legged ticks are found all along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Virginia. They are also found in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Black-legged ticks are the only ticks that consistently pass on Lyme Disease. There is usually a small chance of getting the disease from the tick. The tick will insert their mouthparts into the skin of a human or an animal and begin to feed on the blood. They feed slowly and gradually enlarge, making them easier to find. Most ticks take 3 to 7 days to complete a blood meal. Generally, the tick has to be attached for more than 24 hours to pass on the disease. This is because it takes time for the bacteria to move from the gut of the tick into its saliva, where it can pass it on to you, or your dog. It is because of this delay that the best prevention for Lyme disease is prompt removal of ticks.

This graph shows an increasing probability of infection with longer attachment times.

Early Lyme disease symptoms tend to occur within one to two weeks after being bitten. Symptoms have been known to occur as early as three days, and as late as one month after being bitten. Symptoms include fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, fatigue and a skin rash. The skin rash may resemble a bull’s eye. Not all people will develop this rash.

If you are bitten by a tick and develop any of the symptoms, it is important that you contact your doctor. Tick bites are usually treated with antibiotics.

If you are not sure that the tick is a black-legged tick, it can be brought to the MCA Department of Environment where it will be sent out for identification and testing. It is important that the tick remain alive. If it has been removed from a person or a dog, it should be brought immediately to the Department of Environment so that it can be shipped on the same day.

Prevention is the best course of action to take when dealing with ticks and Lyme disease. The following precautions should be taken if you live in one of the areas of concern:

Wear light colored long sleeve shirts and light colored long pants that are tucked into your socks. Wear closed shoes, not sandals. Use DEET if you must (it is the only pesticide effective against ticks). Use tick and flea collars on your pets. Check yourself, your children and your pets that have been outside in wooded or tall, grassy areas.

Ticks need to be removed properly from our bodies or our pets. The best way to remove them is to grasp them gently near the head with a pair of fine-tipped tweezers and lift them straight up. Do not squeeze the tick or you may accidently introduce the bacteria. Save the tick in a small screw-top bottle or vial and bring it to your doctor, Eastern Ontario Health Unit or the MCA Department of Environment. It will be sent out for identification and testing for Lyme disease. It is important that you write the date and time that the tick was found and removed and the location where it is believed that the tick came from (for example: walking in the woods in Snye near Chapman Road).

For further information contact the Department of Environment at 613 936 1548 and ask for Scott, Peggy, Margaret or Waylon.

References:

Health Canada, Public Health Division, Lyme Disease, Catalog #012453, July 2009.

CDC, Center for Disease Control, USA.