Ticks Don’t Practice Social Distance

With all the other concerns we have these days, you can’t be blamed for forgetting that tick season is upon us again. Tick reports are already coming in, including from some First Nations. George Korzeniecki, Environmental Public Health Officer for Indigenous Services Canada, offers some helpful advice for keeping 2 meters (or more!) from hungry ticks.

“Remember to:
  1. Examine yourself when you return from a walk and brush off any unwanted pests off your clothes.
  2. Do a full body search of yourself and your loved ones (I mean full) to ensure no ticks have attached themselves.
  3. Shake out any clothes, however, the ticks cling pretty good to clothes and skin so that what appears to be a skin tag may not be.
  4. Try to brush your pets outside as they can’t read(Just guessing) and therefore don’t care if they get ticks on them. If your dog shakes off inside the ticks may be shaken off or worse get onto you from your lap dog.
  5. Trim back bush from your property so that the kids can play safely within the grass cut areas. Advise them that going after a ball in the tall grass may make them an easy target.
  6. If you have a  trail system please see if someone can trim that back also as ticks will hang off of low plants, weeds, stalks branches waiting for a potential ride such as you or your dog.
  7. If possible have public works or custodians trim back tall grass by any fences in the daycares and school areas where the kids like to hang out during recess. Although presently hardly any facilities are open, it is better to keep on top of that to reduce a potential problem area.
  8. Because of Covid-19 and isolation protocols, the children are at home full time(good luck with that Moms) they will want to play outside with friends. Re-enforce protecting themselves from ticks.
  9. If you find a tick, put it into a small closed container with a damp cloth and label date found, location(not alcohol as that will kill them). You may advise the health centre but you can not send to our Brantford office. They are not working there and therefore can not see what type they are. Take a good closeup picture if you can and send to me, Yongsheng or Trudy so we can try to identify it.
  10. If you found it on a person please advise them to seek medical advice to see if they need to be tested for Lyme Disease. Be very concerned if a bulls eye rash appears. They say that if it has been on you for less than 24 hours there is probably less chance that you acquired Lyme Disease, however it is best practice to contact your physician
  11. If you found a tick on an animal, we can’t test it. But please examine it under a magnify glass or take a closeup to see if it is a black legged tick. The National lab is presently dealing with Covid-19 testing and therefore not able to test each tick sent it. Talk to your vet to see if they have any tick protection for your pet.”
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