Tick season is here but experts say ‘no reason’ for Canadians to be overly concerned
that can transmit Lyme disease this year, tick monitoring and surveillance by Canadian researchers have shown.
“As we have warmer temperatures over time, the ticks are able to survive at higher latitudes and move further north into new areas,” said Kulkarni. Kulkarni said ticks are easily affected by humidity and by temperature. They favour higher levels of humidity because they’re prone to drying out quickly.
However, if you do encounter ticks and fail to remove them immediately, you might have been exposed to a tick-borne disease such as Lyme disease, which is the most common infectious disease ticks can carry.Trending StoriesThe most common early sign of Lyme disease is an expanding skin rash caused by a tick bite, according to Health Canada.
“For a lot of the disease-causing agents, the ticks have to remain attached for at least 24 hours,” said Lindsay. “You can actually be bitten by an infected and not infected yourself if you promptly remove them.”