As temperatures warm up and BC residents prepare to spend more time outdoors, they can now turn to an online map to see which areas in the province are home to the highest number of ticks carrying Lyme disease.
Launched by the BC Center for Disease Control (BCCDC), the map allows users to get closer to their own community or areas they intend to visit to better understand their risk if bitten.
BC ticks have one of the lowest rates of Lyme disease in Canada, less than one in 100, but the BCCDC says they still pose a real risk.
If left untreated, Lyme disease can cause severe headaches, facial paralysis, arthritis, nerve pain, and dizziness, among other things.
Across Canada, the rate of Lyme disease has risen significantly over the past decade, from 144 cases in 2009 to 2,851 in 2021, according to public health data. The actual figure is believed to be higher, as some cases are not detected or not reported.
The BCCDC map is a reminder to British Colombians to take precautions and always check for ticks after being outdoors. Lyme disease, detected early, can usually be treated with antibiotics.
The BCCDC says people can reduce the risk of being bitten by walking on clean roads, applying insect repellent, wearing light-colored clothing so that ticks can be easily detected, and introducing it. After being in an area with a lot of ticks, people should take a bath or shower to remove those that are slightly stuck, do a full body check and put the clothes in the hot dryer. for 10 minutes.
If a tick has already sunk into a person’s skin, they should use tweezers to remove it carefully, not covering it with grease or burning it, as some believe. These methods will only increase the chances of infection, says the BCCDC.
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Once the tick is removed, people are encouraged to put it in the freezer and send a photo to the BCCDC eTick app. If the tick is identified as a known type of Lyme disease, the person will be asked to keep the tick in the freezer for 30 days and to monitor for any symptoms of the disease.
This information allows the BCCDC to keep its risk map up to date. It can be found at maps.bccdc.ca/Lyme.
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