Get Ready For Tick Season

Tuesday, 14 May 2019 at 06:40

We don't have an established black legged tick population in Oxford County, however they are prevalent in surrounding areas, especially Norfolk County.

OXFORD - Southwestern Public Health is reminding everyone to protect yourself from ticks and Lyme disease this year.

Black legged ticks have been known to carry lyme disease. Ticks are small arachnids who feed off of the blood of mammals that carry lyme disease.

Program Manager for Environmental Health Amy Pavletic says they encourage everyone to check your body this summer.

"If you are walking in areas with marsh lands, tall grasses, where these populations exist, it is really important to check yourself and make sure you don't have any ticks on your body."

Other ways you can protect yourself is wearing long pants in tall grass, tuck your pant legs into your socks and wear insect repellent containing Deet.

Pavletic says we don't have an established black legged tick population in Oxford County, however they are prevalent in surrounding areas, especially Norfolk County.

"That said, ticks don't know borders, you can get advantageous ticks that can come into Oxford County and if we have the area or environment for them, they could establish populations for them but currently we don't have that established population."

Lyme disease is is an infectious bacteria that if left untreated can cause arthritic, cardiac and neurological complications. Symptoms of the disease include a bull's-eye skin rash and flu like symptoms including headaches, chills, joint and muscle pain, loss of appetite, nausea and fatigue.

If you have been exposed to a black-legged tick it's important that you seek medical attention. Lyme disease is treated by antibiotics.

You can also contact Public Health and they will submit the tick for analysis. If the results come back as a black-legged tick they will take that analysis further to check if the tick carries the bacteria. This year there has been no known reports of lyme disease.

If you own a pet its also very important that you protect them as well. Checking your pet regularly for ticks is a good idea as well as consulting your veterinarian for tick prevention. If you find a tick on your dog contact your veterinarian as soon as possible. Also be aware that pets can transmit ticks to humans.