Manitobans may be spending more time outdoors amid all this mild weather, but experts are warning they should remember the higher temperatures are also ideal for ticks.
The province issued a release earlier this week urging people to watch out for the parasitic arachnids. That’s amid an earlier start to tick season due to the unseasonably warm weather.
“We were sending home tick medication as early as March this year because dogs were being exposed to ticks and they were out there in the warm weather,” said Dr. Jonas Watson, a veterinarian and owner of the Grant Park Animal Hospital. “In previous years, we might have been thinking about starting in May or possibly April.”
Watson said veterinarians are being extra vigilant and doing more testing to prevent tick-borne illnesses.
Blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, can transmit Lyme disease, which Watson said in dogs can lead to joints and kidney problems, and other complications.
In humans, symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, chills and rashes that appear circular or look like a bull’s-eye.
Other illnesses ticks can transmit to humans include anaplasmosis, babesiosis and the Powassan virus disease. The province warns all of these can be serious, particularly in older adults, young children and people who are immuno-compromised or with underlying medical conditions.
“Ticks who are infected with tick-borne diseases like Lyme can be a risk to people. And so you do have to be vigilant when you’re going out in places where ticks are prevalent, like areas with tall grass,” Watson said.
Taz Stuart, an entomologist who runs a pest control business in Winnipeg, said young ticks are active in the spring, and they’re much harder to spot than adult ticks.
He said dog owners should be vigilant and avoid places where they can pick up ticks, including wooded and grassy areas, and the edges of trails.
“They’re sitting on an edge going, ‘Hey, I smell somebody and I catch on to you,'” he said. “If I happen to be walking along and I brush against [a bush], they’ll latch on to you. And that’s when they go hide in your hairline … your armpits.”
The province recommends people wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors to reduce tick exposure, tuck in clothing, and use a tick repellent.
Stuart said people should check their pets and themselves for ticks. Should they find one, they must make sure to take proper precautions when removing them.
“Don’t put a match on it and burn it out, or use Vaseline. Take a pair of tweezers, 90-degree angle, pull straight out right from the mandibles to the skin,” he said.
Public health officials say people should see a doctor within 72 hours of removing a tick if they know it was a blacklegged tick, and it was filled with blood or attached for 36 hours or more.
Blacklegged ticks are smaller than wood ticks. They have black legs, a black spot on their back and a red-orange body, and they become larger and change in colour to grey and brown when attached.
LISTEN | How to stay safe during early tick season:
Information Radio – MB5:24How to stay safe during early tick season
Kateryn Rochon talks with Marcy Markusa about ways to prevent tick bites from happening and what to do if you find one of them attached to you. She gives guideline on what symptoms to watch for after being bitten and to try and get a picture of the tick to sent to etick.ca
“The deer tick, it has a nice little black shield on it, black legs,” Stuart said. “If you see that, take a picture, submit it to the eTick website … and they will actually give you a positive ID.”
Stuart said other species of tick can also carry different illnesses, so it’s important to properly identify those as well.
