‘Every deteriorate is parasite season’: Experts advise of winter Lyme illness risk
Laurenne Schiller loves holding her dog Cousteau for walks along Halifax trails as a continue cools.
But even after a initial powdering of sleet this week, any travel finishes with a head-to-toe check for blacklegged ticks on her and her collie.
“Talking to other dog owners, people have pronounced they will collect 12 or 15 [ticks] off their dog in an hour-long travel on a trails here,” she said.
Schiller now keeps her bushy companion on parasite remedy year-round.
Bit while Christmas tree shopping
Experts say there is a common myth that we can’t get Lyme illness in a winter because people trust ticks are no longer active.
“We have this fake clarity that once it’s removing cold, that we’re safe. But that’s no longer a case,” said Donna Lugar, a Nova Scotia deputy for a advocacy organisation a Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation.
Donna Lugar, who heads adult a Nova Scotia section of CanLyme, says she knows of people who were bitten and putrescent with Lyme illness in a winter. (Patrick Callaghan/CBC)
“Even after snow, even after a cold snap, if a heat does go up, [blacklegged ticks]Â can be active,” she said.Â
Lugar, who has Lyme disease, pronounced she is being contacted increasingly by people who’ve engaged a illness in a center of winter.
“A few years ago, someone was bit while they were in a Christmas tree plantation lot picking out their Christmas tree. They finished adult being utterly ill,” she said.
Symptoms identical to flu
Lugar pronounced a risk of misdiagnosis is also larger in a winter since it’s flu season.
Since a symptoms of Lyme illness can appear flu-like, people competence consider they’ve held influenza when they’ve been bitten by a parasite that carries Lyme disease, she said.
Black-legged ticks submitted for hearing with a Nova Scotia Museum. ( Patrick Callaghan/CBC)
Andrew Hebda, a zoologist during a Nova Scotia Museum, pronounced he’s receiving about 150 ticks each week from medical offices across a range for identification.
That’s some-more ticks this time of year than he was sent during what is famous as a rise deteriorate in Jun and July.
He pronounced some-more than half a ticks he’s seeing now have fed or totally fed, that means they were likely on a chairman for some-more than 24 hours.
Andrew Hebda, zoology curator during a Nova Scotia Museum, examines a blacklegged parasite underneath a microscope to establish how prolonged it would have been on a person. ( Patrick Callaghan/CBC)
“People have let their ensure down and haven’t been doing a parasite checks as diligently,” he said.
While a ubiquitous order is that ticks are active above 4 C, Hebda said there can be warmer pockets of belligerent that will concede ticks to be active even in cooler temperatures.
“They’re active all winter,” he said. “We’ve got ticks being brought in each month of a year.”
“Every deteriorate is parasite season.”
Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/winter-lyme-disease-risk-1.4413245?cmp=rss