Practise Tick Safety
Ticks are active in Nova Scotia, and the blacklegged tick can carry Lyme disease. Always do a full tick check after being outdoors especially in areas like the scalp, behind ears, waist, and knees.
If you find a tick on yourself or your child, remove it right away with clean tweezers. Grasp it close to the skin and pull straight out – don’t twist or squeeze. Clean the bite area with soap and water, hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol.
Track the date and monitor for symptoms like fever, rash, or fatigue over the next few weeks.
To dispose of a tick, place it in a sealed plastic bag and either drown it in rubbing alcohol or freeze it for several days. Don’t crush ticks with exposed fingers. Once dead, throw the bagged tick in the garbage.
Etick.ca is a free service that can identify the type of tick usually within 24 hours. Though Lyme and other tick-borne diseases in Nova Scotia are transmitted by the blacklegged (Deer) tick, not all black-legged ticks carry disease and not all blacklegged ticks have black legs.
Blacklegged ticks that are attached to someone’s skin for at least 36-48 hours pose the highest risk of transmitting the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. One of the earliest and most common symptoms of Lyme disease is a rash that’s often shaped like a bulls-eye that occurs at the same site as the tick bite. There are no vaccines for tick borne diseases in Canada, however, there are antibiotics for the tick-borne diseases that are known to be in Nova Scotia.
Keep pets safe too – use vet-recommended tick prevention products and check your pets after walks in grassy or wooded areas, particularly around the ears, neck, under the collar, and between the toes.
For more info on tick removal and prevention, visit novascotia.ca/DHW/CDPC/lyme.asp
