Ticks and Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is an infection resulting from a bite from an infected blacklegged (deer) tick. Not all black legged ticks carry the virus that causes Lyme disease. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics. Blacklegged ticks can be found in many areas across Ontario.

How to remove a tick

Removing the tick within 24 hours can help prevent infection. If you find a tick on yourself or a family member, follow these steps to remove it.

Use a fine-tipped tweezers and grasp the tick's head as close to your skin as possible.

Pull the tick straight out gently without twisting or squeezing.
Wash the bite area with soap and water and disinfect with rubbing alcohol.
Put the tick in a securely closed container (e.g. bottle with screw-on lid).
Bring the tick to the Brant County Health Unit for identification.

You can also watch how to properly remove a tick (University of Manitoba).

Do not use nail polish, petroleum jelly or heat to burn the tick, or crush or damage the tick when attempting to remove it.

Visit your healthcare provider as soon as possible if:

you are not comfortable with removing a tick, or
you cannot remove the tick because it has buried itself deep into your skin.

Note: Ticks can be disposed of in household garbage once they are dead, and they can be killed by drowning them in rubbing alcohol, or by freezing for several hours. Avoid squashing ticks with exposed fingers.

Prevention

To reduce the risk of getting bitten by a tick, we recommend the following:

Cover feet, arms and legs with closed-toe shoes, and light-coloured long-sleeved shirts and pants.
Tuck pant legs into socks.
Apply bug spray with DEET or Icaridin on skin and clothing (put on bug spray after applying sunscreen).
After you get home from the outdoors, do a full body check for ticks on yourself, your children and your pets. Feel for bumps and look for tiny dark spots. Look carefully, most ticks can be as small as a sesame seed!
Have a shower or bath within two hours of being outdoors.

How to reduce tick habitats near your home or place of employment

Keep grass cut short in areas where people and pets may walk.
Remove leaf litter, brush and weeds at the edge of the lawn and around stonewalls and woodpiles, especially if your yard is bordered by woods or fields of tall grasses.
Add a wood chip, gravel, or river-stone border one or more metres wide to separate forested, shrubby, or tall grassed areas from your lawn.
Move wood piles and bird feeders away from the house/facility.
Clean up areas under and around bird feeders to reduce the attraction of small critters such as mice and voles that carry ticks.
Move children's swing sets and sandboxes away from the edge of woodlands and place them on a woodchip or mulch foundation.
Use hard materials to landscape your yard such as stone or woodchip instead of soft materials like soil for planting.

Signs and symptoms

If you feel sick or notice any of the following symptoms after being bitten by a tick, see your doctor and tell them you were bitten:

Circular red rash around the bite (rash typically looks like a bull's-eye)
Fever
Chills
Swollen glands
Headache
Diarrhea
Weakness
Dry cough
Joint pain
Muscle aches
Stiff neck

How to submit a tick for identification

All Brantford and Brant County residents can submit a tick for identification either online or in person.

Online Submissions

Free online tick identification services are available at etick.ca.

Through etick.ca, you can submit a picture of a tick that was removed from both humans and animals for free identification. Send in photographs of your tick and an expert will identify it within 48 hours. They will then contact you via email with the results and will provide the necessary public health-related information. All ticks results are posted on an interactive public tick map.

In Person Submissions

The Brant County Health Unit accepts tick submissions year-round, but will only send ticks that are found on people to find out if they are the blacklegged ticks. If the lab determines they are a blacklegged tick, the tick will get further testing to see if it is carrying the virus that causes Lyme disease.

If you need to submit a tick, fill out and print this form. Bring both the form and tick in a sealed container to the reception desk at the Brant County Health Unit, 194 Terrace Hill St., Brantford, between Monday - Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

If a tick is found on a weekend or statutory holiday, it can be submitted the following business day. Please keep the tick in a sealed container with a screwed-on lid at room temperature.

Links and resources

Lyme Disease (Public Health Ontario)
Lyme Disease Risk Area (Public Health Ontario)
Lyme Disease (Government of Ontario)
Blacklegged Deer Ticks (Government of Canada)

Environmental Health
519-753-4937 ext. 470
EnvironmentalHealth@bchu.org

Reports

​Ticks and Lyme Disease