A female blacklegged tick embedded in a human arm. If you get a tick, Dr. Joseph Bowden advises against pulling it off by the body, because they have mouths that “looks like a squid jigger, there are these cylindrical probes with teeth all around them. So they do get really anchored in there.” He suggests using tweezers or seeking medical help.
Dr. Joseph Bowden, a researcher with National Research Canada and an adjunct at Memorial University, said there are about 10 species of tick already in the province but they don’t carry Lyme disease. - Contributed Symptoms include chills, fever, headache, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes and a distinctive bulls-eye skin rash. If it’s not treated early, the infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system, and in rare cases, it’s life-threatening.Tick check, anyone? Study tracks Lyme disease-carrying critters increase across Atlantic Canada through website, app
Social media has made people more aware of ticks, he said. Back in 2017, a photo of a hare covered in ticks went viral, prompting concern over the spread of disease, though it’s actually low. So far, there have been five eTick submissions from this province this year and some of those were travel-related cases, where someone visited the mainland and, when they came back, they noticed a tick had hitched a ride.The eTick program is also gathering useful information on future tick migration.
You can try removing it with a pair of tweezers or if you’re not comfortable doing that, you can go to a doctor or vet for removal, he added.Dr. Hugh Whitney was the province's chief veterinary officer for 30 years before retiring in 2015, and part of his job was to keep an eye out for zoonotic diseases like the West Nile virus, rabies and Lyme disease.