Lyme disease concerns in Rothesay

Public health officials suspect a variety of tick that carries Lyme disease has established itself in the Kennebecasis Valley.

A dog in Rothesay has been found carrying an infected blacklegged tick that survived the winter. That discovery is raising concerns that the town may become the second place in New Brunswick to have the tick that causes Lyme disease living year round.

As it stands, Millidgeville, in Saint John's north end, is the only place in the province where blacklegged ticks have been declared endemic.

But Dr. Scott Giffin, the district medical officer of health in Saint John, said the case of the dog in the outlying community of Rothesay is causing concern.

"The dog had four ticks of which three were identified in each of the different stages in the life cycle of the tick, suggesting, only suggesting, not proving, suggesting that we should be looking at that area of Rothesay for whether the blacklegged tick population is endemic or not," Giffin said.

One of the indicators of endemicity is the three stages of the life cycle of a tick, he explained.

Health Canada guidelines require the same finding for two years before an area can be declared endemic for the ticks that carry Lyme disease.

Dr. Nicholas Ogden, of the Public Health Agency of Canada, said the guideline has been put in place to make sure the infected tick is not simply a one-time occurrence dropped from a migrating bird.

"We need a little bit more of a stringent definition to identify a truly reproducing population of ticks," Ogden said.

So far, 12 blacklegged ticks have been found in the Kennebecasis Valley — four on people and eight on dogs.

While it takes two years before Health Canada will determine an area is endemic for the ticks that carry the infection, the region's public health officer said he's wants people to start taking precautions now.

Disease symptoms

Lyme disease is caused by the bite of two species of ticks: blacklegged ticks, which are also called deer ticks, and western blacklegged ticks.

The first sign a person who has contracted Lyme disease may have is a circular rash surrounding the spot where the bite happened.

The rash normally appears between three and 30 days after the bite. The rash may be followed by symptoms like fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and swollen lymph nodes.

If left untreated, the disease can progress to a second phase, which can last several months. Symptoms in the second phase include migraines, weakness, multiple skin rashes, painful or stiff joints, abnormal heartbeat and extreme fatigue.

The disease is normally easy to treat with antibiotics in its early stages. However, if Lyme disease is left too long before treatment, people may be forced to cope with several rounds of antibiotics.