Ontario’s top doctor says the U-S has seen waves of three types of tick-borne illnesses follow cases of Lyme disease and expects the province will see the same trend.
Dr. Kieran Moore says there have been anecdotal reports and publications about anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus found in Ontario in recent years.
But he says officials need to start formally tracking them so the province can map the illnesses and advise Ontarians of the risks.
A new regulation requires health-care providers to report the illnesses to their local medical officers of health
This comes as reports of tick bites and tick-borne illnesses are higher than normal in Ontario as peak season begins for the bloodsucking bugs.
While not all ticks carry infectious agents, a bite can expose humans to an array of health concerns, including Lyme disease.
The site etick says more than 11-hundred sightings of blacklegged ticks have been reported so far this year, compared to just 120 over the same time period in 2019.
It says just over 600 of those were found on humans
Where you find ticks is also expanding.
Researcher Justin Wood says the range of black-legged ticks that carry the bacteria causing Lyme disease is growing in Canada.
He says more ticks are born each year and the number of ticks in Canada will continue to increase.
A federal report confirms his findings, saying the increase is in part due to changes in climate contributing to the abundance and geographic range of black-legged tick populations in central and Eastern Canada.