May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month.
One of the causes of Lyme disease is the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted through tick bites.
From 1991 to 2020, 132 human cases of Lyme disease were reported to Alberta Health. All of these cases had been acquired while travelling outside of the province.
Alberta Health Services says that microbiologists at Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) are increasingly analysing ticks found in the province for the presence of Lyme disease.
“We screen for ticks year-round, and we test select tick species for Lyme disease, which are mostly collected off companion animals and from the environment, but rarely from humans,” says Kinga Kowalewska-Grochowska, a medical microbiologist with APL’s Provincial Laboratory for Public Health and associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta.
APL screens hundreds of ticks throughout the year through Alberta’s Submit-a-Tick Program, which relies on voluntary submissions from Albertans. All submissions must first be screened by submitting a photograph of the tick using the eTick app or through the eTick website.
If you are concerned about a tick bite, AHS encourages you to visit your health care provider.
Lyme disease can be fatal unless treated by antibiotics.