Lyme disease: Surveillance

On this page

• Surveillance of Lyme disease in Canada
• Surveillance of human cases
• Surveillance of ticks
• Lyme disease risk areas
• Surveillance resources, reports and publications

Surveillance of Lyme disease in Canada

Canada does surveillance of Lyme disease to:

• keep track of the number of people infected with Lyme disease
• identify areas where tick populations may be emerging
• identify the areas where people are most at risk of getting Lyme disease

To get as much information as possible, we work with:

• provincial and territorial public health authorities
• researchers and academics

Surveillance of human cases

Human surveillance is based on voluntary reporting of Lyme disease cases by provincial and territorial public health authorities.

Human cases of Lyme disease in Canada

Between 2009 and 2022, provincial public health units have reported 17,080 human cases of Lyme disease across Canada.

Reported Lyme disease cases are from those who got the disease while in Canada or while abroad (travel related). The 2016 to 2022 Lyme disease cases are reported based on 2016 the Lyme disease case definition. There's under-reporting because some cases are undetected or unreported.

All 10 provinces voluntarily provided data over the 14-year period. Territories haven't reported any cases to the Public Health Agency of Canada since Lyme disease became nationally notifiable in 2009. This is because they haven't had any Lyme disease cases.

Nationally notifiable diseases are infectious diseases identified by the federal, provincial and territorial governments as priorities for surveillance. Provinces and territories report annual notifiable disease data to the federal government. This helps the Public Health Agency of Canada monitor trends within provinces and across the country.

Surveillance of ticks

Active tick surveillance uses field study methods to collect ticks from their natural habitat or from animals.

Passive tick surveillance uses ticks collected from people and pets that doctors, veterinarians or the public submit voluntarily. These ticks are submitted to local public health units or other agencies for species identification.

Lyme disease risk areas

Blacklegged ticks are spreading to new areas in Canada in part due to climate change. They can also spread by travelling on birds and deer. You can sometimes find blacklegged ticks in areas outside of where they're known to live.

You're most likely to encounter ticks during the spring, summer and fall. However, ticks can be active at any time of the year when the temperature is consistently above freezing. The best way to prevent Lyme disease is to protect yourself against tick bites. Always take precautions against tick bites when you're in wooded or grassy areas.

Using data from active and passive tick surveillance, the Public Health Agency of Canada identifies areas where:

• tick populations may be emerging
• people are most at risk of getting Lyme disease

Check if you're in a risk area. Enter the first 3 characters of your postal code or municipality in the filter field below.

Or use our interactive map with your postal code, municipality or province to check if you're in a risk area.

Lyme disease risk areas map

The following map displays areas where tick populations may be emerging and the areas where people are most at risk of getting Lyme disease.

Surveillance resources, reports and publications

• 2020

  • Tick surveillance in Canada: 2020 (infographic)

• 2019

  • Lyme disease surveillance in Canada: Preliminary annual report 2019
  • Lyme disease surveillance in Canada: Preliminary annual edition 2019 (infographic)
  • Surveillance of ticks and their pathogens in Canada, 2019
  • Surveillance of ticks and their pathogens in Canada: 2019 (infographic)
  • Surveillance for Lyme disease in Canada: 2009 to 2019
  • Lyme disease surveillance in Canada: 2009 to 2019 (infographic)

• 2018

  • Lyme disease surveillance report: Preliminary annual report 2018
  • Lyme disease surveillance in Canada: Preliminary annual edition 2018 (infographic)

Related links

• Lyme and other tick-borne diseases: International resources on surveillance