Surveillance of ticks in Canada: Infographic 2019

Organization: Public Health Agency of Canada

Date published: Dec 2022

Related links

• How to remove a tick
• Lyme disease risk areas
• Lyme disease
• Powassan virus disease
• Surveillance for Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus ticks and their associated pathogens in Canada, 2019

Highlights from the 2019 report on blacklegged and western blacklegged ticks.

The risk from tick bites

• Most blacklegged ticks are found in central and eastern Canada
• Western blacklegged ticks are found in British Columbia
• Ticks get infected by feeding on an infected animal or bird
• Infected ticks can bite humans or animals and can spread diseases like Lyme disease, or less commonly:
  • anaplasmosis
  • babesiosis
  • Powassan virus disease

Type of tick surveillance used

Passive and active surveillance methods were used to collect data on ticks in Canada.

Passive surveillance:

• Ticks collected from people or pets that healthcare professionals, veterinarians or the public submit voluntarily

Active surveillance:

• Ticks collected from their natural habitat using field study methods such as dragging a piece of fabric along the ground (drag sampling)

Findings from passive surveillance

• 10,549 ticks were submitted in 10 provinces. No ticks were collected from the territories
• Infected ticks were found in 8 provinces
• 9,858 blacklegged ticks were found
  • About 1 in 5 ticks carried the bacteria that causes Lyme disease
  • About 1 in 70 ticks carried the bacteria that causes anaplasmosis
  • About 1 in 750 ticks carried the parasite that causes babesiosis
• 691 western blacklegged ticks were found
  • About 1 in 333 ticks carried the bacteria that causes Lyme disease

Seasonality of ticks

• Most blacklegged ticks were submitted from April to July and October to November
• Most western blacklegged ticks were submitted from March to June

Findings from active surveillance

• 184 sites visited in 10 provinces. No ticks were collected from the territories
• 1,166 ticks collected in 7 provinces
• Infected ticks found in 4 provinces
• 1,156 blacklegged ticks were found
  • About 1 in 4 ticks carried the bacteria that causes Lyme disease
  • About 1 in 30 ticks carried the bacteria that causes anaplasmosis
  • About 1 in 180 ticks carried the bacteria that causes Borrelia miyamotoi disease
  • About 1 in 700 ticks carried the virus that causes Powassan virus disease
• None of the 10 western blacklegged ticks collected were infected

How to prevent and protect from tick bites

To protect yourself from tick exposure, you can:

• cover exposed skin
• use insect repellent with DEET or Icaridin
• remove ticks using clean, fine-point tweezers
• do a full body check for ticks after being outside

To reduce your environmental risk:

• clear leaf litter
• keep lawns maintained

To protect your pets:

• check your pet for ticks after being outside