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Check yourself or someone else: 2026 is the summer of ticks<\/p>\n
Ticks have been spreading across Canada as the climate changes, and southern Ontario has seen a dramatic increase in several species of ticks, The Narwhal<\/a> reports. Unfun fact: This province has 44 species in total, according to Public Health Ontario<\/a>. But only one, the blacklegged tick, carries Lyme disease (more on that in a minute).<\/p>\n Ticks have been on the rise in Canada for the better part of the last decade, Manisha Kulkarni, a professor in University of Ottawa\u2019s School of Epidemiology and Public Health, says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re really seeing is the result of this multi-year trend of tick population expansion in North America,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re really seeing those populations establishing in more regions in southern parts of Canada, including in Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n Key TakeawaysTick populations are spreading in Ontario, increasing the risk of Lyme disease.Of the 44 varieties of ticks found in the province, only one \u2014 blacklegged ticks \u2014 carry Lyme, but they make up more than half of all ticks here.Experts say people need to recognize the risk of ticks and Lyme in the outdoors, and check themselves and others.With warmer weather, ticks in Ontario are spreading<\/p>\n There are a few factors encouraging the tick\u2019s northward march, Kulkarni says, but \u201cone of the main drivers is climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not seeing as cold winters that would normally prevent them from surviving and reproducing, so they\u2019re able to survive in more regions,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n That longer warm season allows more time for ticks to find hosts \u2014 like people \u2014 to feed on, and to reproduce. As a result, every year populations establish in new areas that now have desirable conditions for ticks.<\/p>\n The latest map from Ontario Public Health<\/a> shows populations of blacklegged ticks as far north as Thunder Bay and Kenora, throughout the Ottawa Valley and in Owen Sound, on Lake Huron.<\/p>\n While Ontario experienced some bitingly cold temperatures in Ontario this winter, Kulkarni says, \u201cWe also had lots of snow, which is a great insulator.\u201d Ticks burrow down in the leaf litter, blanketed by snow, and stay cozy even when most are complaining about a stretch of -30 C (-22 F) days.<\/p>\n So depending on where you live, it might be time to draw the blinds, strip down \u2026 and turn on the lights.<\/p>\n How to check for ticks (or stop them before they get to you)<\/p>\n How exactly should you check yourself and loved ones for ticks? Cover as much surface area as possible, according to Health Canada<\/a>. Check your chest and back, and in your hair \u2014 and don\u2019t forget the crevices: armpits (and kneepits), belly button and between your toes. Ticks also have a habit of going for the groin, unfortunately.<\/p>\n To prevent ticks from reaching your skin in the first place, Health Canada suggests<\/a> closed-toed shoes, long sleeves and pants \u2014 with your shirt tucked into your pants and your pants tucked into your socks. Ten minutes in a hot dryer will take care of any that hitched a ride on your clothes.<\/p>\n Sticking to cleared paths and trails helps, too.<\/p>\n And there may be ways to keep ticks away, more broadly, from outdoor spaces humans like to frequent. Kulkarni\u2019s team at University of Ottawa recently released a study<\/a> that found spreading wood chips at the edges of gardens and trails where ticks are prevalent effectively reduced the number that came looking for blood.<\/p>\n How did they test that? Dragging a piece of flannel material across the ground before and after wood chips were laid to see how many latched on. It really tells you something about how easily ticks attach.<\/p>\n Why do so many Canadian musicians have Lyme disease? Blame the deer<\/p>\n As ticks take on new territory, their presence isn\u2019t just creepy and unwelcome. It\u2019s actually a public health risk: Ask Justin Bieber<\/a>, Avril Lavigne<\/a> or Shania Twain<\/a>.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve all publicly announced their diagnoses of the disease that, if left untreated, can cause neurological and cardiac issues, as well as arthritis.<\/p>\n Some areas of the country and our province, particularly around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, have a higher concentration of ticks carrying bacteria that cause Lyme disease<\/a>. Though it\u2019s the most common disease people get from ticks, Lyme isn\u2019t the only one<\/a> they carry. And while not all types of ticks can pass on Lyme disease, more than half of the ticks found in Ontario are of the blacklegged variety that can, according to Public Health Ontario\u2019s recent report.<\/p>\n How does it happen? After mating on the backs of deer, the female blacklegged tick drops to the ground and, in the spring, lays eggs among the leaf litter, Kulkarni explains. Those eggs hatch into larvae, which quickly go looking for their first drink of blood. Down among the leaves, that\u2019s usually from a small animal like a mouse or bird. If that animal is infected with the bacteria that causes Lyme, the tick takes on the infection. When it\u2019s larger and more active, in the nymphal stage, the tick will find a bigger animal or human to feed on, and pass that infection on to them. As they mature into adults, white-tailed deer, dogs and humans are all on the menu.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s several points in the cycle where humans are susceptible, but that tends to be during the nymphal peak of activity, in kind of the late spring and summer months, and then the adults, which are in the early spring and in the fall,\u201d Kulkarni says.<\/p>\n For a general rule of where there might be a risk of ticks, consider if it\u2019s a place populated by white-tailed deer, Kulkarni says.<\/p>\n But what do you do if you find one?<\/p>\n Across Canada, diagnoses of Lyme disease have skyrocketed from 104 cases in 2009 to a preliminary count of 7,105 cases in 2025, though the increase is likely due to awareness and increased testing, as well as a rise in cases. So far this year in Ontario, 236 cases have been identified by Public Health Ontario<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you can remove the tick within a day, you can spare yourself a lot of trouble \u2014 it typically takes more than 24 hours after it attaches for the tick to pass on the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Properly removing it means pulling the tick out straight, rather than twisting or bending, which risks leaving some of its mouthparts (unfortunately, that is the proper anatomical term) embedded.<\/p>\n Next up? Keep the tick. Put it into a sealed container and take it to your doctor for testing. And if you can\u2019t wait to know whether you\u2019re holding a little blacklegged tick hostage \u2014 the kind that carries Lyme \u2014 you can also submit photos of the little offender<\/a> online, where it will be quickly identified by kind-hearted insect enthusiasts.<\/p>\n If you have been bit, or even suspect you may have been, look out for Lyme symptoms like a rash or fever, headache or joint pain, Kulkarni says. These can occur even without the most famous Lyme symptom: a bullseye rash around the bite. \u201cNot everybody actually gets the rash, so it\u2019s important to look out for those other symptoms,\u201d she says. If you have a summer fever, she adds, \u201cthat\u2019s a good indication you should get checked out for Lyme, especially if you\u2019ve been in an area where ticks are present.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not about being afraid to go outside, she adds, but equipping yourself with knowledge: both of the level of risk for ticks and Lyme wherever you\u2019re going (there\u2019s a map for that<\/a>) and how to properly remove one of it digs in (there are kits for that \u2014 and tweezers work, too).<\/p>\n Kulkarni likens the threat of ticks to another unpleasant natural hazard. \u201cThere are settings where we know there\u2019s poison ivy. People don\u2019t go off the trail because they might brush along it, and if they do get a rash, they know what to do, right?\u201d she says. \u201cTick bites can be a bit more serious than that, but it\u2019s the same concept: that being out in nature isn\u2019t without risks, but by knowing what the risks are and how to manage them, you can really reduce any potential impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n This story<\/a> was produced by The Narwhal<\/a> and reviewed and distributed by Stacker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Check yourself or someone else: 2026 is the summer of ticks Ticks have been spreading across Canada as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84,209180],"class_list":["post-770584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-thestacker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}