Tick-checks should be a year-round practice: experts

Experts warn, Lyme-disease carrying ticks are a concern all year round.

Gerry Cameron often walks his seven-year-old dog, Shadow, at Needham Park in Halifax. She’s on medication to repel ticks, but even in the winter, she still gets checked.

“We will check her, but in the winter, the coat is long so it’s much harder to see,” says Cameron.

According to Mount Allison University biology professor Vett Lloyd, tick-checks should be a year-round practice because our winters are no longer severe enough to kill them off.

Ideally, Lloyd says clear and cold is what’s needed.

“No snow, drop to -30 and stayed -30 for weeks, that would probably do it,” the professor says. “For the most part, they are really resilient. So, where there’s snow, they are down in the leaf litter and the snow is going to give them an extra layer of insulation so they’re going to be just fine. Where there’s no snow, they’ll be a bit more exposed to the cold air, but again, the leaf litter protects them.”

Ticks enter a dormant state when temperatures drop. However, the typical freeze-thaw cycles we tend to experience provides a suitable environment for ticks to survive the winter.

“They’re designed to tolerate freezing, so they have antifreezes in them, so glycols, and they also have cryoprotectants. What happens is as the temperatures drop they release these compounds into their bloodstream,” says zoologist, Andrew Hebda.

Some ticks can become active when temperatures are just above zero, meaning diligent checks are important for anyone who ventures into tick habitat.

“When people think ticks, they think lyme disease but it’s not just lyme disease anymore,” Lloyd says. “We are seeing more and more anaplasmosis. Nova Scotia is leading the pack there.”

Symptoms can range from fever and chills to organ failure and even death.

Professor Lloyd says it’s important to get out and enjoy winter, just do a thorough tick-check when you get home.

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