Creeping north: Why ticks and Lyme disease are on the rise in N.B.

Sam Farley · CBC News

· Posted: May 07, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

This communicative whitethorn marque you squirm, but if you program to bask the outdoors this summer, you might privation to work on.

Ticks are continuing to determination northbound — and that includes New Brunswick.

Although ticks are already good established in southern New Brunswick, they've started to determination into northern areas of the province, said Rebecca Jensen, a molecular microbiology technician astatine Research Productivity Council, the province's probe installation successful Fredericton. 

"As you know, clime alteration is happening, temperatures are warming up and the situation is becoming much and much suitable for ticks to beryllium capable to reproduce and survive."

Jensen tests ticks for the bacteria they tin walk to humans that causes Lyme disease. 

Ticks are recovered successful the writer and tin beryllium picked up by cervid oregon household pets. 

If you bash find a tick connected a person, Jensen said, you should region it carefully, and marque definite you get the afloat body, including the head. The Research and Productivity Council offers peculiar tick removal devices that radical tin travel prime up, she added. 

"And past we privation you to enactment it successful a clean, adust container, similar a Ziploc container oregon a small tiny Tupperware instrumentality and bring it close to us," she said, truthful that it tin beryllium tested. 

WATCH |  'Once we get your tick … we volition extract the DNA from it'

"So erstwhile we get your tick, what we'll bash is we volition extract the DNA from it. Once we person extracted DNA, we volition tally what's called a PCR test."

The PCR trial allows the laboratory to work the DNA from the tick to spot if the bacteria are present. The laboratory tin usually instrumentality results wrong 3 concern days.

Jensen said it's important to enactment that her laboratory lone tests for the bacteria that causes Lyme, not the illness itself, truthful she recommends radical consult a doc oregon a veterinarian for their favored if the trial comes backmost positive. 

Jensen said radical volition usually announcement a tick connected them due to the fact that they get "quite large" erstwhile they're afloat of blood. 

Ticks are conscionable starting to travel retired astatine this clip of year, Jensen said, truthful radical should beryllium cautious going successful agelong writer if they're not wearing agelong pants and socks. 

"I would beryllium checking your dogs each clip you bring them wrong to marque definite that they don't person a tick connected them and besides treating your pets for ticks."

But determination is immoderate bully news.

Only astir 5 to 10 per cent of the ticks checked astatine the laboratory successful Fredericton trial affirmative for the bacteria. 

A 2023 study from New Brunswick Public Health cited a "dramatic increase" successful ticks successful the province. That twelvemonth determination were 100 cases of Lyme illness here, which is up from an mean of 34 yearly cases successful the erstwhile 5 years. 

The study said 92 retired of the 100 cases successful 2023 were successful wellness portion 2, which is confederate New Brunswick astir Saint John. Thirty-five of the cases were successful radical implicit 65 years old.