Lyme disease on the rise in Canada

If not diagnosed and left untreated, the symptoms of Lyme disease will progress from flu-like lethargy to severe heart and neurological damage. If treated with antibiotics, the normal prescription for Lyme disease, this disease is treatable with modern techniques, but many times this debilitating disease is misdiagnosed as something else and left untreated, in which case the complications associated with Lyme disease increase.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) usually records less than 60 cases a year of Lyme disease in a country with upwards of 30 million souls, but acknowledged in a 2008 report on Lyme disease in Canada that a large percentage of cases of Lyme disease probably go unreported or are mistakenly recorded as something else. The British Columbia based Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation argues that the real figure is more like 2,000 cases of Lyme disease each year, which they base in part on statistics from the U.S. that show cases in the United States have doubled in number since 1991 to more than 20,000 a year. The PHAC is currently working with the provinces and Canadian government to require doctors to make a report of all cases of Lyme disease they treat each year.

The Lyme causing bacteria (Borrelia burgdoferi) are transmitted primarily by two species: the blacklegged tick, which are most prevalent in parts of Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, but their range has been reported lately by ecologists to be increasing and they can currently be found across the geological regions of Canada.

Prevention is the best cure for most diseases and Lyme disease is no different. To help, wear long sleeved shirts and tuck pants into socks when in blacklegged tick infected areas, and use DEET-based insect repellent – containing up to 30 percent DEET for adults; 10 percent for children six months to 12 years of age; and don’t give infants under six months any as it can cause additional medical concerns.