If you’re heading into the woods this summer, it’s time to take Lyme disease seriously.

Cases of the illness continue to rise in southern Quebec; in the Monteregie alone, cases have grown four-fold in the last few years.

St. Lazare resident Karen Stokely knows the story well. She and her family headed out on a day trip a few weeks ago, and woke up the next day with a burning a sensation on her leg.

“I kept rubbing and thinking it was a mole that was just raised and was bothering me, so I kept rubbing and rubbing,” said Stokely. “Then eventually when I went to the washroom and I actually looked down, I saw little legs sticking out.”

Those legs belonged to a tick.

Stokely's husband pulled the tick out with a pair of tweezers, but within a few days she was developing a rash with the characteristic of Lyme disease.

“(The rash) was almost as big as my fist. It was red and it was starting to show the bulls-eye pattern that they look for,” she said.

Early symptoms include fever, headache, dizziness and the tell-tale rash.

If left untreated, symptoms can last months to years and include recurring arthritis, nervous system and/or neurological problems, numbness and/or paralysis. Although not common, fatalities from Lyme disease have been reported.

Ticks are small, ranging in size from a poppy seed to a pea, the Public Health Agency of Canada noted. The size of the tick varies depending on its age and whether it has fed recently.

Stokely believes she picked up the tick just across the Ontario border and carried it back home to Quebec.

First identified in the U.S., Lyme disease has been on a steady increase since it was first reported here in 2006. 

Last year, 142 cases of Lyme disease were reported in the province. Half – 76 total - were in the Monteregie.

“It's just the progression because of the climatic change. It's crossing the border,” said Dr. Alain Poirier, director of Monteregie Public Health.

Still, some Quebecers and even doctors may not be as aware of it, he said.  “I'm sure that not all the doctors are well aware of that disease.”

In an effort to spread awareness, the Monteregie Health Agency has been working to share information with local health professionals.

“For doctors we have specific tools to teach them about specific information, prevention and treatment,” said Poirier.

The goal is for health professionals across the province to now recognize and report cases.

“There's a campaign of information going on right now so that people would be much informed than they have been in the past,” said Dr. Richard Masse, director of Montreal Public Health.

Stokely said, however, she has heard of some people being told by their doctors not to worry about tick bites.

“They were (saying), ‘No, Lyme disease doesn't exist in Quebec. Just go home,” she said, adding that she elected to go to a hospital in Alexandria, Ont. just across the border, where a doctor prescribed antibiotics.

“They don't take any chances,” said Stokely. “As soon as they see the redness they will give you the antibiotic right away.”

Stokely has felt fine since, and urges others to watch for ticks and seek treatment if they’re suspected of contracting the illness.

For information on prevention, symptoms, treatment and more, click here.