MONTREAL -- Warm weather has arrived, and that means fun in the sun and a greater risk of tick bites that could have lasting consequences.
Two years ago, Barbara Jack was cleaning her Cowansville property when she suffered such a bite.
“It didn't hurt, I didn't feel a thing,” she said. “It was just there when I looked at my body when I was going to have a shower. It was like, 'Oh, what's that?'”
The next day, she spotted something lodged at the surface of her skin. She brushed the object off and saw it begin walking on her counter.
Jack headed to the emergency room, where she waited 10 hours to see a doctor. But pharmacist Jean-Marc Belanger said there's currently a better option.
“First place you should starting thinking about, especially if you know nothing about tick bites, is go see your pharmacist,” he said. “We now have basically all the training to assess your risk and guide you through the procedures.”
Belanger said the first step is removing the tick properly. If a bite sufferer lacks the tools, he said a pharmacist can help.
Once the bug is removed, a pharmacist can administer the antibiotic doxycycline, which can prevent Lyme disease. Around two per cent of people bitten by ticks can develop the disease.
“The tick itself is not necessarily the problem. It's a bacteria on the tick that gives you Lyme disease. So, basically, depending on how long the tick was on your skin and how long it bit you, you may or may not need a prevention for Lyme disease or you might need treatment,” said Belanger.
He noted that ticks are not only found in rural areas, but in metropolitan places like Montreal as well.
“The main animals that carry ticks are mice and deer and there's both in Montreal,” he said.
Health Canada recommends that people going out in wooded areas or tall grass use tick repellents containing Deet or icaridin and to wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, as well as socks and closed footwear. They further recommend sticking to cleared paths, bathing as soon as possible after being outdoors, doing a full body tick check and putting clothes in a dryer on high heat for at least 10 minutes.
