In this episode Dr Dan talked about ticks, tick bites and Lyme disease.

Most ticks in Alberta are not the kind that cause Lyme disease. A tick is not a tick is not a tick.

Most ticks in Alberta are dog ticks and cannot carry Lyme disease.  There is no breeding population of Lyme disease ticks in the province.

I went to a website that shall remain nameless. It said ‘Do you have chronic Lyme disease and any of these symptoms?.. Fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, twitching, memory loss, sleep disturbance, stomach upset. To me that sounds like the average Monday morning.

Unfortunately the symptoms of Lyme disease can be very vague and people have been taken advantage of and persuaded to part with large sums of money. Lyme is rare and chronic Lyme disease even more so. Do not trust overseas testing labs which are known to have quality control issues.

Lyme is more common among ticks in other provinces, including BC, especially around Vancouver Island, and Southern Manitoba, PEI.

The CDC is a reliable source of information about ticks, Lyme and other tick-borne illness and how to remove a tick

Information about the Alberta ‘Submit a Tick’ program can be found here