Ticks & Lyme Disease

Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term care encourages residents to:

• COVER UP: Protect yourself when you are active outdoors; wear closed foot wear and long sleeves, tuck pants in socks and wear light coloured clothing so ticks are more easily noticed 
• USE BUG SPRAY: Follow the directions and use bug spray containing DEET or Icaridin on exposed skin to keep bugs away.
• CHECK YOURSELF & YOUR PETS: Do a tick check after being outdoors. Look in warm, hidden areas on the body including armpits, in and around the hair and ears, between the legs, and the back of the knees. Use a mirror or have someone else check the back of your body for you. Don’t forget the family pet; in and around the ears, on the belly and between the toes. A Tick Check Zone poster (PDF) provides ideas on where to look on a human and a dog.
• PROTECT YOUR PETS: Ask your veterinarian about options to help keep ticks off your pets.

The Don't Get TICKED Outdoors Poster (PDF) includes images of both a wood tick and a blacklegged tick. Females are usually larger than the males and the size of each tick depends on the stage of the lifecycle; eggs to larva to nymphs to full-size adults. 

Ticks can range in size from a poppy seed in the nymph stage to a pea when they are engorged (full of blood). Wood ticks are larger in size than the blacklegged ticks.

For example:

• a female wood tick is about 0.5 cm long
• a female blacklegged tick is about 0.3 cm long

Here is a photo of blacklegged ticks at different stages of feeding. The largest is filled with blood after feeding: 

Use these photos below to help you identify any ticks you might find:

Wood Ticks/ American Dog Ticks

Wood ticks OR American dog ticks are nuisance ticks

• Adult male - mottled brown-cream back/reddish brown legs
• Adult female - Brown body/cream cape/reddish brown legs

Blacklegged Ticks/ Deer Ticks

Blacklegged ticks or deer ticks have the potential to carry Lyme disease

• Adult male - all black
• Adult female - reddish-brown body/black cape and legs

Engorged Ticks

It is also possible that the tick might be engorged when you find it. This means it is filled with blood after feeding. The photo below is an engorged female wood tick, found on a dog.

Ticks bite, draw blood, enlarge and then drop off. The tick's mouth will be under the skin, but the belly will be sticking out. The TBDHU is no longer providing tick removal kits.  You can make your own with a pair of fine-tipped tweezers and an alcohol pad in a plastic bag and place this in your first aid kit. You can also include a copy of the Tick Identification Wallet Card (PDF).

To remove the tick, follow these steps:

• Do not use a lit match or cigarette, nail polish or nail polish remover, petroleum jelly, liquid soap or kerosene to remove the tick. 
• Ticks penetrate the skin with their mouthparts, draw blood, enlarge and then drop off. The feeding tick's mouth will be under the skin, but the abdomen will be sticking out.
• Use fine-tipped tweezers. Grab the head and mouth as close to the skin as possible.
• Pull up slowly until the tick is completely removed. 
• Do not twist or turn. 
• Put it in a clean container and mark the date and geographic location of where the tick was picked up. 
• Wash the area with soap and water OR apply rubbing alcohol.
• Monitor the bite. See a health care provider with concerns. Let them know any history of exposure to ticks (time spent outdoors), any rashes associated with the bite, travel history and possible dates when you might have been bitten.

If you would like to submit the tick for identification, please follow the directions below depending on where you reside:

Thunder Bay

• During the COVID-19 situation, ticks can be dropped off at the office located at 999 Balmoral Street from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Print and complete the Tick Intake Form and include it with your tick submission.  You can deposit the tick in the box located in the front foyer of the building.
• If you do not have a printer, please be prepared to provide the information required when you visit the office.

District Offices outside of Thunder Bay

•  Please call your nearest Health Unit office in the district and follow the instructions provided.

The TBDHU monitors the tick population through:

• Passive Tick Collection: Members of the public can bring ticks into the TBDHU (including District offices) for identification.
• Active Tick Collection: The TBDHU does “tick dragging” in locations where two or more blacklegged ticks have been found by the public.