Blacklegged ticks are very small. Adult blacklegged ticks are the size of a sesame seed. Young ticks, which are called nymphs, can be as small as a pinhead and very hard to see. For help with identification, ticks can be: 

• Brought to CK Public Health, Clinic Services during business hours for identification by a Public Health Inspector. 
• Photographed and submitted to etick.ca for identification. 

Early symptoms of Lyme disease appear 3 to 30 days after a bite by an infected blacklegged tick. Most people experience flu-like symptoms, including: 

• A rash at the site of the tick bite (sometimes shaped like a bullseye) 
• Fever 
• Chills 
• Headache 
• Muscle and joint pain 
• Swollen lymph nodes 

If Lyme disease is not treated, additional symptoms can appear months or even years later. These include: 

• Additional skin rashes 
• Severe headaches 
• Facial paralysis 
• Heart palpitations or irregular heartbeat 
• Dizziness or shortness of breath 
• Confusion, memory loss and inflammation of the brain or spinal cord 
• Shooting pains, numbness or tingling in hands and feet 
• Arthritis and severe joint pain and swelling 

See a health care provider immediately if you develop symptoms of Lyme disease after getting a tick bite. 

The best way to protect yourself from Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is to prevent tick bites. Here’s what you can do: 

• Wear bug spray with DEET or Icaridin when outdoors
• Wear long sleeves and pants 
• Avoid walking through long grass 
• Shower within two hours of spending time outdoors and check yourself for ticks 
• If you find a tick on your body, remove it quickly 

CK Public health does several things to monitor and prevent Lyme disease. These efforts include: 

• Actively collecting ticks in areas where we have reports of blacklegged ticks and sending those ticks for Lyme disease testing.  This is done to identify new areas where Lyme disease is a risk, in order to keep the public informed. 
• Identifying ticks that have been attached to people, in order to inform healthcare providers.

The best way to protect yourself from West Nile virus is to prevent mosquito breeding and protect yourself from bites. Here’s what you can do: 

• Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pant and socks. 
• Apply insect repellent containing DEET or Icaridin sparingly to exposed skin surfaces. 
• Stay indoors when mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn. 
• Clean birdbaths weekly. 
• Maintain ornamental ponds and aerate them or stock them with larvae-eating fish. 
• Cover or turn over toys and equipment that can hold standing water. 
• Drill holes in the bottoms of containers that cannot be removed. 
• Place screens over rain barrels. 
• Fill hollow tree stumps and rot holes that hold water with sand or dirt. 
• Do not allow water to collect on pool covers. 
• Clean and chlorinate swimming pools and hot tubs. 
• Empty wading pools when they are not in use. 
• Clean roof gutters and remove standing water from flat roofs. 
• Cut the grass and reduce excess vegetation where mosquitoes seek shelter during the day. 
• Report standing water on private property to CK Public Health. 

CK Public Health does several things to monitor and control West Nile virus, especially in heavily populated areas where the risk to humans is greatest. These efforts include: 

• Trapping mosquitoes each week in communities around Chatham-Kent during the spring/summer season.. Mosquitoes collected are identified and, when appropriate tested for West Nile virus. This helps us track West Nile virus locally and at the provincial level. 
• Coordinating the treatment of municipal catch basins with larvicide that prevents mosquitoes from breeding. Catch basins are particularly effective breeding locations for the type of mosquitoes that are the most common vector of West Nile virus. Around 10 000 catch basins are treated in Chatham-Kent each year. 
• Reducing breeding by enforcing the Chatham-Kent bylaw that prohibits standing water on private property between May 15 and September 30.  We do this by ensuring property owners remove standing water or maintain it in a way that prevents growth of mosquito larva.