Prevent Lyme Disease – Ottawa Public Health advisory
Lyme Disease Advisory
Ottawa Public Heath encourages residents to review their Lyme disease program to safely enjoy outdoor spaces. Below is the OPH Lyme Tick Factsheet. The councillor’s office has a limited number of tick keys available for distribution as needed.
Key messages for the prevention of Lyme disease continue to be:
- Applying an approved insect repellent containing DEET or icaridin
- Wearing long pants and tucking them into your socks
- Doing a tick check on yourself, your children and pets
- Checking your pet daily for ticks, especially if it spends time in wooded or overgrown areas
- Removing ticks as soon as possible. If you find a tick on your body, using fine-pointed tweezers, grasp the tick’s head as close to the skin as possible and pull slowly until the tick is removed. Do not twist or rotate the tick. Do not use a match, lotion or anything else on the tick.
- Seeing your doctor if a tick has been attached for 24 or more hours or if it appears partially or fully engorged or if you are not sure. Also see your doctor if you develop a fever and other symptoms of Lyme disease (see OPH’s website at the link below) within 32 days of having had a tick attached.
Residents may also contact Ottawa Public Health via www.ottawapublichealth.ca/lymedisease or call OPH at 613-580-6744 with any concerns.
An article for more information: Why Is Lyme Disease So Hard to Understand?
https://www.theatlantic.com/