North Bay Parry Sound Health Unit to stop getting ticks tested for Lyme disease
Health unit encourages people to use an online service called eTick to identify ticks
Starting in January, the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit will stop accepting ticks from people trying to identify if they're at risk for Lyme disease.
Robert A-Muhong, the health unit's environmental health program manager, said ticks would be sent to a lab for testing, but was taking too long to get results back.
A-Muhong says the health unit will continue its general tick surveillance program, but if people want to know if a tick that bit them was carrying Lyme disease, they should try an online service called eTick instead.
eTick accepts photos of ticks, and experts with Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Que., will identify the species within 48 hours. Some species, like the blacklegged tick, are more likely to have Lyme disease.
But eTick does not test ticks at a lab to alert a person if that particular tick has Lyme disease.
If people don't have a smartphone or internet access to send a tick photo for identification, A-Muhong says they can call the health unit and someone will assist them.
"If there's no other alternatives, we may collect one [tick], you know, and send it to the lab for identification," he said.
Other health units in northeastern Ontario also encourage people to use the eTick service.
However, Public Health Sudbury and Districts says people can still bring a tick to one of their officers, and it will be sent to the Public Health Ontario Laboratory for identification.
The Porcupine Health Unit also encourages people to try eTick first, but can send a tick to a lab for identification.
On its website, Algoma Public Health says it can also identify ticks brought to its locations by members of the public by sending the parasite to a lab.
Ryan Peters, the program manager with the Timiskaming Health Unit, told CBC News in an email that his team encourages people to use eTick if they believe they were bitten by a tick.
Peters said "it's been quite some time" since they sent a tick to a lab for identification.
With files from Martha Dillman