Deer Examined for Ticks

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Deer hunters in the Lunenburg County area are being asked to help track blacklegged ticks -- which can carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

From Friday, Oct. 27, to Wednesday, Nov. 1, officials from the Department of Natural Resources and the Public Health Agency of Canada will be available to examine hunter-killed deer for ticks. The examinations will be held at the Irving gas station parking lot on Victoria Road in Lunenburg from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Lyme disease is an infection caused by a bite from an infected tick. Only blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks) carry the disease. Blacklegged ticks are not common in all areas of the province.

There have been eight confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Nova Scotia since 2002. All eight individuals live in or regularly visit the Lunenburg area where Lyme disease is known to be established.

The Department of Natural Resources and the Public Health Agency of Canada have been studying blacklegged ticks in Nova Scotia since 2001. They have found established populations in the Lunenburg area and in the Admiral's Cove Park area of Bedford as well as the Moose Harbour/Mersey Point area, near Liverpool.

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FOR BROADCAST USE:

      Public health and natural resources officials are asking

deer hunters in the Lunenburg County area to help them track

blacklegged ticks. The ticks, sometimes known as deer ticks, can

carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

     Officials will be at the Irving gas station parking lot on

Victoria Road in Lunenburg from 8 A-M to 9 P-M Friday (October

27th) through Wednesday (November 1st) to examine recently

killed deer for ticks.

     Lyme disease is an infection caused by a bite from an

infected tick. Only blacklegged ticks carry the disease.

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Media Contact: Bretton Loney
              Health Promotion and Protection
              902-424-6527
              E-mail: loneybm@gov.ns.ca