Prince Edward Island veterinarians should not be worried about tick population growth this year more than any other, said Atlantic Veterinarian College associate professor Barbara Horney.
Recently Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have seen growth in the tick population. Health officials in New Brunswick have urged residents to educate themselves about Blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks) and Lyme disease.
People have been urged to check their pets and themselves for ticks after walks in wooded areas.
Ticks usually inhabit humid places such as grassy and wooded areas. They feed off the blood of living mammals, birds or reptiles and amphibians.
Horney said that as far as she knows, ticks haven't gotten a foothold on P.E.I.
"We've never seen anything but an adult on P.E.I. that we know of," said Horney. "The assumption is that it's migrating birds that are dropping the adults off."
Horney said one reason they believe the ticks aren't laying eggs on the Island is because their preferred host, the white tailed deer, isn't native to the province.
"Now that doesn't mean they can't use another small mammal like a fox or a coyote or some other dog," she said. "It might be some environment things, too."
Horney said there have been no comprehensive studies on tick populations.
"Nobody's really looked extensively so I can't say there aren't any endemic populations, but at this point we haven't identified any."
She said if someone should find a tick it can be brought to the Atlantic Veterinary College. They identify the tick in the diagnostics lab for free and then send it to Winnipeg for Lyme disease testing.
"We know that 10 to 20 per cent, sometimes a little higher, of the ticks we get submitted from P.E.I. carry Borrelia, which is the Lyme agent."
Heather Morrison, chief health officer for the department of Health and Wellness, said no one has received Lyme disease after being bitten by a tick on P.E.I.
"There have been a total of five cases in the last 15 years of people diagnosed with Lyme disease on P.E.I., but all of them had received their tick bites outside the province."
Morrison said the department sends out information to physicians on the Island on how to remove the ticks.
"You don't want to squeeze the head of it, you want to take it off very carefully," she said. "There's usually some blood work that is done if they are concerned it's Lyme disease as well as some antibiotics that are given."
