Crumbly Acres action

That was a day of rain. On and off. A day of frustration. We wrestled with Canada Revenue the other day. This multifactor stuff protect us, by my goodness, when you are locked out and lose access it drives one up the wall. 

 My Poison ivy – again boil is getting better. My ointment is doing its job. No more itchies.

Joe Brian had an issue with a rash under his armpit. It was where he had the rash the last time he got Lyme Disease. [Joe Brian is under the weather! June, 2024] The doctor was going to try fit him in, but left the office prior to staff phoning to let Joe know. Next option was to go into the pharmacist. Ontario changed the Scope of Practice for pharmacists. There is a list of things they can identify and prescribe for. It is so much easier. He took a Doxycycline pill and we will watch him to see how he is.

Ticks have slowed down, but they are out there. 

The trailcams continue to amuse me. It's been a week between this and that.

Butch is on food hunts.

   

 The quick red fox has been a regular. I think we are just on his regular trail! 

   

 Soon Fred will go down for the winter. In the meantime, I admire his balancing act on the fencing. 

 

OPP, Lyme Disease, Bank Fraud, 🐭

Thanks for your well wishes. Joe Brian is on Doxycycline for a month. He is sleeping a little better, his sweats and chills aren't waking him up. He is napping and resting. I'm ordering groceries online these days!

When we went into town Tuesday, June 25th, to get JB's Lyme Disease diagnosis, we noticed something going on in town. I counted two ambulances, a fire truck, tow truck, and several OPP cars, lights flashing.

Perth incident from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Online, I found out what happened! TEN collisions, both deer and tourists are on the move! School is out, and it is a long weekend in Canada. 

“One car in the lane accelerated in reverse causing a crash,” the release states, causing two vehicles to sustain enough damage that they had to be towed from the scene."

👮  🚓   🚔 👮  🚓   🚔 👮  🚓   🚔 👮  🚓   🚔

I came in from working on my fish tank. I managed to work on it some, then decided to tip it over. That was easier, in a way. I have a new method of attack! (I'm not confident...😜)

The Amaryllis is looking good. The hummingbirds like the Goldfish Plant beside it. Those sweet little orange blossoms...

 

🐭 Sitting in the living room I heard a deer mouse squeaking. Seriously! Looking down the hall I could see Nutmeg. The sound was coming from Nutmeg's mouth. I went to see her and she ran downstairs, releasing Mousie again. It was behind the DVD dresser. I ran the fish net under neath and the mouse ran behind the elliptical machine. I gave up. Nutmeg was on it.

Back upstairs to get dressed for my bank appointment, I heard something in the hall. She'd brought her mouse back upstairs and dropped it in the foyer, under the net. Grabbing the net, I caught it and released it outside.

💰There is good news/bad news about our fraud incident. While they said they will reimburse us, after the fraud department called us, they froze our old accounts. Nothing in or out. I had to go into town to close my old account and create a new one. JB still isn't healthy enough to go tripping into town, our joint accounts will have to wait until next week. 

🕷Today's major project is to go in to the Vet and get anti-tick goop for the cats. They are due for a new dose. We woke to 7 ℃, with a shock. I shall bundle up!

I hope we have a quiet long weekend! 🍀

Joe Brian is under the weather!

 Poor JB is suffering. It began last Thursday night. Day and night sweats, chills as well, headaches, fatigue, stomach pains, rash under one armpit, etc. Two naps a day. I had to do his laundry for him as he was soaking 3 shirts a day. 

Monday, I booked an appointment with the doctor for Tuesday at 4. Trish called Tuesday just before noon and offered two appointments that afternoon as they had a cancellation. I told Trish I'd best pop a bra on, get dressed, and hustle him in! We headed in for 1:30. 

Into the doctor. Turns out he has Lyme Disease. The rash under one armpit is the Bull's Eye rash.  I dropped him off at the Lab for a blood test to confirm it and went back to the drug store for the drugs. By the time I returned to the Lab he was just done. Off we went home. He has Doxycycline pills for a month. Depending on whether it kills the bacteria, we go back in a month and he may get another 2 weeks of drugs. 

🕷Tick Data

There are lots of way to prevent tick bites. The big trick is to get them off ASAP with tweezers if they choose you as a host. Sadly, when my lawn tractor pooched out on me, I got behind in trimming the grasses beside where JB walks. He had a tick bite Oct. 29, 2023, and the pharmacist gave him the Doxycycline for it. He was good then. We'll hope for the best. Still chills overnight. 

2018 harvest

You can see that our tick count over the years is reducing. It just takes one, however. It was 2017 when they released the prevention for cats, Bravecto. You put it on the back of their necks. Works like a charm. In the doctor's office I suggested we slap some on the back of Joe's neck. 

They're back: Ticks

Poor Dorah!

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month however, they are back up and running, as always, in the fall.



The ticks had slowed down in the summer heat. They are back. Daisy has brought one home every day for three days. We just grab a piece of tape, and stick it on, lifting the tick away.

In 2014 there were 145 confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in Ontario, 628 in Canada in 2013. 
It is best, of course, to remove them before they become attached and engorged. Lots of neighbours have been successfully treated for Lyme Disease.

We use tweezers to remove them if they are NOT attached, including the proboscis.

2015

I've been keeping specific statistics of them for two years. In 2015, TOTAL 72, and we have another 2 months to go! In 2014, we harvested 78, but that went right up to November, when we must have had snow and frost. In 2013, TOTAL 89.

2014

2013

Lyme disease numbers ticking upwardIn the past five years, reported cases of Lyme disease in Canada have jumped nearly 400 %, increasing to 628 in 2013 from 128 in 2009, according to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Lyme disease resources :

• Lyme Disease : Frequently Asked Questions
• Health Canada, It's Your Health: Lyme Disease
• Public Health Agency of Canada: Ticks and Lyme Disease
• Healthy Canadians: Lyme Disease
• Canada Communicable Disease Report
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.A)

A tick survey in Huron County turned up three blacklegged ticks with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Huron County Public Health Inspector Keshia Hackett says in all, 69 of the 170 ticks collected were of the blacklegged variety.

Tick count 2014 and Lyme Disease

Swollen tick, engorged with blood,
taped to a piece of paper!

Yes, I've been tracking the ticks the cats bring in. They are fairly easy to spot on the girls, who have white fur. This latest one was on Daisy's neck, and it was hugely engorged. Usually I catch them before they are engorged and remove them with the fine-nose tweezers. You can read my posts on how to remove them here. (Just don't put anything on them. They could regurgitate the bacteria.)

How to remove a tick from a pet

I used the handy pointy tweezers, you can see the photo of them below.

Pointy tweezers, 2 ticks.
One engorged, the other not.

The tick counts for 2014 have totaled 52 this year. Compare this to the 89 we counted last year. This is a good thing. We had a long, cold winter and I hope it killed some of them off. I have no idea what kind of ticks they are, we just assume that they need to be removed.

Climate Change has had an impact on this disease. They are able to survive our cold climate as it is warming up.

In 2005 researcher Nicholas Ogden wrote that the geographic range of the Lyme-carrying tick could expand northward due to climate change in this century.

Ixodes scapularis, the blacklegged tick, is the main vector in eastern and central North America and I. pacificus, the western blacklegged tick, is the main vector in the west. Both tick species are 

About half this year,
after a long, hard winter.

indiscriminate in their choice of host and will feed on humans when the opportunity arises, thus potentially transmitting infections of wildlife to humans.

There has been some ignorance, mostly on the part of physicians, who have denied the symptoms of Lyme Disease. This year, the health agencies have been celebrating a lower rate of infection, but this is simply the result of fewer ticks, I believe. It will be easy for their numbers to bounce back in a less severe winter.

The Green Party has demanded a National Lyme Disease Strategy, Lyme borreliosis. This is laudable, but I'm not sure it will make a difference. Each province and territory has its own healthcare system, with transfer payments and Canada's Public Health Agency having a hard time whipping some provinces into shape.

For years, in our region of southeastern Ontario, physicians have ignored the symptoms of Lyme Disease, and have attributed them to others diseases like Lupus or Fibromyalgia. This has changed as those who work outdoors have succumbed to Lyme Disease. Climate change is just one of the factors, since both tick species are able to complete their life cycles in our short summers. Habitat suitability, host abundance and dispersal by hosts, are the other three factors.

Symptoms

For the most part, it is the physicians who must be aware of the symptoms.

fatigue

fever or chills

Old Lyme, Connecticut

headache

spasms, or weakness

numbness or tingling

swollen lymph nodes

skin rash

cognitive dysfunction (brain fog) or dizzy

nervous system disorders

arthritis/arthritic symptoms (muscle and joint pain)

abnormal heartbeat

Those afflicted with the disease have learned to self-advocate. In the USA, in 1991 they had <10,000 reported cases. By 2013 they had reported 27,000 confirmed cases. This is the crux of the issue. Local agencies aren't testing for it anymore, they tell us not to bother sending ticks in, since they know the bacteria is in eastern Canada.

In 2013, Canada reported 500 cases. By 2020 the Public Health Agency of Canada predicts that we will have 10,000 cases. (The Rising Challenge of Lyme Borreliosis in Canada)
Here is the tick I pulled off of Daisy the other day. It was on her neck, fully engorged.

Total 89 ticks in 2013

Lyme disease surges north, and Canada moves out of denial — The Daily Climate

WWW.DAILYCLIMATE.ORG

Vett Lloyd was a biologist studying cancer genetics when she caught a disease Canadian public health officials said she wouldn't likely catch in Canada. It changed her life. Photo courtesy Vett Lloyd.

But officials told her not to worry, Lloyd said. Lyme disease was exceedingly rare in the forested maritime province northeast of Maine. The tick was tossed untested. The next year brought agony: Fatigue, fevers that would come and go, aching joints, and finally, trouble lifting her arms or walking. 

Figure 2. Ixodes scapularis ticks
collected in passive surveillance in eastern Canada

The Rising Challenge of Lyme Borreliosis in Canada (2008 report)

Presents the geographic distribution of endemic areas in Canada: incident rate in Canada and the US, and discussion of linkage of diagnosis, ecology, and geographic distribution.

2008 data

Tick season requires vigilance - but I think we're done!

They are wee

I think tick season is over this year. They've stopped appearing on cats.

Yes, the feds, with a bill presented by Green Leader Elizabeth May, has passed. Good for her. An amazing achievement for her, as a private member. She must have done extensive lobbying. I must admit that several years ago, I had US-based lobbyists and advocates sending me information about Lyme Disease. It was relatively rare in Canada at that point. In addition, we do not have to fight medical  insurers to pay for medical care.


Bill C-442, An Act respecting a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease, was introduced by Elizabeth May in 2012. All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo , provided by the Library of Parliament. You can also read the

tick seeking a blood meal
in order to reproduce

Bill C - | openparliament.ca

This enactment requires the Minister of Health to convene a conference with the provincial and territorial ministers responsible for health and with representatives of the medical community and patients’ groups for the purpose of developing a comprehensive federal framework to address the challenges of the recognition and timely diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.
Over the past two years, May has presented many heart-rending stories of people affected by the disease. These include Saltspring Island’s Terri Bibby, who was not properly diagnosed and faced years of medical problems and bills.

Canada now needs to have a strategy for managing Lyme Disease. I have long held the belief that education and awareness is the key. When I went into our rural ER, suffering from poison ivy rash, the nurse diagnosed it, but the doctors did not. This is often the case, methinks!

An engorged tick,
removed from a cat

The fault lies with the medical establishment, which fails to properly diagnose and treat victims. As with many unusual diseases, it is up to the individual to self-advocate. This is hard when you are suffering.

You can read about one person's story here:

TOUCHED BY LYME:

The difference between “normal tired” and “too tired to breathe”

That said, prevention is the key. Hubby had an engorged tick on the back of his knee. He removed it properly, since we've both been taking them off of the cats this year and last. They were infrequent in 2012, the year of the drought. Last year we removed over 86 ticks from pets.
Here is this year's stats, so far. They began mid-April, and continue...

Total 39 - way down from 86+ last year

This is an amazing video. This is the proper way to remove a tick.

You MUST remove the proboscis, the mouth part where they suck your blood.

DO NOT pour anything on it, as that will cause it to regurgitate its stomach contents into its victim, which is where the bacterium lives.

University of Manitoba expert, Kateryn Rochon.

Here is more information about the black-legged tick, which carries Lyme Disease.

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month

Tiny, microscopic parasite

I've been doing some research on Lyme disease. Specifically, it is the Borrelia burgdorferi infection that gives mammals this diseases. Being a zoonosis, it is a disease that results from a parasite (black-legged ticks) that passes Borrelia burgdorferi on from its gut to pets and humans.

Symptoms of the disease (healthunit.org)

•  may include bulls eye rash, fever, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain. 
• These may disappear within 10 days, but if left untreated, Lyme disease can progress and affect the nervous system, joints and the heart.
• Treatments, they now realize, may require more than the 30 days.

Ticks live on many hosts

There is some interesting research on it. Some research is better than others.  On one island study done on a Maine island (1.), they determined that since they didn't have mice, that it was passed on by Norway Rats. Norway rats were heavily infested with ticks, and over 60% of ticks contained spirochetes (the bacterium).

In Lanark County they blame the deer that carry the ticks. Studies show that rats, chipmunks, and all sorts of rodents have it. 

For the most part, most of our pets are able to fight off the disease, as do people, they think. 

The prevalence of antibody to B. burgdorferi was 23% in dogs and cats; 4% of the Maine island residents, meaning they fought the infection. [J Infect Dis. (1993) 168 (3): 687-691. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.3.687]

In another study:

tick –hasn't fed yet

Chipmunks And Shrews, Not Just Mice, Harbor Lyme Disease(2.)

• According to the study, white-footed mice account for about 25% of infected ticks.
• "Short-tailed shrews and masked shrews were responsible for 25% each, and chipmunks for as much as 13 percent."

I truly wonder how they study this, though.
I went out at 3 a.m., to fetch a cat in. When I awake at 7 a.m., just a few hours later, I had a tick embedded in my right arm!

Embedded tick

Lyme Disease
–often confused with other
medical issues

Macleans magazine featured an article on this subject: The Truth About Lyme Disease–
Lyme disease can masquerade as MS, ALS, even dementia, and its numbers are growing. So why is Canada lagging behind in treating it?
Truthfully, I think the medical profession has to realize what they are dealing with, and how many people are being infected. Some need more than the one month of treatment.

Compare the tick size to a ball-point pen

  Referenced Journal Articles

1. Norway Rats as Reservoir Hosts for Lyme Disease Spirochetes on Monhegan Island, Maine. J Infect Dis. (1993) 168 (3): 687-691. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.3.687

This tick I pulled off the cat
with tweezers

2. Chipmunks And Shrews, Not Just Mice, Harbor Lyme Disease
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, is transmitted to humans by infected, blacklegged ticks. The ticks, infected as larvae during their first meal — the blood of a vertebrate — are middle men.

University of Pennsylvania. (2007, December 6). Chipmunks And Shrews, Not Just Mice, Harbor Lyme Disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 19, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071129183745.htm

Book:

Ending Denial – The Lyme Disease Epidemic – A Canadian Public Health Disaster  – A Canadian Public Health Disaster, edited by Helke Ferrie, a non-profit joint project by Kos Publishing Inc and the Lyme Action Group: $ 30 per copy, 50% discount for 5 or more copies plus postage. For orders call 519-927-1049 or FAX 519-927-9542.

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month(PDF)

healthunit.org

How Patients, Doctors, Researchers, and Politicians are Trying to Awaken Canadian Health Authorities to the Reality of This Emerging Epidemic

Tick Submission Forms

• Submission Form for Tick Identification (Health Canada)

Resources

• Insect Repellents - It's Your Health
• Ticks & Lyme Disease Pamphlet
• Ticks & Lyme Disease Poster

- See more.

Websites

It's these legs that let the tick crawl through fur
and hang on for hours.

• www.LymeActionGroup.blogspot.com for information on this book and Lyme politics in Canada

• www.CanLyme.com, tel. 250-768-0978

• www.ILADS.org to find a Lyme-literate doctor in North America

• www.lymediseaseassociation.org for information on all matters concerning Lyme disease www.lymeontario.org, patient support specific to Ontario

• For the 2008 documentary film, Under Our Skin, contact www.underourskin.com

• For reliable, verified testing for Lyme disease: www.igenixinc.com or call 1-800-538-9820

The first tick has eaten, and is engorged. The others, I harvested off of the cats. Once they die their legs fold under.

You can compare their size to the straight pin. There are many varieties of ticks. Your best bet is to be vigilant, check you, your family, and your pets. I'l do a post about that next!