Mosquito.buzz Blog

For many Canadians, the end of April means warmer weather and NHL playoffs. For us at Mosquito.buzz, however, April showers bring tick encounters - forget about those flowers!

While ticks can be active all year round, risk of human exposure is greatest in the late spring and during the summer.  Once better weather hits, so do the ticks, and they will begin questing for their next blood meal as soon as they are ready. Unfortunately, this just happens to coincide with the start of our spring outdoor activities.

Right now, ticks across the country are gearing up for their first blood meal, which is required for them to stay alive and advance to the next stage of their life cycle. In order to combat tick encounters and the harmful diseases that they can potentially spread, we need to better understand their life cycles, from egg to adult stage. 

Read on to learn more about the life cycle of the tick.

Welcome to Tick Talk, ladies and gentleman; a weekly informational series on the life and times of our not-so favourite arachnid, the tick. From now until late-May, we will be writing about all things tick-related, with the goal of keeping you safe and informed for the upcoming spring/summer season! 

With Fall underway and temperatures dropping, it's almost time to say goodbye to ticks for the winter. Don't let the door hit you on the way out, I say!

But before that glorious day comes, we'll probably be seeing a whole lot more of them terrorizing our precious woods and gardens. Or, perhaps more accurately, what we think are a whole lot more of them. Let me explain.

Ticks are just another thing to worry about, right? Well, yes. But the more you know about them, the more equipped you'll be to prevent tick bites and not worry about them while enjoying yourself outside.

Here are 10 quick facts about these tiny terrors.

There are people out there who are scared of bears, sharks, alligators... my partner even has an irrational fear of horses. The bigger the beast, the scarier it is. That's usually how it goes.

But what about something you can't always see from a distance, that literally inflates with blood after puncturing a tiny hole in your skin? And what if, after piercing said hole, they can send a disease swimming through your bloodstream?

With both tick and Lyme Disease numbers on the rise, tick control is a growing concern for many Canadians. However another serious tick-borne disease is gaining momentum across North America.

Powassan Virus is more rare than Lyme Disease, yet it can bring on more serious symptoms, including brain inflammation. First discovered in 1958, a boy from Powassan, Ontario (near North Bay) became infected with the then-unknown virus, and later died.

Only 25 cases have been identified in Canada since then, and 75 in the US. However since 2006, at least 8 people have died after becoming infected. With tick populations growing and Powassan cases recently identified in Connecticut and Maine, it's becoming more of a concern as we approach warmer weather.

While Lyme disease takes more than 24 hours to be transmitted to the bloodstream, it can take Powassan only about 15 minutes. 

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in North America. The disease was first recognised in Connecticut in 1975, and is caused by a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infectious blacklegged tick.

Blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks) are widespread throughout Canada, due to tick larvae and nymphs attaching themselves to migratory birds. Bird-borne ticks thus create the possibility of infectious tick bites almost anywhere in Canada.

Yay - Spring is here! After a long, cold Winter, it's nice to finally spend some time outside. When the weather is so nice, what is there to worry about?

It's safe to say that you can go ahead and tick the box entitled 'ticks' on your list of 'Insects To Be Wary Of'.