It's Tick Season!
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If you get at tick please know that while you are WELCOME to come to our clinic for advice please know that the vast majority of cases do not need any special care.  Please see the attached clinical guideline that has been produced by public health.  

The main question we get as physicians is  "Do I need antibiotics to prevent Lyme Disease?"

Almost always the answer is "no".  First of all most ticks do not carry Lyme (Borrelia burdorferi).  Even if the tick is infected there is only a 1-3% risk of developing Lyme disease.  

When do we give preventative antibiotics?  You need to have ALL 4 of the following criteria to be considered for pills to prevent Lyme. If these criteria are not met, then adopt the watch and wait approach - if you get symptoms then come in and we will discuss and give course of treatment if indicated.

Criteria for antibiotics (all 4 must be present): 

1. Tick attached over 24 hours

2. Tick removed past 72 hours

3. No allergy or contraindication to Doxycycline

4. Tick was acquired in an area where we have documented a greater than 20%  prevalence of ticks infected with Lyme (Borrelia burdorferi)

- The ONLY LOCAL areas in our cachement that meet this criteria are the Rouge National Urban Park (which encompass areas of York Region, Durham Region and Toronto Region) and Morningside Park in Scarborough. 
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Learn more about ticks and tick bites HERE.