Citizen science project helps to identify, track ticks in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotians can now contribute to an online platform, that works to identify and monitor tick populations across the country. 

The citizen science project called eTick invites the public to submit photos of ticks for identification by a professional. The information is then logged on an interactive map, allowing users to view submissions by geographical area, species, date, or host type. 

Donna Lugar has Lyme disease, and is the Nova Scotia representative of the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation and founder of the Nova Scotia Lyme Support Group. She calls eTick a valuable tool.

“We know all of Nova Scotia is endemic, but it gives a better idea of the prevalence,” she tells News 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show. 

Since the program launched in Nova Scotia earlier this year, it has vetted 550 ticks in the province. More than 160 of those have been recognized as blacklegged ticks, which are the only ticks known to transmit Lyme disease. 

While eTick doesn't test ticks, it does help properly identify the species and so people who were bitten know if they are at risk of Lyme disease. 

Lugar would like to see eTick expand its focus to include other tick-borne illnesses, saying it's important to prevent all tick bites.

“Just because it's a dog tick and it may not be carrying Lyme disease, it could be carrying something else,” she says. “You really have to do everything you can to make sure ticks – of any kind – don't get on you.”

Lugar says tick prevention and awareness campaigns have been slowed this year by COVID-19. 

“I understand COVID-19 has taken precedent but it shouldn't totally eliminate all the other information that should be out there as well,” she says. 

Lugar was diagnosed with Lyme in 2011, after experiencing about 44 symptoms impacting multiple systems of her body. 

ETick.ca is free to use, and is also available as a mobile app.