Key takeaways:
- The number of people infected in 2021 almost doubled compared to earlier.
- Cases of Lyme illness in Quebec’s Eastern Townships doubled in 2021 compared to earlier, and officials in the province are concerned.
Officials in Quebec’s Eastern Townships alert of a spike in ticks having Lyme disease, putting citizens and visitors at a high chance of exposure.
In 2021, the number of people infected with the illness in the province doubled compared to the year earlier — 387 the previous year compared to 157 in 2020 — and more than half of the individuals infected with Lyme sickness in the region contracted it in the Eastern Townships.
“This is a severe issue, and I think that the population must take it seriously,” stated Bromont Mayor Louis Villeneuve.
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“The tick is here; we have to live with it; we must be cautious.”
At a press conference held in Bromont on Thursday, public health officials said the infection is spreading rapidly, involving the provincial county municipality of le Granit and towns like Windsor and Val-des-Sources.
“These were villages that were not very affected before,” stated Dr. Geneviève Baron, a medical advisor for public health in the Eastern Townships and a Canadian Lyme Disease Research Network member.
Source – cbc.ca
