The local public health is no longer doing a surveillance study on black-legged ticks in this area, but officials say they are still out there.
Health Inspector with Hastings Prince Edward Public Health, Aptie Sookoo, tells Quinte News his department is no longer involved with a study involving a laboratory in Winnipeg, checking on the ticks in the Quinte area.
Sookoo points out the ticks, a source of Lyme Disease, are still active in the area but are not being trapped for scientific purposes.
He also noted that the last surveillance testing in 2019 showed 23% of the black-legged ticks collected were in Quinte West.
The last few years had seen a major increase in tick populations in the region.
The incidence of ticks in the Quinte region over the past few years was higher than the provincial average.
A report a few years ago indicated that the estimated risk areas for Lyme disease, caused by ticks, are spread throughout the Quinte area, south of Highway 7, and the highest incidence was in the Kingston area.
