Ticks have become a permanent fixture in Montreal’s parks

Ticks can transmit Lyme disease, among other things, as well as other bacteria.

Published August 3, 2026

Published by: Le Devoir
Published on: August 3, 2026
By Mathilde Beaulieu-Lépine

Montrealers must now share their picnics and walks with some new parasitic neighbours: ticks. It is a presence that even the most city-bound residents will have to get used to, as these ticks are not about to go away any time soon, according to ecologists.

“We can’t get rid of them; it’s inevitable,” Jacques Brodeur, an ecologist and researcher at the University of Montreal, states bluntly. Ticks have arrived in Montreal, and it will not be possible to dislodge them, he believes.

Gone are the days when these ticks were mainly found in the tall grass of the Montérégie region. The tiny creatures are now everywhere, from the Outaouais to the Chaudière-Appalaches region, including major urban centres. Particularly in less well-maintained parks, Mr. Brodeur points out.

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Lyme disease

Lyme disease research at Johns Hopkins in jeopardy due to federal funding delays

Published December 29, 2025

Published by: CNN / CTV News
Published on: December 29, 2025

MARYLAND (WJZ) — Maryland has some of the highest cases of Lyme disease in the nation, yet funding for research is in jeopardy.

Lyme disease is the most common and fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the United States. Approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for it each year, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In Maryland, Lyme disease cases have nearly doubled since 2020, according to the latest data from the Maryland Department of Health.

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tick-borne diseases

Tick-borne Rocky Mountain spotted fever spreading in Canada

Published August 20, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: August 20, 2025
By Emily Chung

Quebec has reported a case of the potentially deadly tick-borne disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever that was likely acquired in Ontario or Quebec. The disease was also reported in dogs in Ontario earlier this year.

Here’s what you need to know about preventing, identifying and treating the disease.

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First case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever confirmed in Quebec

Closeup photo of an American dog tick, crawling on the skin of a person. Photo: Jerry Kirkhart. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Quebec

First case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever confirmed in Quebec

Published August 18, 2025

Published by: Le Devoir
Published on: August 18, 2025
By Florence Morin-Martel

For the first time in Quebec, a person has contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a tick-borne disease that is potentially fatal, a doctor stated on Monday. The patient, recently infected in Estrie, has nevertheless responded well to treatment and has now recovered.

As milder temperatures favour the proliferation of ticks, we expect to see more and more cases in the coming years in Quebec, says Dr. Alex Carignan, infectious disease microbiologist and professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke. “It is concerning, because it is an infection with significant severity.”

The disease, which is treated with antibiotics, can lead to death if not properly managed. The first symptoms, which appear a few hours or days after a person is bitten, include a high fever, headache, muscle aches, and skin lesions in the form of small red spots.

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Ontario

There’s a tick population boom happening in Eastern Ontario

Published July 5, 2025

Published by: The Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 5, 2025
By Elizabeth Payne

Eastern Ontario is at the epicentre of a tick population boom, and with it, health officials are reporting the highest levels of Lyme disease in the province.

So far this year, there have been 186 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in south-east and Eastern Ontario, stretching from about Prince Edward County to the Quebec border, including Ottawa, according to Public Health Ontario. That is more than half of all the cases in the province since the beginning of 2025.

By far, the highest concentration of the tick-spread disease in the province is within the large South East Health Unit, which includes Smiths Falls, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville and Prince Edward County, among other regions. With 132 cases, it has the highest rate of Lyme disease in Ontario.

Ottawa, with 41 cases, and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, with 13 cases, also have higher-than-average rates of Lyme disease. Those reported cases reflect the climate-driven growth of tick populations across the area and heightened risk of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, which are both spread by blacklegged ticks carrying bacteria.

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Quebec

About 2,000 patients are on the long COVID clinic waiting list

Published November 1, 2024

Published by: La Presse / The Canadian Press
Published on: November 1, 2024
By Katrine Desautels

(Montreal) The rehabilitation process is long for patients with long COVID, which can limit professionals in their acceptance of new patients. This issue, added to the other ills of the healthcare system, means that some 4,000 patients end up in the network of long COVID clinics, half of whom are on the waiting list.

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Montreal

Une nouvelle clinique visant la COVID longue et la maladie de Lyme chronique à Montréal

Published November 1, 2022

Published by: Le Devoir
Published on: November 1, 2022
By Pauline Gravel

A clinic dedicated to people with long COVID or persistent symptoms of Lyme disease has just opened at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. This reference centre, which will combine clinical and research on these two syndromes still poorly understood, is one of the 15 clinics announced last May by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

“Although we do not yet have a very good understanding of the pathophysiology of these two diseases, we know that both of them sometimes cause long-term sequelae that persist even though the infection seems to have disappeared from the organism,” explains Dr Leighanne Parkes, microbiolgist-infectiologist at this new clinic.

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Tag: tick-borne diseases