The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WEHCU) continues its Fight The Bite initiative, which is all about protecting yourself from vector-borne diseases that include West Nile virus and Lyme disease.
The program provides the community with an early warning system for disease transmission.
WECHU's manager of environmental health, Elaine Bennett, says the adult mosquito surveillance trap deployment will start on Monday May, 20 and run until mid-October.
"We do have a team that goes out on Monday's to set up the CDC light trap, and that's for the West Nile virus, that's to capture the culex pipien, which is the mosquito that transmits the West Nile virus," Bennett explained.
Last year, 17 Lyme disease cases were reported to WECHU, which was the highest in comparison to previous years, with only nine reported cases in 2023.
Bennett says these stats are driving their awareness campaign for people who spend time outdoors.
"Don't walk along trails where there's a lot of shrub, stay to the center of the trail, wear protective clothing, so that would include long sleeve shirts, bright coloured, and long pants, maybe tucking your pants into your socks, and then when getting home, checking that there are no ticks that have latched on to you, as well as using insect repellent," Bennett said.
Bennett says anyone who finds a tick on themselves or their pet, can take action on a new website.
"They can can take a picture of the tick and submit it for identification, and if it is a black legged tick, Public Health Ontario, they have a map that's available, so it'll be plotted on the map to give the different areas more indication of where the black legged ticks are spreading to," she said.
In 2025, tick dragging will be performed in the spring and in the fall at four locations where active surveillance has not been previously conducted.
Previous locations such as Ojibway Park are endemic for black legged ticks and therefore new locations were selected for May and September: