Canadian Occupational Safety

14 Canadian Occupational Safety | www.cos-mag.com IN THE n June of 1991, Jim Wilson was clearing brush in the back of his house in Dartmouth, N.S. One week later, he noticed an 8-inch bulls-eye rash around his navel. Three months later, on the drive across Canada to his new home in British Columbia, he was extremely fatigued and had to pull over every two hours for a nap. His knees started to give out and there was a lot of numbness and tingling in his legs. Over the next three years, Wilson declined rapidly. He could no longer function in his previous career as an independent insurance adjuster, he was choking on his food, drooling when he spoke and his memory was fading. He was bounced from specialist to specialist but no one knew what was wrong. Fed up with seeing her husband deteriorate so severely, Wilson's wife went to the local library to research chronic diseases, and she came across a book about Lyme disease. "It was just a blueprint for every- thing I had been through," says Wilson, who is the founder and presi- dent of the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (CanLyme) based in West Kelowna, B.C. Wilson was able to locate a doctor in B.C. with expertise in Lyme dis- ease, and after the fi ve-hour drive to his offi ce and a 2.5-hour appoint- ment, Wilson was diagnosed with Lyme disease. "It (had been) terrifying because I thought I was dying and nobody knew why. And to have a diagnosis… and fi nally after the third or fourth week the antibiotics seemed to kick in and then I started having good days and more good days and it was nice to have that light at the end of the tunnel," he says. Lyme disease is an infection that spreads to humans through tick bites. The disease is on the rise in Canada and spreading rapidly. The number of cases reported in Canada has increased from 144 cases in 2009 to 917 cases in 2015, according to data from the federal government. But CanLyme believes the number is much, much higher, somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 to 10,0000 annually, Wilson says. The large discrepancy is due to an "extremely poor" surveillance model. "The medical community is largely still in a state of denial about it," Wilson says. According to Wilson, the major- ity of physicians across the country will not give a Lyme diagnosis unless an individual had been in a known endemic area. For example, an indi- vidual who lived in a small Quebec town that is not a known endemic area — but that borders the highly endemic New York state — could not get his doctor to test him for Lyme dis- ease. The man then went to New York where he tested positive for Lyme. Lyme endemic areas can be found in parts of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But anyone, anywhere can be affected, cautions Wilson. "There really is no safe place in Canada any longer." Tying diagnosis to a known endemic area does not accurately refl ect how the disease is spread. Migratory birds, such as robins, wrens and sea birds, move hundreds of millions of ticks around each season. Their migratory fl yway brings them from the very highly endemic regions of the north- ern United States to Canada. "A robin could be in a fi eld on the Hudson River Valley, New York, pick- ing up infected ticks on a Thursday and that same bird could be in your backyard in Toronto by Saturday dropping off these infected ticks," Wilson says. "They also carry the dis- ease in their blood to infect any ticks that feed on them along the way." Doctors are often looking for a tell- tale bulls-eye rash to diagnose Lyme disease, but only nine per cent of Lyme patients develop this, accord- ing to CanLyme. Symptoms of Lyme disease usu- ally occur within one to two weeks, but can occur as soon as three days or as long as a few months after the tick bite. Symptoms may initially resemble the fl u — sore throat, fever, headaches, fatigue, congestion and stiffness. There are over 100 different symp- toms of Lyme disease that vary from patient to patient and often resemble other illnesses, so misdiagnosis is common. Many Lyme victims have been misdiagnosed as having irritable bowl syndrome, chronic fatigue, fi bro myalgia, muscular sclerosis, Parkin- son's and Alzheimer's. If caught early, Lyme can be treated with several rounds of antibiotics, often changing antibiotics through- out treatment. If the disease goes untreated, it will disseminate quite quickly throughout the body, making it much more diffi cult to treat. If a worker has symptoms resembling Lyme disease, she should be thoroughly evaluated by her doctor, making sure to mention her outdoor occupation and the area where she has been working. It's also important to not just rely on blood tests because they are not very effective, says Wilson. Accord- ing to CanLyme, Canada's Lyme testing methods are fl awed. False negative test results are common, espe- cially in the early stages of Lyme. Any company with outdoor workers — foresters, engineers, tree planters, construction workers, fi shers, camp counsellors, grounds keepers, land- scape workers, fi refi ghters, police offi cers and parks workers — need to make sure their workers are protected from contracting Lyme disease. As much as they can, workers should stay out of brushy areas, tall grass, moist and shaded environments and leafy wooded areas. Baby (nymph) ticks are a concern in spring and early summer when they are feeding, which Can- Lyme believes is the most common time when people are infected. The ticks are only the size of a poppy seed during this stage. However, it's impor- tant to note that ticks can be found at any time of the year when the tem- perature is above freezing. When feeding, ticks climb up no more than 18 inches above the ground, put their feelers out — which are kind of like Velcro — and latch on to any warm blooded mammal that brushes past, including humans. Workers need to be educated on the risks that ticks pose and how to avoid them. TimberWest discusses Lyme disease prevention at its general safety meetings, says Tammie Wheeler, administrative and safety co-ordinator at the large timberland company in Nanaimo, B.C. Workers are given tips on how to prevent tick By Amanda Silliker According to Wilson, the major- ity of physicians across the country ity of physicians across the country will not give a Lyme diagnosis unless IN THE IN THE Outdoor workers must take precautions to avoid rapidly spreading Lyme disease, allergic reactions from stinging insects

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