While the ticks that carry Lyme disease bacteria aren't prevalent across all of Eastern Canada yet, new research says they soon will be. Even under "optimistic" scenarios, ticks carrying Lyme disease could spread to all of Nova Scotia by 2040 and as far away as Newfoundland and northern Ontario by 2070, according to a study from St. Francis Xavier University. Climate change makes spread inevitableA team of graduate students led by Beltrami used climate change data to map where the heat-loving ticks would go, depending on increases in temperature. The study uses climate change models because Lyme disease is a "climate-sensitive infectious disease," meaning it gets worse in warmer temperatures. According to the map, the ticks carrying the disease will have spread into northern Ontario and to Newfoundland by 2070.

Source: CBC News June 07, 2017 21:35 UTC