A Lunenburg County mayor is applauding the federal government for its recent funding to tackle Lyme disease.
Health Minister Jane Philpott announced $4-million towards research to improve treatment and diagnosis.
Blacklegged ticks, or deer ticks, can carry bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority lists Lunenburg, Shelburne and Yarmouth counties where infected blacklegged ticks have established themselves.
Municipality of the District of Lunenburg Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson says proper diagnosis has been a problem.
“When you talk to individuals who have Lyme (disease) that will be one of the things that they were misdiagnosed for so long and that it progressed so far before they actually got the effective treatment that they really needed.”
The health authority says there were 245 reported cases of Lyme disease in Nova Scotia in 2015 – an increase from 115 cases in 2014.
There are no statistics yet for 2016.
Bolivar-Getson says she would like to see deer bait stations implemented to combat the spread of ticks and Lyme disease.
She says stations were setup as pilot project between 2011 and 2015 and produced some good results.
“I believe they said it was only a 20 per cent success rate the last time they did this in the area, but 20 per cent is better than none.”
Bolivar-Getson says 80 per cent of cases in Nova Scotia are in Lunenburg County.
She says she’s worried people won’t want to visit or live in Lunenburg County due to the tick problem.
