The Walrus magazine spoke with Katie Clow, a professor in One Health in the Department of Population Medicine, for an extensive article about her ongoing research into ticks in Canada and the diseases they carry.

Clow studies ecology and epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, particularly those caused by ticks.

As the article notes, ticks are proliferating in the most densely populated areas of Canada, potentially spreading Lyme disease but also anaplasmosis and babesiosis, and yet Canadians are still mostly unaware of or unconcerned by them.

“My message to people is, we are in a new era where this is part of your daily public health things that you’re supposed to be doing: if you go out in the woods, you should be checking yourself for ticks, you should be covering up,” Clow said.