Launch of eTick Program - A fact sheet for health care providers

What is eTick?
eTick is a Canada-wide participatory surveillance program whereby citizens who identify a tick on themselves, their pets or in the environment can take a picture of it and submit it to eTick for identification. It is an initiative run by Bishop’s University in Quebec with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada. See etick.ca.

• B.C. residents can access the program through either the eTick website or through the eTick mobile application available on the App Store and the Google Play Store
• Instructions are provided by eTick for residents to correctly remove a tick and to take and upload suitable photos of the tick to the eTick platform
• There is no cost to submit a tick photo to the program
• Once a tick photo is submitted to eTick, a trained professional identifies the tick genus within one business day and sends the submitter an email with tick species information and follow-up instructions.
• Photos of ticks found on a person, an animal or in the environment can be submitted to eTick
• eTick does not conduct pathogen testing of ticks. In BC, pathogen testing of black-legged ticks is conducted the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory (more information below)

How can health care providers submit ticks for Lyme disease testing in B.C.?

• Tick identification and testing will still be available at the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory
• Prepare the tick to send to the lab:
  • Save the tick in a container with a tight fitting top
  • Dampen a small cotton ball and put it into the tick container to keep the tick alive; An intact dead tick may also be sent and tested for Lyme disease
• Use the Parasitology requisition, indicate the source of the tick (e.g. human, pet, other), the geographic coordinates or location the tick was found and the name and address of the person bitten. Label the container with two matching identifiers to the requisition
• Ticks must be submitted as soon as possible by a physician or public health professional to: BCCDC Public Health Laboratory, Parasitology, 655 West 12th Ave., Vancouver V5Z 4R4 BC Canada

Where can health care providers get more information about eTick and tick testing?

• Technical questions about submitting tick photos to eTick should be directed to the eTick program
  • Visit etick.ca for instructions and contact information
• Questions about testing ticks can be directed to the BCCDC Public Health Laboratory
  • Parasitology Lab (604) 707-2629
• If your questions are not addressed from the above resources, contact the following:
• For Lyme disease information, visit the BCCDC website
• For questions related to eTick in BC or tick-borne diseases in animals
  • BCCDC’s public health veterinarian, Erin Fraser at erin.fraser@bccdc.ca
• For questions related to tick-borne diseases in humans
  • BCCDC’s physician epidemiologist, Eleni Galanis at eleni.galanis@bccdc.ca (until June 27, 2021) or Mayank Singal at mayank.singal@bccdc.ca (June 28, 2021, onwards)