Prevention is absolutely key because, obviously, if you don't get bitten by a tick you're not going to get sick. The reality is that ticks are so tiny; they can be microscopic, the size of poppy seeds. It's not possible to 100% prevent ticks. Education has been great on that—pulling your socks up, staying in the middle of the path, using repellent—but the education has stopped there. People now need to know the prevalence of the risk, that it's not just in endemic areas, and they need to know what to do when they find a tick. Where do they go? What do they look out for? What are the signs and symptoms of the disease, because they are varying? They need to know the urgency of immediate treatment. As well, we need education for doctors.
The issue of children is very urgent, because kids are a very high risk group for Lyme disease, one of the highest risk groups because of the time they spend outside. We need schools to have training on how to remove ticks in the principal's office. We need summer camps to train their counsellors on how to do tick checks. There is a huge gap in the education because to date it is only focused on pulling your socks up and putting repellent on. It doesn't go any further than that.