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Across Canada, B. burgdorferi has been isolated in Prince Edward Island,3Nova Scotia,1 New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario,4 Manitoba (unpublished data; isolate provided by Harvey Artsob, Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada, Winnipeg, 1997), Alberta5and British Columbia6. A finding by the British Columbia Center for Disease Control Society (BCCDCS) suggests that songbirds, known to be hosts of the deer tick, may be involved in transporting Lyme disease-infected ticks far into Canada during spring migration. Songbirds of eastern Canada that winter in the tropics fly through the mid-Atlantic and New England states, where deer tick populations are well established, before returning to their native breeding areas in Canada each spring. In a study involving the capture of migrating songbirds on Seal and Bon Portage Islands off the coast of Nova Scotia, deer ticks removed from the birds were tested using PCR (DNA amplification) and culturing of the contents of the ticks' midguts. Both test methods confirmed the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi, making it the first isolation of the Lyme disease-causing bacteria from a deer tick removed from a migratory songbird in Canada. Although the occurrence of deer ticks has been randomly reported in Nova Scotia, an established tick population has been documented there. Non-migratory birds that overwinter in Nova Scotia have been shown to carry only rabbit ticks, which are indigenous to the area and are known to transmit Lyme disease5. The new evidence suggests, however, that migrating songbirds may, over time, facilitate the spread of infected deer tick populations that could potentially increase the threat of Lyme disease in previously unaffected areas. It is important to note that the deer tick has been documented in other provinces of Canada, including Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, mainland Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, and that populations have become established in Ontario. To date, B. burgdorferi has been isolated from deer ticks collected in Nova Scotia, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Manitoba. In addition, B. burgdorferi has been isolated from Ixodes pacificus (the western black-legged tick) and Ixodes angustus, both close relatives of the deer tick, in British Columbia. The western black-legged tick is known to transmit Lyme disease on the west coast of the United States. References 1. Morshed MG, Scott JD, Banerjee SN, Banerjee M, Fitzgerald T, Fernando K, et al. First isolation of Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, from blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, removed from a bird in Nova Scotia, Canada. Can Commun Dis Rep 1999;25:153-5.[Medline]     MacNeil DR. Lyme disease vector, Ixodes dammini, identified in Nova Scotia. CDWR 1990;16:69.     Bell CR, Specht HB, Coombs BA. The search for Ixodes dammini and Borrelia burgdorferi in Nova Scotia. Can J Infect Dis 1992;3:224-30. 2. Dos Santos C, Kain K. Two tick-borne diseases in one: a case report of concurrent babesiosis and Lyme disease in Ontario. CMAJ 1999;160:1851-3. Available: www.cma.ca/cmaj/vol-160/issue-13/1851.htm[Medline] 3. Artsob H, Garvie M, Cawthorn RJ, Horney B, Maloney R, Dick D, et al. Isolation of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, from Ixodes dammini (Acari: Ixodidae) collected on Prince Edward Island, Canada. J Med Entomol 1992;29:1063-6. 4. Banerjee S, Scott J, Lankester M, Kubinec J. Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi — Thunder Bay District, Ontario. Can Commun Dis Rep 1996;22:138-40.[Medline] 5. Banerjee SN, Banerjee M, Fernando K, Dong MY, Smith JA, Cook D. Isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete from rabbit ticks, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris from Alberta. J Spirochetal Tick-borne Dis 1995;2:23-4. 6. Banerjee S. Update on the status of Lyme borreliosis in British Columbia, Canada. Clin Infect Dis 1995;21:704.