![]() One additional thing anyone can do any time they encounter a tick, whether out birding, hiking, or even just gardening, is participate in citizen science! As part of ongoing research, The Tick App has been developed as a collaborative effort among the CDC Regional Centers for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases. The Tick App allows you to report when and where encounter ticks. When you do, be on the lookout for both adults (sesame seed size) and the small nymphs (poppy seed size)! Perhaps most importantly, always be sure to thoroughly check yourself every time you come back from spending time out in the woods. Stay on-trail to avoid touching plants where ticks may be looking to catch a ride. These include wearing full-length pants, tucking them into your socks or boots, applying an EPA-approved insect repellent, and treating clothing and boots with permethrin (an insecticide and insect repellent) before you head out. With all this being known, you might find yourself a bit more concerned about going birding - but don’t let the ticks keep you from enjoying nature! There are best practices that you can follow to minimize potential tick and pathogen exposure. That one positive tick can’t tell us much specifically about how abundant the pathogen’s presence is in the sanctuary it may very well be an anomaly, but along with positives from other sites, it does tell us that the pathogen, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, is present in the greater-Lansing area. More interestingly, one of the blacklegged ticks we retrieved from the sanctuary was found to be carrying the bacterium that causes anaplasmosis. The low number of ticks found may not have allowed us the power to detect the Lyme disease pathogen. ![]() However, since Lyme disease is known to be present in other areas in Lansing, it’s always best to be on guard. In terms of pathogen presence, none of the ticks we managed to collect from the sanctuary tested positive for the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease. Joseph Pastori identifying ticks with a dissecting microscope. They can spread Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but this is extremely rare in Michigan. These ticks do not spread Lyme disease or anaplasmosis. We also managed to collect one American dog tick, which are the ticks most likely to be encountered in Michigan. These are much smaller than the adults many people may have seen in the spring and fall and are about the size of a poppy seed. Likely because of the season in which the sanctuary was sampled (mid-summer), all the blacklegged ticks that were collected were the nymphal life stage, which is the stage most likely to transmit disease to humans. That’s not an unusually high or low number of ticks for areas around Lansing from our research. A total of seven blacklegged ticks were found over three sampling trips I made from X to Y, for a total of 4,500 meters of dragging. ![]() To avoid ticks, Tsao recommends people wear bug repellent and long clothing outside.So how was the Capital City Bird Sanctuary’s tick situation last summer? Well, like the majority of parks and preserves in the Lansing area, we did find blacklegged ticks within the sanctuary. ![]() “They have a lot of reliable information all collated into one area that can tell you about what a tick is, what the various of species of ticks are that you’re likely to contact in the area that you live and what are prevention measures that you can take,” Tsao said. The research team is able to identify it within 24 hours. She adds users are also able to take a picture of a tick and submit it to the app. “We really wanted to understand, if possible, when and where and doing what kind of activities people are doing to expose themselves to ticks." When someone downloads it, they are prompted to fill out a 10-minute survey about potential risk factors. “It’s a mobile health app that is both a research tool as well as an outreach tool" she said. She’s part of the group that helped develop the digital portal. Michigan State University professor Jean Tsao explains the app allows scientists to learn more about where ticks are and what people are doing to keep themselves safe from them. decided to create a mobile app, simply called The Tick App. Olivia Pappenheimer Olivia Pappenheimer, a research student at MSU, looking at a tick in vial that she will extract DNA from.Īccording to the state, average yearly temperatures have increased two to three degrees in the past two decades.īecause of these growing concerns about the pests both in Michigan and across the country, a group of researchers from universities across the U.S. ![]()
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