Tick projects

Under construction

Lyme disease is the number one vector-borne disease in the United States.

To prevent diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites transmitted through tick bites, we need to understand how to prevent transmission. At this point vaccination against tick-borne diseases for people is not available in the US.

Transmission can be prevented:

• By removing or killing the tick before it can transmit (e.g. wearing permethrin-treated clothing, tick checks and showers)
• By avoiding tick bites (e.g. using personal prevention measures, avoiding tick habitat)
• By eliminating disease-agents in the ticks (e.g. vaccinating reservoir hosts - not available-)
• By having no ticks (landscape manipulation, environment tick control)

Of course, none of these methods are perfect, we can all agree it is easy to overlook a teeny tiny nymphal tick.