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Iowans
Encouraged
to Help Track Iowa’s Ticks
Posted 24 August 2010
Iowa State University
has an entomology lab on the far north side of campus where scientists
track ticks and mosquitoes, the two leading carriers of diseases to
humans in the United States. At the Medical Entomology Laboratory,
Lyric Bartholomay and lab members work in partnership with the Iowa
Department of Public Health - Center for Acute Disease Epidemiology and
the University Hygienic Laboratory to conduct surveillance for these
arthropods and the disease agents transmitted by them.
The lab has built an internationally recognized mosquito/mosquito-borne
disease surveillance program for the state of Iowa in its 35 years.
Since 1990, the lab also has conducted a Lyme Disease
Surveillance Program.
Lab members depend on the help of Iowans to keep tabs on ticks and Lyme
disease. “With late summer here, the Lyme Disease Surveillance Program
is experiencing a decline in tick numbers submitted,” said Jon Oliver,
entomology graduate student and lab member. “Most ticks submitted at
this time of year are American dog ticks. With cooling weather,
however, a second peak of adult blacklegged tick activity will stretch
from September through December, peaking in October.”
The lab relies on submitted tick specimens to track Iowa tick
distribution and infections status. Of special interest to the lab is
the blacklegged (a.k.a. deer) tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the Lyme
disease-causing bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. The adult blacklegged
tick, about to enter its second peak season in October, is of most
concern because it is responsible for the transmission of the bacteria
that cause Lyme disease in Iowa.
“If you find a tick on yourself, a friend, family member or pet, we
will gladly take the tick and identify it for you,” Oliver said. “When
you find a tick of any sort, wrap it in tissue, add a blade of grass,
seal it in a zip-top bag and mail it to us.”
Ticks should be mailed to:
Department of Entomology
Lyme Disease Project
436 Science Hall II, ISU
Ames, IA 50011-3222
Oliver said a completed submission form should be sent with the tick.
Forms can be downloaded and printed from.
Blacklegged
ticks submitted are tested for the presence of Lyme disease
bacterium. The results help the team determine in what regions of the
state there are populations of these ticks, and where those populations
also might be transmitting the bacterium. “These tests are not
diagnostic for the patient that the tick was removed from,” Oliver
cautioned.
The surveillance program regularly posts maps to show where Iowan’s
typically encounter the three types of ticks most common in the state
and where Lyme bacteria infected ticks have been collected. The maps
are posted from the tick surveillance Web page at http://www.ent.iastate.edu/medent/ticks_IA.
Information
about Iowa’s three most common ticks, Lyme disease and
directions for removing attached ticks is available in a publication
recently updated by the surveillance program. Ticks and Tick-borne
Diseases
in Iowa, PM 2036, is available as a downloadable
publication on the ISU Extension Online Store.
More about Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is
transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks.
Typical symptoms
include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic skin rash called erythema
migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the
heart and the nervous system. Lyme disease is diagnosed based on
symptoms, physical findings (e.g., rash), and the possibility of
exposure to infected ticks; laboratory testing is helpful in the later
stages of disease. Most cases of Lyme disease can be treated
successfully with a few weeks of antibiotics. Steps to prevent
Lyme disease include using insect repellent, removing ticks promptly,
landscaping and integrated pest management.
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