For the first time, the Missouri Department of Conservation will begin its own research into the tick populations throughout Missouri. The conservation department and AT Still University in Kirksville will be collecting samples throughout the spring and summer to better understand local ticks and the pathogens they may carry.
“We’ve never actually done research on ticks before,” MDC Ecological Health Unit Science Supervisor Matt Combs said. “As a result of that, there’s a lack of information about where various tick species occur in the state and what potential disease-causing pathogens they may be carrying.”
The highest reported tickborne disease is Lyme Disease. The CDC reported that from 2016-2018 there were 112,838 cases of Lyme Disease.
Missouri has had very few cases of Lyme Disease over the last 30 years with just 1,131 cases from 1990-2018. Most cases reported have come from the northeastern regions of the United States with New York and Pennsylvania reporting over 250,000 cases combined.
The most dangerous of the diseases is the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The CDC reported that 60% of all cases occur in five states — Missouri being one of them. It is the most common tick-borne illness in Missouri and if not treated quickly, can cause serious and life-threatening illness.
While there is a strong understanding of what happens to humans with tickborne diseases, the conservation department hopes to better understand the effect it has on animals.
“That’s another thing that we just don’t know,” Combs said. “We know that animals are the reservoir for the bacteria and then the ticks attach to the animals and spread it amongst those populations. Then if one of those ticks happens to bite a human, it can spread it to the human. We don’t really know the effect that tick-borne illnesses have on the populations of animals in the state because that research hasn’t been done.”
Combs said the best way to avoid ticks is to wear the proper clothing and keep your vegetation maintained and out of your path.
“If you’re a landowner or even for your yard in town, don’t have a bunch of short, shrubby vegetation along paths that you walk frequently,” Combs said. “You want to keep those mowed back and a wide path so that you’re not brushing against those and that can help you avoid ticks.”
The MDC and university will begin their research this month and will continue through September of 2022. Both are asking for people who come across ticks to send those in so that they may be studied further. Information on how to do this can be found on the conservation’s website.
“We hope to have folks send in ticks that are attaching to them or that they find in nature so that we can actually fill out the map of the state,” Combs said. “If you look at a map of the state for ticks in the information that is available, around half of the counties in the state don’t have information about ticks. Yet we know that they’re there, so we’re hoping to get a good map of the ticks that people are likely to encounter and in those ticks, what bacterial pathogens they may be harboring.”
Anthony Crane can be reached at anthonytcrane@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @crane_anthony
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