Researchers with Marshfield Clinic Research Institute are finding roughly half of adult female deer ticks they’re testing carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
The research institute has been studying ticks submitted from all over Wisconsin the last two years.
Marshfield Clinic Research Institute scientists like Alexandra Lintz were hoping to get citizen scientists to submit at least 500 ticks for their research.
They’ve gotten more than 12,000.
“We were blown away by the enthusiasm for the study,” said Lintz. “I think people are really looking to learn more about tick-borne diseases, and to try and do something to prevent them. None of us want to get Lyme disease, or one of these other ones.”
Deer ticks, which may only be the size of a poppy seed, are commonly found in Wisconsin in wooded areas and grasslands.
They’re also the only ticks in the state that can cause Lyme disease.
“We can hopefully use this as an opportunity to educate people about tick-borne diseases, as well as healthcare providers, especially as we're in the midst of tick season right now, people may be starting to develop symptoms and seek health care for those,” said Lintz.
Reported Lyme disease cases have quadrupled over the past 20 years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Northwoods counties often have some of the highest rates of the disease in the state.
“We also want to highlight that half the ticks carrying Borrelia burgdorferi, which is the pathogen that causes Lyme, does not mean your chance of developing the disease if bitten is 50%,” said Lintz. “There are a lot of other factors that determine whether someone will actually get sick after a tick bite or not, but it is a pretty high prevalence. To me, it really emphasizes the need to prevent ticks from biting in the first place.”
The most common tick submitted to Marshfield was the American dog or wood tick. Lintz says doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more wood ticks on the landscape. It’s more likely that people aren’t noticing as many deer tick because they can be so small.
“That really emphasizes how hard these are to find and how careful you need to check to find the young deer ticks,” said Lintz.
There were also 16 lone star ticks submitted from Wisconsin. This is the tick that can trigger Alpha Gal Syndrome which is the allergy to red meat.
“The Lone Star tick is established just south of us in Illinois, and there is concern that it might be moving northward, so it's something we're keeping a close eye on. In our study, we only found adults in Wisconsin, so that's not a cause for alarm,” said Lintz. “The thing we're really looking out for is those younger life stages that might suggest there. Reproducing in Wisconsin, and we did not see those.”
As climate change leads to warmer annual temperatures, new-to-Wisconsin ticks are expected to become more common. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services notes the lone star tick is one of those species.
The Marshfield Clinic Research Institute is still collecting ticks. Lintz says there are still a lot of questions they want to answer when it comes to ticks.
This includes what microbes are in ticks that might make them less favorable to the bacteria that causes Lyme. They’re also investigating the Powassan virus which, while still rare, has spiked in Wisconsin in recent years.
For more information, or to request a pre-paid collection kit be sent to you, contact tics@marshfieldclinic.org or 1-715-389-7796 (extension 16462). Parks and nature centers interested in having kits available for their visitors also are encouraged to contact Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.
Once the tick, dead or alive, has been placed in the collection kit, just drop it in the mail to submit. Any tick found on people or pets is appreciated. Each kit will come with a unique identification number that people can use to look up, via an online dashboard, the species of ticks they submitted.
