Insect and disease researchers at the UA have issued the unusual request to help them build a first-of-its-kind distribution map of the tiny blood-suckers and the diseases they carry around the state.
Henry Brean Things are about to get weird in the mailroom at the University of Arizona’s Department of Entomology.As part of something called the Great Arizona Tick Check, scientists are hoping to collect enough of the little bloodsuckers to build a first-of-its-kind distribution map of ticks and the diseases they carry around the state.
People are also reading… The bacterial disease is spread through the bite of an infected tick — usually the common brown dog tick in Arizona — and often results in fever, rash or other nonspecific symptoms such as headache, nausea or muscle pain. It’s treatable with antibiotics, but it is more likely to result in death than Lyme disease, the other illness most commonly associated with ticks.
Walker will lead the pathology and genetic testing of the ticks the team receives from the public, as part of her role as an extension specialist with the university’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department. "The more people that participate, the more likely we will be able to provide good data and information back to the public," Ernst said."Our hope is to understand the distribution of the tick species and what pathogens they may harbor.""We do know that the vector for Lyme disease and the pathogen was found in northwestern Arizona 30 years ago, but no one's gone back since," Walker said."Has it moved? Has it spread? Is it gone? We don't know.
So the next time you find some yucky arachnid clinging to you or your dog after a hike, don’t just get ticked off. Put that sucker in the mail.
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