Greene County to begin collecting ticks under statewide study
Greene County will begin collecting ticks in May under a statewide study of the risk of tick-borne illnesses, which have been on the rise in Pennsylvania.
“We will be sending live ticks to the DEP to see what diseases they carry,” said Lisa Snider, conservation district manager in Greene.
“I don’t think anyone has studied ticks (like this) before,” Snider said Thursday when the state Department of Environmental Protection announced the five-year study that began in July.
The study was recommended by the state Lyme Disease Task Force as a way to combat the growing number of Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses, the DEP said.
Pennsylvania led the nation in 2016 with 11,443 cases of Lyme disease, according to the Lyme Disease Association. In all, there were 36,429 such cases across the United States that year.
“This survey will provide important data that will help us better understand these arachnids in our environment and inform Pennsylvanians on how, when and where to avoid getting bitten by a disease-carrying tick,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said in a news release.
Some people make the mistake of believing that ticks carrying Lyme can only be found in woods, said state Secretary of Health Rachel Levine.
Ticks also live in backyards and “where you walk your dog, or the local park,” Levine said.
The study is taking place in all of the state’s 67 counties to survey habitats, life stages and peak activities.
To date, the effort has collected more than 3,600 black-legged ticks.
The DEP has yet to secure a study manager for 2019 in Fayette and Washington counties, DEP spokeswoman Elizabeth Rementer said. She said ticks were collected last year in those counties.