Ticks needed for research; university asking for help

Austin Johnson, The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
Updated ·3 min read

May 15—In an attempt to advance public health research, a university is asking residents of Kentucky for donations of ticks.

Those small, wingless, blood-sucking arachnids that burrow into a host are wanted for The Kentucky Tick Surveillance Project housed in the University of Kentucky.

Subba Reddy Palli, Department Chair and state entomologist, said the project is all about making life more "careful" for individuals in the state.

"We are trying to find out the distribution of ticks in Kentucky, what kind are present and what pathogens they carry that cause diseases in humans and animals. We look at them and identify what they are, and we test for some of the pathogens that cause Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis," he said.

Participants are urged to follow strict steps to ensure their sample is counted and not tossed out. Before preparing the sample, the university said to fill out a submission form.

The following supplies are needed: 91% isopropyl alcohol, one hard plastic container, pill bottles with information removed or small plastic travel jars, tweezers, one plain cotton ball, two Ziploc bags and a padded envelope, according to the website.

All submissions that are accepted and examined are published on the website, free for the public to view, Palli said

"It's so people know where and what kind of ticks are there in their community," he said.

The following steps are for preparing the sample for shipping:

—Step 1: Take your hard plastic container and pour alcohol into the container. You only need to pour in enough liquid to submerge the tick into.

—Step 2: Use the tweezers to pick the tick up and submerge in the alcohol inside of the container. Leave the tick submerged in alcohol for 24 hours.

—Step 3: After 24 hours, pour the excess alcohol out of the container into a waste receptacle. There should be no liquid alcohol left. Next, take a cotton ball, or a cut off section of cotton ball, and stuff it into the container.

—Step 4: Seal the tick and cotton ball into by closing the container lid. Take the closed container and insert it into a sealable Ziploc bag. Then, seal the Ziploc shut.

—Step 5: The Ziploc bag that has the container with the tick and cotton ball in it will then itself be inserted into a second sealable Ziploc bag which is also sealed shut. This double bagging helps preserve the sample. The sample is now ready for shipping.

Insert the double-bagged sample into a padded envelope and ship the padded envelope and contents to this address:

Tick Surveillance Program

C/O Subba Palli

Department of Entomology

S-225 Ag Science Center N

Lexington, KY, 40546-0091

"This is a monitoring and surveillance project to better understand what our tick borne issues are in Kentucky. This service is only offered to residents of the commonwealth of Kentucky, we will not process your sample if you do not live in the state," the website said.