A1. Yes, you can send ticks to the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory for identification. If the specimen has not been damaged, we may be able to identify it for you and tell you whether it is a potential vector of disease.
Visit your physician or primary care provider immediately should you experience signs or symptoms of tick-borne disease. For signs and symptoms, visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Purdue Extension Entomology-Purdue University.

A2. No, unfortunately we are not able to accept ticks for testing at this time as we do not have funds to support these activities. We are applying for additional funding and hope we may be able to offer this option in the future.
Please note that we do not offer testing of ticks for diagnostic purposes. Visit your physician or primary care provider immediately should you experience signs or symptoms of tick-borne disease. For signs and symptoms, visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Purdue Extension Entomology-Purdue University.

A3. If you find a tick crawling on your clothing, person or outdoor gear, place it in a plastic baggie and freeze it in the freezer for at least 20 minutes, or flush it down the toilet. Ticks may be infected with a variety of pathogens and parasites. Take care to avoid exposure to ticks. Where possible, avoid tick habitat and during peak tick activity. It is important to remove any ticks from your person before they have become attached. Follow the guidelines for tick bite prevention and tick removal here. Remember to complete a tick check immediately after you return from activity in potential tick habitat. Take care not to break the tick during removal as this may release pathogens and parasites onto your skin and into the feeding site created by the tick. It is important to remove the tick, including the mouthparts to avoid the possibility of secondary infections. If the tick is attached, you may consider to visit a physician or health care provider to have the tick removed.
Visit your physician or primary care provider immediately should you experience signs or symptoms of tick-borne disease. For signs and symptoms, visit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Purdue Extension Entomology-Purdue University.

A4. Ticks may be infected with a variety of pathogens and parasites. Take care to avoid exposure to ticks. Where possible, avoid tick habitat and during peak activity. It is important to remove any ticks from your person before they have become attached. Follow the guidelines for tick bite prevention and tick removal here. Remember to complete a tick check immediately after you return from activity in potential tick habitat. Take care not to break the tick during removal as this may release pathogens and parasites onto your skin and into the feeding site created by the tick. It is important to remove the tick, including the mouthparts to avoid the possibility of secondary infections. If the tick is attached, you may consider to visit a physician or health care provider to have the tick removed.

A5. We sample at a variety of sites around the state, mostly Indiana State Parks where we have permits to work from Spring to Summer every year. Sampling dates and locations are determined by the seasonal activity of tick species and by weather. We do not sample when it is raining or stormy. At this time, we are not able to accept requests to sample on private property, including residential and commercial property.

A6. If you are a 4H/High School student (grades 9-12) you may be eligible to join our team on tick collection trips. You can apply here January-April.

A7. Yes. We are currently analyzing data from our 2017-2018 tick collections and expect to post information regarding the microbes we have identified in Indiana ticks as soon as these analyses are complete. Any data we collect on tick-borne pathogens will be used to generate detailed disease risk maps to support and improve the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases in the state of Indiana.

A8. Ticks collected by the Purdue Tick INsiders team are sampled at Purdue University for bacteria and viruses by deep sequencing and PCR. Ticks are analyzed for human pathogens that can be transmitted by ticks in the state. These include Borrelia burgdorferi (causes Lyme disease), Rickettsia rickettsii (causes Rocky Mountains Spotted Fever), Ehrlichia chaffensis (causes Ehrlichiosis), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (causes Anaplasmosis), and Heartland virus (causes Heartland virus disease). Our team is also testing Indiana ticks for tick-borne pathogens that have been reported in the U.S. but have not been detected in Indiana ticks to date, including Powassan virus (causes Powassan virus disease), Francisella tularensis (causes Tularemia), Borrelia miyamotoi (causes Borrelia miyamotoi disease) and Borrelia mayonii. We are currently analyzing 2017 and 2018 tick samples and results will post results to this site at completion, hopefully in early 2019.