Kansas City, MO – Next time you find a tick crawling on your body, don't kill it... mail it.
A two-year tick study begins this month as researchers at the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and A.T. Still University in Kirksville want to identify the species and life stage of the critters and test them for four different types of bacteria.
So they're asking that you mail live ticks to them.
“We need the help of many Missourians around the state,” said MDC Ecological Health Unit Science Supervisor Matt Combes. “Participation by many ‘citizen scientists’ is vital in helping us collect enough data at a scale unattainable by MDC and University scientists alone.”
If you've spent any time in Missouri's woods, open fields or creek beds, you've likely found a large mite on your skin or clothes. MDC and A.T. Still say they need people to save any ticks they run into and send them for a new research study.
The two-year research study will help determine the presence of tick species throughout Missouri as well as the pathogens they may harbor. Missouri is home to three common species of ticks that bite humans: lone star tick, American dog tick, and deer tick.
Adult ticks are about a quarter-inch long and grow to nearly double that when engorged with blood. Learn more about ticks, here.
Here's how to package and send your ticks in the mail:
Place each live tick in a plastic zip bag with a piece of damp paper towel or moist cotton ball, then fold the bag and place it inside another plastic zip-top bag with a completed sample-submission form.
Then put that and a completed sample-submission form in an envelope and mail it to:
A.T. Still University
ATTENTION: Deb Hudman - Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology
800 W. Jefferson St.
Kirksville MO 63501
The sample-submission form is available for printing from the University website at www.atsu.edu/missouri-ticks-and-tick-borne-pathogen-surveillance-research.