GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The Guilford County Division of Public Health is asking people to become community scientists to help with a study documenting tick species in North Carolina.
The study is being conducted by North Carolina State University and will evaluate a citizen science approach to tick surveillance and exposure risk in North Carolina.
The study asks to people to submit ticks they find naturally in North Carolina. NCSU says tick collection kits will be distributed for free through a GCDPH partnership.
Free tick kits can be picked up from the Environmental Health Division on the third floor of the Guilford County Department of Health and Human Services building at 1203 Maple St. in Greensboro.
Kits may be picked up Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each kit will include a postage-paid return envelope, collection tubes and a short survey.
Participants must be 18 years or older and are required to collect ticks, complete a survey and send their findings via mail in a postage-paid return envelope.
Study Details
- Participants will only submit ticks pulled off of themselves and not animals
- Each tick kit should come from the same time and location; use different kits for other times and locations
- Participants will fill out a survey for each kit
- No personal information will be shared, and participants will not be identified from their responses
- Kits will be sent back to researchers in a provided return envelope
- There is no pay for participation in the study
Participants may submit their findings as many times as they encounter ticks.
The four types of ticks to be aware of in NC are:
- Black-legged tick (also known as deer tick)
- The lone star tick
- The American dog tick
- The Brown dog tick
For more information about the tick study, you can email NCSU researcher Dayvion Adams at dradams4@ncsu.edu.
You can learn more about ticks here.