Tick Collections from parks, 2023-2024 Season (November 2023 through June 2024)

Laboratory staff continued winter surveillance for adult Ixodes pacificus (Western black-legged ticks) in February. Ticks are collected by dragging a one-meter square sheet of white flannel over the vegetation alongside trails: a technique called “flagging.” Ixodes pacificus ticks will be tested for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease), as well as Borrelia miyamotoi (the agent of hard-tick relapsing fever) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (the agent of granulocytic anaplasmosis).

In February, District staff focused on inspecting front and backyards of homes for ticks as part of an ongoing study of ticks on residential properties. This season, the District is focusing on homes in Hillsborough, but residential properties in other areas are surveyed upon request. Throughout the study, started in 2022, District staff have inspected over 200 residential properties. In February, a total of 28 yards were inspected.  This included 22 houses in Hillsborough, 2 in Woodside, 1 in Emerald Hills, and 1 in Atherton.

While the District’s mission is primarily focused on the control and surveillance of vector-borne diseases, we also have a strong scientific program focused on engaging with industries, universities, or schools in order to further the development of new tools and techniques, the advancement of integrative pest management (IPM) practices, and the sharing of information with the scientific community in order to create better response plans to disease outbreaks. To this end, we periodically take on student mentees and interns. This year we welcomed a high school senior-year student from the Marin Academy Research Collaborative who was interested in studying ticks. Her project is focusing on the distribution of ticks over three habitat types, oak woodland, chaparral, and grasslands, with the eventual goal of determining if ticks have strong preferences for the habitat they live in and why that may be. She is also helping to develop a new technique for sampling ticks from rodent burrows and woodrat nests which may be more likely to carry diseases. Her research is slated to be wrapped up in May.

Tick Collections from parks and neighborhoods, 2023-2023 Season (through February 2024)

Page last reviewed March 7, 2024