UNH awarded $8M grant to study ticks
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
The University of New Hampshire is getting an $8 million grant to study ticks, the diseases they spread and the environments they thrive in.
The grant from the National Science Foundation comes at a time when concern is high about tick-borne illnesses and the spread of additional tick species into the region.
Recent research shows that ticks are also showing up in more cities along the East Coast, not just in wooded areas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the country.
“They come in the first season, and then you’re like, ‘Oh they’re gone.’ And then October, November, you go outside, and there’s ticks all over the place again,” said David Needle, a clinical professor and senior veterinary pathologist who will lead the four-year initiative. “But, we’re using that as like an annually renewable resource, like a repeated experiment that’s there for us.”
The funding will focus on three tick species found in New Hampshire: the blacklegged or deer tick, the American dog tick and the winter tick, which has major impacts on moose and wildlife health.
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Researchers will investigate how ticks survive, spread and transmit disease by setting up 22 stations across the state.
“From those stations, we will drag for ticks during peak season,” said Needle. “The stations will monitor all year round, and so we can get deeper into the question of, like, what does snow coverage do?”
Needle said that portion of the research will start at the beginning of the next peak season.
Thousands of people get Lyme disease every year, and ticks are known to be a menace in New Hampshire as the disease they carry requires extra precautions.
“It’s been a difficult time because I live in Dunbarton, so I live in like, the woody area,” said Kennith Dibattista of Dunbarton.
Pets, such as dogs, also require prevention from tickborne illnesses.
“You know, it was really, really bad last year, so I decided to do the heartworm plus the tick preventative monthly pill, as well as the collars that prevent ticks as well,” said Chantel McMillan of Manchester.
The multimillion-dollar grant also has an educational component, as undergraduate students from across the Granite State will assist with the research.