It might surprise some people to learn that Arkansas is not among the top ten worst states for ticks that spread disease to dogs, cats and humans. That distinction belongs to states in the Northeast. Yet ticks and tick-borne diseases are common in Arkansas with tick-borne diseases accounting for about one-third of the disease reports submitted to the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Communicable Disease Section.
Arkansas typically ranks at or near the top of the list nationwide for three major tick-borne diseases: spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and Tularemia.
“Although Arkansas has some of the highest incidence rates of tick-borne diseases in the U.S., the prevalence and distribution of the responsible pathogens within these vectors in Arkansas are not fully appreciated,” Dr. Ashley Dowling, an entomology professor at the University of Arkansas Dept. of Entomology, said.
Dowling is entering into the third year of heading up a project testing ticks in Arkansas for disease pathogens. Intention of the research is to inform the medical and residential communities of Arkansas about the prevalence and geographic distribution of tick-borne bacterial pathogens that threaten Arkansans.
“Anyone who has spent time outdoors in Arkansas knows that ticks are abundant,” Dowling said. “Ticks are really just a way of life in Arkansas and many people have suffered from a tickborne illness or know someone that has.”
In addition to high rates of spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and tularemia, ticks in Arkansas are also capable of transmitting anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Southern tick-associated rash illness. Dowling said many of these diseases could be fatal or cause long-term debilitating symptoms.
“Fortunately, they are very easy to treat medically if caught in the early stages,” Dowling said. “However, despite Arkansas being a hotbed of tick abundance and tick-borne diseases, many cases go untreated or are misdiagnosed because of the lack of awareness for these diseases among the public and medical communities.”
This year Dowling will once again be asking citizens to volunteer to collect ticks to be tested in the laboratory for diseases harmful to humans. He is hoping for a better response rate than in 2016 when only ten to 15 percent of the tick kits were returned.
“However, we did receive over 800 ticks from these kits and it really helped expand our sampling,” Dowling said. “So, it seems worth it to try it again this year. I have a website up for the project now and the results page shows a map with the ticks that were sent in through the citizen science tick kits. I have not put anything up about screening results yet, but will try and get something up soon at comp.uark.edu/~adowling/ARTicks/.”
Recently the ADH confirmed two cases of Lyme disease in Northwest Arkansas after denying for many years that Lyme disease exists in the state. Dowling said the Borrelia bacteria spread by black-legged ticks that can cause Lyme disease has not yet been found in the samples collected in 2016. “But we still have quite a few ticks to screen,” he said.
Dowling said identifying the most active diseases carried by ticks in the state could lead to better awareness and more prompt treatment of people who are infected.
“We are actively collecting ticks around the state, identifying the ticks, and then screening the ticks for disease causing agents using DNA sequencing technology,” Dowling said. “Our goal is to determine high risk areas and what disease causing agents are present in the state, then distribute this information around the state so people can be more vigilant about protecting themselves from tick bites and so doctors and nurses can more readily identify and treat the symptoms of tick-borne illness. And this is where we need your help. We can only cover so much ground ourselves and are relying on Arkansans around the state to help collect ticks from their local areas. So, if you hike, hunt, fish, work in the fields, or have outdoor pets, you can likely contribute to our project.”
Dowling said people shouldn’t mail in a tick that has bitten them with the hopes of finding out what that tick was infected with.
“This is not a diagnostic service offered by UAMS that is intended for use in making clinical decisions,” Dowling said. “If you have a tick that you have saved for testing because you are concerned about contracting a pathogen after a bite, we encourage you to keep this tick for future diagnostic testing and do not submit it to us. There are several fee-for-service companies that are licensed to perform such diagnostic work.”
Dowling got interested in the research after he contracted a tick disease and was contacted by others who also have diseases caused by tick bites.
“I went through the records for the ADH and found the incidence of some tick diseases is up 100 to 300 percent,” he said. “It may be partly because doctors are better at recording these illnesses, but everything shows this is a hotspot for tick diseases and there is no recent research found in the area. We decided if no one else is doing it, then we should be doing it.”
The study is part of an ongoing collaborative research project between researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), UA-Fayetteville, and the Arkansas Department of Health.
If you’d like to learn more about the project, email uatickproject@gmail.com. Locally the tick kits will be available at the Carroll County Extension Office in Berryville.