ESU Receives $500,000 for Tick Testing

Posted by: Elizabeth Richardson on October 25, 2018, No Comments

On Tuesday, October 23 State Representative Rosemary Brown presented a check for $500,000 that she established in the 2018-19 State Budget (on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Human Services) to East Stroudsburg University and its Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory for the development of The Pennsylvania Tick Research Lab at ESU.

The Tick Research Lab will provide free tick testing to all Pennsylvania residents.

Tests include Lyme disease and three additional tests based on the species of tick submitted.

Results of the tests will be provided to residents and will include important information about risk/exposure to tick-borne diseases.

Funding will also support the development of a data analytic website that will provide infection rates across the Commonwealth, areas with high tick density, and demographics associated with the tick bite.

This data will establish a baseline for the prevalence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in Pennsylvania. Since 2011, the Commonwealth has been the nation’s leader in annual confirmed cases of Lyme disease.