Hello everyone, while the CDC was studying the ticks you donated, much happened: TIC toc blew up, TIC tacs faded out, our abioTIC and bioTIC features outside of town came under threat, my peripateTIC life continued, and I was TICKled to share we finally have some analyTIC data. Now that the emphaTIC puns have lost their imagisTIC touch, let’s get to the dramaTIC climacTIC finish …
To remind folks, in 2021 the communities of Elgin, Sonoita and Patagonia began collecting ticks, gifted them to me, and they were shipped to the CDC to test for the bacteria Rickettsia parkeri, which causes a form of spotted fever. The ticks collected were all the gulf coast (Amblyomma maculatum) species. The first batch of our collections have been processed with the rest stored for future use. As of now, 13.3% of the Santa Cruz County ticks had the Rickettsia parkeri bacteria. Collections in Cochise County yielded 41.4%. Now, it is nothing to be overly concerned about. Have a tick … take it off. There’s lot of information online, or e-mail me at Eric.Herman@atozec.com with any questions.
Thanks again for everyone’s participation; more so, thank you to all our doggos that brought home the ticks! I will let folks know when the CDC’s final paper is made available to the public.