#Nieto lab tick testing free

Unexpected ticks turned up in unexpected locations, like Lone Star ticks you'd expect to find in the Southeast as far north as Maine and as far west as California. Though researchers weren't on the hunt for new tick-borne pathogens, they did uncover some surprises. They sent information on the pathogen back to the people who submitted ticks and mapped their geographic distribution. Once ticks made their way into the lab, the team identified them and tested them for four tick-born pathogens, including Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. In the meantime, it fed scientists an unexpectedly large dataset, and information on ticks from 49 states and Puerto Rico. 'Then all of a sudden it was over 16,000.' The massive response shows how hungry the public is for information on the ticks that bite them, he says. Most had been removed from humans or dogs-and there were many more than they originally planned for. In this case, researchers received thousands of ticks. Usually, Nieto says, scientists collect around 100 ticks at a time for local research using surprisingly low-tech methods (such as dragging a long swath of fabric behind a truck, then counting the number of ticks it catches). But when it comes to assessing the risk of potential infection from tick-born pathogens, figuring out which ticks commonly bite humans, what pathogens they carry, and how many people actually get sick from bites, the picture's always been blurry. Public health officials track the number of reported cases of tick-borne diseases, and researchers can study ticks in their local habitats. They say it shows the potential of citizen science to fill in gaps in research-and that data gathered this way could ultimately help form a more proactive public health response when it comes to identifying and preventing tick-borne disease. Nieto, a microbiologist at Northern Arizona University, and his team published the results of their brief tick-collecting experiment Thursday in PLOS One. Nieto's project wasn't just a goodwill gesture: It was an unprecedented attempt to include the public in tick research. You'd get back info on the critter that bit you and, if applicable, a pathology report.

#Nieto lab tick testing free

But between August 2016 and January 2017, you could have gotten a free analysis by sending it to Nathan Nieto's lab at Northern Arizona University. miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia rickettsii, Babesia microti, and Bartonella spp.Could the tick that just bit you carry a pathogen that causes Lyme disease or another ailment? If you're worried, you could ship the offending bug to a private testing service to find out. Ticks are tested for Borrelia burgdorferi, B. People who have recently encountered a tick and want to know if it is infected may send it in for testing, which is done at the Nieto Lab at Northern Arizona University. The program solicits ticks for use in research and analysis of pathogens and disease trends across the U.S. In separate news, the Bay Area Lyme Foundation in Portola Valley, CA, relaunched its free, nationwide U.S. Enable is working with Tulane University and Columbia University on the Lyme disease test and with other partners to develop ADAP tests for HIV and type 1 diabetes. The South San Francisco-based company says that its antibody detection by agglutination-PCR (ADAP) technology platform will power a test that is far more sensitive than standard testing today, enabling earlier detection of Lyme disease, as well as helping to distinguish it from other tick-borne illnesses. Enable Biosciences - a company set up to commercialize technology licensed from the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University - has received a $225,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a new test for Lyme disease.