Survey will help officials understand, control Lyme disease

This Saturday, as hunters seek white-tailed deer in Wisconsin’s forested areas, a research team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison entomologist Susan Paskewitz will be conducting a hunt of its own.

At more than a dozen Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) deer registration stations, the scientists will be collecting deer ticks from the carcasses that are brought in as part of an effort to battle Lyme disease, which has been on the rise in the state since 2002.

“When I first started teaching my medical entomology class, I would always tell my students there were 400 to 500 cases of Lyme disease in Wisconsin every year, and that we were a hot spot for the disease,” says Paskewitz, a professor of entomology. “But those numbers are low compared to what we’re seeing now. There were 1,800 cases reported last year. That’s a pretty significant increase.”

The most disturbing thing about this trend, Paskewitz points out, is that the bulk of new cases are coming from Wisconsin counties that never had a Lyme disease problem before. “We’ve heard multiple anecdotal reports from people in various communities — Washington Island and South Kettle Moraine, for instance — saying, ‘We have a big problem here,'” she says.

The triangle of land enclosed by Oshkosh, Wausau and Portage, she notes, is another problem area. In those counties, reports of Lyme disease have surged from close to zero to 80 or more.

Paskewitz led Wisconsin’s last deer tick survey, which was performed in 1994. The results, which were summed up on a map, showed that while ticks were prevalent in the northwest section of the state, they were found at very low levels in the state’s eastern half. Paskewitz expects the results from this year’s survey to look quite different, showing the tick’s advance into a much wider portion of the state.

“The information gathered through this survey will show our public health officials where they need to expand their education efforts about deer ticks and Lyme disease,” says Paskewitz. “It’s important so we can tell people what’s happening in their neighborhood, and that they need to be watching their animals, their kids and themselves.”

The tick-collecting team includes staff and students from UW–Madison, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Parkside, as well as staff from the Wisconsin Division of Health. With funding and support from the Wisconsin Division of Health and the WDNR, the team will be manning select deer registration stations in the eastern half of the state from 9 a.m. — 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, including stations located in the communities of Black Earth, Crivitz, Delavan, Dundee, Eagle River, Elkhart Lake, Mayville, Monroe, North Prairie, Pardeeville, Plover, Poy Sippi, Shawano, Shioctin, Sturgeon Bay and Wausau.