DHA Public Health Launches MilTICK SURE Path: Surveillance for Understudied, Rare Emerging Pathogens [Image 2 of 2]

Seasonal workflow of the MilTICK Program means most ticks are submitted and tested in the summer months. Image from MilTICK’s CAC-enabled online data dashboard at https://carepoint.health.mil/sites/ENTO/miltick

Robyn Nadolny (left), chief of the Defense Health Agency-Public Health vector-borne disease branch, works with U.S. Army Spc. Taylor Cremeans to identify a tick for the MilTICK program. MilTICK SURE Path uses MilTICK specimens already submitted, and subjects them to additional testing for rare pathogens at the end of each calendar year. The SURE Path program allows the VBD team to better understand emerging tick-borne threats to military communities, and notify installations and individuals if rare pathogens are discovered. (DHA-Public Health graphic illustration by Ethel Kefauver.)

Know your adversary. Female blacklegged ticks (also called deer ticks) are considered more dangerous than males of this species because they attach and become engorged with blood, like the tick pictured. While feeding, they can transmit a parasite that invades your bloodstream and causes babesiosis, which can be treated. Our expert, tick scientist Robyn Nadolny, offers tips for protection against ticks and how to mail ticks for identification by the Defense Health Agency-Public Health’s MilTICK service so you can get medical treatment if you’re infected. (DHA-Public Health photo by Graham Snodgrass)