H. longicornis
I'm working on a joint CDC/USDA fact sheet for H. longicornis with the following topics:
What we know about longhorned ticks What do longhorned ticks look like compared to other ticks? What should you do if you think you may have found a longhorned tick?
Remove attached ticks from people, pets and livestock as quickly as possible.
Save the ticks in rubbing alcohol in a jar or a ziplock bag.
Contact your local health department regarding ticks on humans and your veterinarian or agricultural extension office regarding ticks on animals.
Protect yourself
I'm trying to stay out of the weeds, but want to know if you're getting questions or if there's something else I need to include.
If helpful, I'm attaching talking points we developed for use by LHDs when answering questions from the public (some points may need updating) and the NEVBD developed a nice fact sheet - it's posted on our site, but I'm sure it's on their website somewhere as well: https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/documents/topics/vectorborne/Longhorned%20Tick%20Fact%20Sheet%20NEVBD.pdf
Do you think that the "What should you do" bullets are adequate? Will the extension offices know what to do? What about vets or HCPs?
Speaking for Vermont only here, I am not confident that veterinarians, HCPs or extension offices would be the best resource for folks who come across this tick. It would be better if anyone who encountered the tick, regardless of how or where they encountered it, be advised to contact the Health Department only.
If the person does so and there is some sort of livestock involvement, we can get then them to the proper folks (in our case, the Agency of Agriculture).
Just my two cents.
Sincerely,
Bradley
Contact Information:
Bradley J. Tompkins
Epidemiologist & Program Chief
Tickborne & Enteric Diseases
Vermont Department of Health
108 Cherry Street, Suite 304
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 863-7240
Fax: (802) 951-4061
I am also not sure that the advice about removing the attached ticks form livestock is an easy recommendation. I thought they were usually found in large numbers on individual animals – although maybe that has not been true here in the US so far?
Really the key message is to tell somebody if you think you have found it. Maybe asking people to take a picture in addition to saving it so that they could email the picture to the agencies for an initial rule out.
My 2 cents
Catherine M. Brown, DVM, MSc, MPH
State Epidemiologist and State Public Health Veterinarian
Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
305 South Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 983-6800
FAX: (617) 983-6840
E-mail: Catherine.Brown@state.ma.us<mailto:Catherine.Brown@state.ma.us>
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Thank you,
Anna Perea
970-494-6545 | aperea@cdc.gov<mailto:aperea@cdc.gov>
Here's a document that was put out by the Texas Animal Health Commission that provides a lot of the information that you were asking for. In particular, the document covers how to identify the tick from the other Haemaphysalis sp. that we have here in the U.S.
Cell: (501) 951-6913
Thank you,
Anna Perea
970-494-6545 | aperea@cdc.gov<mailto:aperea@cdc.gov>