A note on tick testing

Since we've opened up the tick tracker to sample submissions, we've received a lot questions about tick testing. If you submit a sample, we will examine it under a microscope to identify the species of tick. In the future, we may do some tick testing (i.e., conduct laboratory analyses for pathogens present in the tick), but that will be for research purposes and not for individual case management. Dr. Weese has written a post on his Worms and Germs Blog that provides a great overview of what tick testing is useful for and why tick testing is not used as part of clinical diagnosis. Click here to read his post.