Tick study gets ‘astonishing’ local response
John Ferro, Poughkeepsie Journal
Photo by Sophia Raithel
When the scientists behind an ambitious tick studybegan their work in April, they did not know how many Dutchess County families would be willing to grant access to their properties and personal health information.
The subjects would have to let researchers onto their yards repeatedly to collect rodents, count ticks and deploy as many as two tick-killing systems.
Then the residents would have to do homework, reporting how many ticks they encountered and whether they got sick with Lyme disease.
All of this would take place repeatedly over five years.
Felicia Keesing, a Bard College scientist who is co-directing the effort at the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies, said she has worked with local residents before and knows how cooperative and invested in solutions they can be.