Newtown Logs Top Response For Tick Study

By John Voket

Newtown Health District Director Donna Culbert is happy to report that Newtown has achieved the highest rate of participants in all the Fairfield County communities involved in a Yale University study aimed at better validating the relationship between ticks and the illnesses they transfer to humans.

This week Ms Culbert said that “Newtown Health District communities and the town itself have many more enrollees than the other jurisdictions.” The district encompasses Newtown, Bridgewater and Roxbury.

She said health officials and the scientists know there is much to learn about ticks and how to make progress on reducing the incidence and impact of tick-borne disease.

“Spraying started on May 15 and will continue until June 30,” Ms Culbert said of the program, which provides a free, one-time application of a pesticide known to reduce or eliminate the deer ticks that are the most prevalent carriers of Lyme disease and other illnesses. “We will be working with Yale to make sure the participants/enrollees follow through with their surveys and to submit any ticks that they may have.”

The study, which utilized The Newtown Bee and its website to raise awareness and link potential participants to apply for the program, tapped individuals with single-family homes on at least half an acre of property to participate in the study, co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Connecticut Department of Public Health.

“Basically we want to know if a single application of a common acaricide can reduce tick populations and as a result, tick-borne disease,” she said.

Findings from the treated properties will be compared to those from the placebo properties to determine if a springtime application of the commonly used pesticide can reduce rates of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, according to the Yale study’s spokesperson.

So far this year, Ms Culbert reports that the district office has received 136 tick specimens for submission to the state Agricultural Experiment Station

Of the submissions, Ms Culbert said 30 qualified to be tested because they were attached to a person long enough to have had a blood meal. Of those 30, 11 were positive (37 percent), and 19 were negative (63 percent).

Also, 46 specimens were deer ticks but had not had a blood meal, therefore they were not tested. “Another ten were not deer ticks,” she added. “They were either dog ticks, or some other type of insect, but not ticks.”

Anyone who needs information on ticks or other health-related issues may contact the health district office at 203-270-4291.