Find out what local environmental health (EH) professionals across the country are doing in tick control and surveillance in a new assessment from NACCHO. Through key informant interviews, respondents shared the strategies they use to conduct tick-related activities and maximize resources by collaborating with internal and external partners.
View key findings from the report.
These are a few of the key findings:
- Local EH professionals are commonly involved in passive tick surveillance and community education and outreach but are less likely to be involved in tick control and management activities.
- Internal and external partnerships increase local EH professionals’ capacity to conduct tick-related activities such as public outreach, surveillance, control, and management.
- Barriers to performing tick-related activities include lack of direct funding and staff.
- Routine tick surveillance, even on a small scale, can establish baselines and provide insight into trends.
Respondents also said they would expand their tick programs if they had more funding. For example, one respondent said, “I would really start trying to focus on what our tick issues are, look at the epi data pretty closely, [and] buy some software with dashboards that would kind of keep us in-the-know on where the human cases are.”
Learn more about how jurisdictions are handling ticks and find recommended resources here.
This assessment was supported by a cooperative agreement awarded to NACCHO and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
