Hundreds of ticks cross Lance Jones’ desk each year, each one a small but important piece of Illinois’ public health puzzle. In this behind-the-scenes feature, Lance shares how detailed morphological work, DNA barcoding, and field surveillance come together to identify ticks submitted from across Illinois. With more than 1,000 ticks sent in by the public […]
Category: Ticks
New BiteMap website
We have launched the BiteMap website in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications to enhance our community-engaged passive tick surveillance program and collaborations, including with Lincoln Park Zoo and IL Extension. The website allows Illinois residents to report tick bites and encounters, and initiate submissions of tick […]
Now hiring hourly positions in Public Health Entomology 2022
Our advertisement for seasonal hourly technicians is now open! Deadline for full consideration is April 1, 2022. Please see announcement at the INHS website. The work is diverse and provides great field and lab experience. Positions will be focused on one or a combo of: field collections of mosquitoes & ticks, pathogen testing, and organismal lab […]
Lone Star ticks in Illinois can carry, transmit Heartland virus
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have confirmed that Heartland virus, an emerging pathogen with potentially dire consequences for those infected, is present in Lone Star ticks in two Illinois counties hundreds of miles apart. Lone Star ticks were first detected in Illinois in 1999 but had not been found to be infected with Heartland virus in […]