Louisville Metro health officials encourage community participation in ‘Spot a Tick and Share’ program

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – Louisville Metro Health and Wellness is encouraging people to participate in the “Spot a Tick and Share” program.

Health officials will be surveying the woods and fields this summer to find out where the most ticks are living and what kind of ticks are out there.

If bitten by a tick, individuals are asked to save it, fill out the online form and bring both to the Metro Health Department on 400 East Gray Street.

“We’re going to go out to different areas whether it’s parks, ditch lines, backyards, high grass and weeds area where we are going to surveille for ticks,” Metro Environmental Health Specialist Matthew Vanderpool said. “We’re going to identify those ticks; and the reason why we’re doing the identification is because different ticks carry different diseases.”

The most common ticks in Kentucky are the Lone Star tick, American Dog tick and the Blacklegged tick.

Ticks can spread diseases to both dogs and people. The most debilitating disease spread by ticks is Lyme disease.

Health officials recommend following the T-I-C-K rules of thumb:

Take precautions and wear insect repellant
Inspect your body for ticks and rashes after being outdoors
Carefully remove the head and body of the tick
Keep monitoring your health for fever, body aches and rashes and see medical attention if they develop