Testing FAQ's

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What Pathogens Do We Test?

Ticks will be identified by species prior to pathogen testing. Depending on the selected test option, they will be screened for up to 16 pathogens using our lab-developed universal tick-borne pathogen assay. With our assay, we can detect the following pathogens:

Bacteria:
1. Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
2. Borrelia miyamotoi (BM disease)
3. Ehrlichia muris (Ehrlichiosis)
4. Ehrlichia chaffeensis (Ehrlichiosis)
5. Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Anaplasmosis)
6. Rickettsia rickettsii (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever)
7. Rickettsia parkeri (Rickettsiosis)
8. Bartonella henselae (Bartonellosis)

Viruses:
1. Powassan virus (Powassan encephalitis)
2. Deer tick virus (Powassan encephalitis)
3. Heartland virus (Heartland virus disease)
4. Bourbon virus (Bourbon virus disease)
5. Colorado tick fever virus (Colorado tick fever)
6. Tick-borne encephalitis virus (Tick-borne encephalitis)

Protozoa:
1. Babesia microtia (Babesiosis)
2. Babesia duncani (Babesiosis)

How Long Does It Take?

How to Send Ticks to Our Lab?

Will You Test Ticks That Are Sent Without Completing the Tick Submission Form?

Will You Test Ticks That Are Sent Without Completing the Payment?

Disclaimer: The Upstate Tick Testing Program is meant only for academic / research purposes and should not be considered as a diagnostic tool or as a basis on which to make health care decisions. All ticks in this program are tested for pathogen-specific nucleic acids via real-time PCR. A tick that tests positive for a pathogen does not confirm that the bitten human or animal was exposed to the pathogen.

Learn More About Tick Testing

We use multiplex RT-PCR to detect 16 tick-borne pathogens. Our methodology and assay details have been published in a peer-reviewed research article: Community-engaged tick surveillance and tickMAP as a public health tool to track the emergence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York.

Click Here to Read Our Research Article