New Hampshire universities embark on $8M effort to understand rise in tick-borne illnesses

New Hampshire’s ticks are having a moment, prompting the state’s scientists to come together in hopes of better understanding, and combating, the problem.

An $8 million grant from the National Science Foundation will support an investigation into how factors like climate, habitat, wildlife, and more affect the parasites and the diseases they spread, according to a release shared by the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday. 

“Ticks are an issue that touches nearly every community in New Hampshire,” said David Needle, a University of New Hampshire professor and veterinary pathologist leading the four-year project, in the release. Scientists from the University of New Hampshire, Keene State University, and Plymouth State University, and students, state agencies, and private industry will collaborate on the initiative. 

The announcement comes as ticks, and the various illnesses they carry, pose an increasing risk to the health of humans and wildlife alike. Emergency room visits for tick bites surged this summer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while tick-borne illnesses that have been increasingly common for decades, like Lyme disease, remain both prevalent and dangerous, diseases that have emerged more recently are on the rise, too.

Warmer winters, driven by climate change, have helped tick populations gain ground, aided by development and shifts in wildlife populations, according to the release. 

Scientists participating in the study will come from various fields to participate in the project, according to the release. Areas of inquiry are set to include studying ticks and the pathogens they carry through the lenses of genomics, the study and comparison of entire genome sequences; ecology; data science; and utilizing artificial intelligence.

Studying ticks can shed light on systems larger than themselves, Needle said in the release, giving the study the potential to build understanding not only of tick-borne illnesses but of other complex, interconnected systems, too.