New tool aims to combat tick-borne diseases in Virginia

The Alexandria Health Department is launching a campaign designed to arm residents and visitors with information so they can tackle a tick if they happen to pick one up while hiking or playing.

They have a special tool to both remove and identify the potentially dangerous creatures.

Signs have popped up around some Alexandria hiking trails and telling people how to do tick checks after they’ve been outdoors.

Alexandria Health Department workers have been executing the new campaign, and they’ve created some very clever slogans.

“We are the Tick Chicks, and we do not want ticks to stick, and we will be doing our Tick Talks this summer,” said Erica Carter with the Alexandra Health Department.

The Tick Chicks want to help folks make sure ticks don’t stick. So in the Tick Talks they’ll be doing at different events, they’ll tell folks where to look.

“If one does stick to you, it’s on the ankles where the fabric meets the skin as well,” Carter said. “In the sleeves, in the hair, and so we’ll teach people how to check for ticks.”

The women say this campaign is aimed at slowing the spread of disease carried by ticks.

“We’ve seen an uptick in Lyme disease since 2020. Lyme disease is primarily transferred by the black legged deer tick,” said Amanda Coletti with the Alexandria Health Department. “[…] The other one to be really concerned about is alpha gal syndrome, otherwise known as the red meat allergy. It comes from the lone star tick.”

And a new tool the size of a credit card may be the new secret weapon to help identify and remove ticks. There are two notches, sized to remove both adult ticks and smaller nymphs, with directions on the right way to do it.

“You take the notch, you would slide it underneath the tick and pull it straight out like that,” Coletti said. “You don’t want to be scraping it out, you don’t want to just go in and pull it out willy nilly. You want to get mouth parts.”

Next step — tick ID. Snap a photo using the magnified part of the card and use the QR code to send it in.

“You can input the tick, upload the picture it goes to tick experts in the state, and they’ll get back to you to let you know what kind of tick it is, what disease risks are associated with it, should you go to your doctor,” Coletti said.

The tick cards will be available at the Alexandria Health Department tick talks and from their office.