In 2016 the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, in collaboration with New York State Department of Health, began a study of ticks and associated pathogens that cause human disease such as Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis. As part of Suffolk County's Shared Services Initiative, the study includes collecting ticks from each of Suffolk County’s 10 townships and analyzing them for the diseases they may carry (pathogens). Please be advised that the findings of this study only represent a single location within each township and are not representative of the entire township.

The results of the study reinforce the importance of educating the public and medical providers about tick-borne diseases and tick bite prevention. This information can be used by jurisdictions to develop tick related strategies and by medical providers to evaluate patients for local tick-borne diseases.

Ticks are collected on an annual basis in the spring, summer and fall to coincide with the presence of different tick stages of development and species. The data provided below, confirmed the presence of tick-borne pathogens at infection rates similar to those found in other New York State counties and in the scientific literature. This program is ongoing and tick collection and analysis will continue into the future. Additional data will be released on an annual basis when available.

Statewide results can be found by visiting https://healthdata.ny.gov/ and then clicking the “All Data” tab.

Results from Suffolk County’s 10 townships can be found at the links below. Data is presented in the form of infection rates. An infection rate is the percentage of ticks positive for a particular pathogen out of the total number of ticks tested, from a collection site. For example, an infection rate of 50% for Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria indicates that 50% of the ticks tested were positive for that pathogen, and the other 50% were negative. Pathogens are typically bacteria, viruses or protozoans, which are capable of causing disease. The table below shows the three species of ticks most likely to bite humans in Suffolk County and their associated pathogens.

Upper left: Lab staff collecting ticks using a method called flagging. A flag is a common tick collecting tool made from a piece of white fabric attached to a wooden pole. Above: Ticks are removed from the flag and placed into a vial to later be identified, counted, and tested for pathogens.