Tick Identification Resources

Since the identity and stage of the tick may provide useful information if disease transmission is suspected, removed ticks should be retained. For example, removal of a blacklegged tick would rule out RMSF as a diagnosis, since this tick is not a vector of R. rickettisia. Similarly, a diagnosis of Lyme disease would be contraindicated if only blacklegged tick larvae were removed from a patient, since this stage is rarely infected. The value of testing ticks for the presence of disease pathogens is problematic. Identification of a tick-borne pathogen within a particular tick does not mean that transmission has occurred, since the duration of attachment is seldom known. In reality, it is usually the tick that you do not find or test that is involved in transmission!