PITTSBURG — Pittsburg State University biology students are working alongside an associate professor this summer to research tick-borne diseases — the leading vector-borne diseases and among the most pressing public health issues in the nation — by surveying Crawford County and Anderson counties in southeast Kansas as part of the state’s annual tick surveillance program.
Associate professor Anu Ghosh and her students have conducted field and lab research for seven years, but this year is special, the Pittsburg Morning Sun reported, because the research is being contracted by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
According to the CDC, ticks can transmit more than a dozen pathogens that can cause human disease, including Lyme disease, tularemia, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, spotted fever rickettsiosis, and ehrlichiosis.
Since 2009, more than 60 cases of Heartland virus have been reported in Missouri and Kansas, the most recent case contracted in May in Crawford County. Last year, the Bourbon virus was contracted in Anderson County, the newspaper noted.
Community support from landowners and veterinarian clinics, as well as support from staff at Pitt State, have made the research possible.
