Veronica Crenshaw- Week One at the Garrett County Department of Health

    


    Hello! I'm Veronica, a rising junior at Vassar College, and I am currently a summer intern at the Garrett County Health Department in Maryland, focusing on tick surveillance and awareness efforts in the area. I recently finished my first week at the office, and I was really enthused by what I've done and learned so far.

    The week started off slow, allowing me to get acquainted with the people working in the office and to familiarize myself with the purposes of my role here. By Wednesday, I was caught up in how the office processes the tick samples we collect and prepares them for shipment for other labs that are able to test them for various pathogens that can impact humans and pets. I spent much of my first couple of days identifying different species, genders, and life stages of ticks in the area, and slowly sorting them so they can be shipped out. So far, as expected, I. scapularis and D. variabilis samples have been collected from a number of surveillance sites, mainly adults as they were collected in the spring, when adult populations are at their highest. 

    On Thursday, my supervisor and I set out to complete some tick drags at some of the locations that had yet to be surveyed for the year. Both locations were pretty populated with I. scapularis of various life stages, mainly nymphs as we expected, but a number of larvae and adults were collected as well. These collection sites didn't appear to have many D. variabilis ticks, but we managed to find a few at one of the locations.

    The week culminated with a trip to a local elementary school, where my boss and I presented to a number of students about ticks safety and tick bite prevention. We taught the about common and effective prevention methods, such as wearing appropriate clothing, doing regular tick checks, and how to remove a tick if need be. In addition, we allowed students to briefly look at a few samples of I. scapularis and D. variabilis ticks, so they have a better idea of what to look for when doing a tick check. 

    So far, things have been going smoothly, and I'm excited to see what other things I'll get to learn and do in the upcoming months!

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