Featured Media

  • Huntin’ Lands (podcast) – Picking the Best Tick Repellents in 2022 - June 21, 2022 - Hunters, outdoorsman, and their families spend a lot of time in the woods in the warm months, so we spend time with ticks, and some of those ticks carry horrible crippling diseases. On this episode, Joe and Butch talk with renowned tick expert Dr. Thomas Mather about the tick-borne illnesses, tick-avoiding practices ...
  • Insect Shield (blog post) – Preventing Tick Bites and Avoiding Lyme Disease - August 4, 2021 Disease Prevention Experts & Partners - An interview with Tick Expert, Dr. Thomas Mather talking about the threat of ticks, resources on his website, and his latest initiative called “Be Ready For Ticks!”
  • Tick on a fingertip Consumer Reports – Will That Tick Make You Sick? A Visual Guide - By Catherine Roberts, July 25, 2021 One out of every 2,000 emergency department visits is for a tick bite, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
  • The Naked Scientists logo The Naked Scientists (podcast) – Lyme Disease: Ticks, Trends, and Treatment - July 6, 2021, Presented by Chris Smith and Eva Higginbotham With Lyme disease on the rise we’re exploring the science behind this complex condition…
  • 2 ticks on leafs NBC TODAY – How to protect from ticks this summer - June 18, 2021 Scientists are already warning that it’s a bad year for one type of tick, and now they’re being found in more places across the country. NBC News investigative and consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen spoke with entomologist, Dr. Thomas Mather to learn how to stop ticks in their tracks.
  • Blacklegged tick on a leaf Entomology Today – Crowdsourced Photos Show Expanding Ranges for Ticks - By John P. Roche, Ph.D., June 15, 2021 In a study published in May in the Journal of Medical Entomology, Heather Kopsco, Ph.D., Roland Duhaime, and Thomas Mather, Ph.D., used photos submitted to their TickSpotters surveillance program at the University of Rhode Island to document the geographic ranges of three medically important U.S. tick species, including two that spread Lyme disease.
  • Blacklegged tick questing NY Times – Let’s Do a Tick Check - By Melinda Wenner Moyer, June 11, 2021 As scores of city dwellers in the United States ditch their urban lives for more land and bigger homes, many may be facing new foes this spring and summer: bloodsucking ticks. These pervasive bloodsuckers can give you more than just Lyme disease. Here's how to protect yourself.
  • Brown dog tick infestation verywell health – Is It a Bad Year for Ticks? It Depends on Where You Live - By Valerie DeBenedette, June 08, 2021 Every spring and summer, people throughout the United States start to theorize whether the year will bring a particularly bad tick season. “I get asked that all the time,” Thomas Mather, PhD, a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island, tells Verywell.
  • Grist – It’s not just your imagination — ticks are out of control this year - By Zoya Teirstein, June 7, 2021 Not long ago, I went on a walk with some friends through a field near my house in upstate New York. When we stopped for a break, something moving on my pants caught my eye. There were about a dozen reddish-brown ticks crawling up my legs.
  • 2 asian long horned ticks ecoRI News – Annual Tick Season Includes Arrival of New Invasive Species - By Brian P. D. Hannon, May 17, 2021 This year’s tick season has brought an unwelcome development beyond the usual concerns about the disease-bearing arachnids with the confirmation of what one scientist said is a new invasive species in the Northeast -- Asian longhorned ticks.
  • Happy OUtdoor families logo Happy Outdoor Families (podcast) – The Truth About Ticks - May 31, 2021, Hosted by: Emily Isenbarger In this episode, Dr. Thomas Mather teaches us what we need to know about ticks. Packed full of information, this interview will help you be better prepared should you encounter ticks while spending time outside. From learning about which ticks live in your area, to prevention, to how to remove a tick and what NOT to do, Dr. Mather covers it all. Encountering ticks outside may not be fun to think about but this information is so important, and I hope helpful for you!

Additional Media

  • Insect Shield (blog post) – Preventing Tick Bites and Avoiding Lyme Disease - August 4, 2021 Disease Prevention Experts & Partners - An interview with Tick Expert, Dr. Thomas Mather talking about the threat of ticks, resources on his website, and his latest initiative called “Be Ready For Ticks!”
  • Bob Maurais with vials of ticks Using Education And Prevention to Stop Tick-Borne Diseases - "Media coverage and conversations surrounding the Zika mosquito virus have diverted attention away from the ever-present reality of Lyme and associated tick-borne diseases (TBDs)." An educator and IPM colleague discusses how PMPs can expand their public health protector role by increasing their focus on tick education.
  • If you have been bitten before, tick saliva can cause a skin reaction within 18-72 hours. It can look severe, but by itself, it is not a sign of disease....just a bite. NYT Once Rare, Infection by Tick Bites Spreads - Once Rare, Infection by Tick Bites Spreads A potentially devastating infection caused by tick bites has gained a foothold in the Lower Hudson Valley and in coastal areas of the Northeast, government researchers have found. The condition, called babesiosis, is a malaria-like illness that results from infection with Babesia microti, a parasite that lives in red blood […]
  • If the skin reaction expands to larger than a silver dollar then it may be a sign of lyme disease. This would be a good time to show your rash to a doctor and mention your tick bite. Boston.com Rare tick disease cases on rise in Rhode Island - PROVIDENCE – More Rhode Islanders are testing positive for a little-known tick disease that is related to malaria, health specialists said yesterday.  Babesiosis, once more commonly called Nantucket fever, is caused by a microscopic parasite transmitted by the bite of a deer tick. Healthy individuals may show no symptoms, though others might suffer from flulike […]
  • 2 women walking on a trail with a poodle into the woods A Minuscule Foe, a Massive Public Health Challenge - Tick-borne Lyme disease is epidemic in New England, but prevention efforts are scattershot, lagging far behind need.  Second in a series of occasional articles. Should we kill all the deer? That was the question facing residents of Maine’s Monhegan Island in the mid-1990s. Lyme disease caused by deer tick bites afflicted 13 percent of the […]
  • Size comparison of an engorged female dog tick and an unfed female dog tick A Tick in Her Hair Serves as Reminder to Take Precautions - I felt the bump on my head at dinner with friends in Roslindale. I scratched. Something dislodged near my temple, snagged in my hair, then fell to the table: A dog tick. Despite jokes from the table about getting too close to the subject I was writing about, I was perplexed: Since embarking on a […]
  • saliva extraction of a tick Researchers strive for vaccine against tick-borne diseases - Researchers strive for vaccine against tick-borne diseases KINGSTON, R.I. — In a basement laboratory at the University of Rhode Island, adult deer ticks are taped onto their backs, legs flailing. For about an hour, the watermelon-seed-sized ticks continuously drool into a miniature glass tube. If research assistant Megan Dyer is lucky, she may get the […]
  • Blacklegged Tick Location: Northeastern and upper midwestern U.S. Spreads: Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Powassan disease. New National Pest Alert focuses on Ticks and Tickborne Diseases - November 17, 2016 The North Central IPM Center, a dedicated group of experts in the field of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research and communications representing the upper mid-western states has just released its newest National Pest Alert — Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases. “Ticks and tick-borne diseases (TBD) pose a major public health concern nationally. Eleven […]
  • Dr. Thomas Mather on the news WPRI: Christmas Tree Tick Report - KINGSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — It’s Christmas tree season and a bug expert at the University of Rhode Island says when you bring that fresh tree home and see what you think is a tick on it — it’s likely not what you think. The threat of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is quite prevalent […]
  • color coded map WBUR: Losing to Lyme Series - A series on why we’re losing the battle against tick-borne diseases and what we can do about it. 7 Things I Learned While Reporting On Lyme And Other Tick-Borne Diseases Our Dogs Can Get Lyme Vaccines And We (Still) Can’t. When Might We? Map: Where Lyme Disease Is Worsening In Mass. Lyme disease is a […]
  • Preventing Lyme Disease: Advice from an expert. Dr. Thomas Mather on the news Morning Brew Show has “The Tick Guy” on to promote TickSmart prevention techniques - Preventing Lyme Disease Advice From an Expert May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Here to share some expert advice on how to prevent the tick-borne disease is Director of University of Rhode Island’s Center for Vector Borne, Dr. Mather, also known as “The Tick Guy.” Mather also serves as the director of URI’s Tick […]
  • Saliva extraction of a tick Another Tick-Borne Disease? Borrelia miyamotoi may cause relapsing fever in humans - New Tick-Borne Disease Is Discovered   A new tick-borne disease that may be stealthily infecting some Americans has been discovered by Yale researchers working with Russian scientists. The disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium called Borrelia miyamotoi, which is distantly related to Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease. B. miyamotoi has been found […]
  • Protect yourself from ticks and lyme disease. Pull upwards with slow, steady motion How NOT to Remove a Tick - How NOT to Remove a Tick Often repeated folk remedies like touching the tick with a lit cigarette might have worked to remove American dog ticks, but these days the most common ticks people encounter are blacklegged (deer) ticks and Lone Star ticks. In their adult stages, these two tick species attach with great tenacity–they insert their […]
  • Dr. Thomas Mather in the brambles looking for ticks URI entomologist to establish test site - Although winter is fast approaching, disease-carrying deer ticks are still active and abundant in southern New England, where a University of Rhode Island researcher has been collecting adult deer ticks at a rate of more than 350 per hour while walking in the woods, along parkland paths, and even on local roadsides in recent weeks. […]
  • Engorged tick More Tickborne Diseases Other than Lyme. Maybe Just Don’t Go Outside - I said in Monday’s post (about the CDC changing its estimate of Lyme disease diagnoses in the US, raising it 10-fold from 30,000 new cases per year to 300,000) that there has been a run of recent news about other tickborne diseases. If you are someone who loves the outdoors – or even, you know, your back […]
  • Dr. Thomas Mather holding 2 vials of ticks To Fight Tick-Borne Disease, Someone Has To Catch Ticks - Most people try to avoid ticks. But not Tom Mather. The University of Rhode Island researcher goes out of his way to find them. He looks for deer ticks — poppy seed-sized skin burrowers — in the woods of southern Rhode Island. These are the teeny-tiny carriers of Lyme disease, an illness that can lead to […]
  • Male white tail deer with a full rack New tick-borne disease recognized in the northeastern USA - New illness tied to tick that carry Lyme disease.  Researchers have discovered a new human disease in the Northeast transmitted by the same common deer tick that can infect people with Lyme Disease.  The bacterial illness causes flu-like symptoms, researchers from Tufts, Yale, and other institutions reported Wednesday, but they also described the case of […]
  • Deer tick life cycle Daily Dose Live Chat Recap: July 15, 2013 - 10:36 – Health Producer: Hi everyone! Thanks for checking into this chat. Dr. Mather will join us at 11, but please feel free to submit questions now. 10:55 – Thomas Mather: Looking forward to answering all of your questions about tick bite protection and prevention of tick-transmitted diseases. 11:00 Health Producer: Okay, let’s get started! […]
  • The Leonard Lopate Show – Please Explain: Ticks - There are more ticks in more places than ever before, and over the past two decades tick-borne illness has increased, especially in the northeast. Dr. Thomas Mather, director of the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease and its TickEncounter Resource Center, and Dr. Thomas Daniels, Associate Research Scientist and Co-Director of the Vector Ecology Laboratory at Fordham […]
  • 10 ticks crawl up. Man's feet in flip flops with tiny larval ticks on them Webinar Series: Get TickSmart: 10 Things to Know, 5 Things to Do - There are more ticks in more places than ever before in the history of North America. And there’s even more to come. Some people may not want to hear that. Some people may disagree with me.  However, no matter where you live it’s more important than ever to be TickSmart. Here is an example of […]
  • Dr. Thomas Mather Five Questions With: Dr. Thomas Mather - 5 questions from PBN: PBN: Where is public awareness when it comes to Lyme disease, compared to where it needs to be? PBN: How commonly do Rhode Islanders contract Lyme in suburban environments, playing or working in their yards? PBN: What is the status of the debates revolving around testing and treatment and protocols coming […]
  • Bad things come in small packages Be Very Afraid of Ticks - The threat of tick-borne diseases is serious and growing. And you’re probably not doing enough to protect your family. All parents have at least one issue that keeps them up at night worrying over their kids. For some, it’s gun violence. Others, cyberbullying. For me—especially in the spring and summer—it’s ticks. Ticks aren’t just gross […]
  • Blacklegged tick embedded in a human Tick Populations Explode in Northeast, Mid-Atlantic Following Snowy Winter - Despite a brutally cold and snowy winter across much the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, experts say tick populations across both regions are thriving this spring. “This year, it’s clear that dog ticks are probably up at least a third over what we saw last year same time,” Thomas Mather, co-founder and director of the University of Rhode […]
  • Tick on white fabric Tick population may thrive thanks to snowpack’s insulation
  • WCVB 5 ABC Boston's news leader The Chronicle Show - Tick Proof Yourself and Your Property We hear about the danger of tick bites in the woods and by the beach.  Yet  approximately 75% of tick bites occur in your own yard.  Here are ways to protect yourself and your family. The first know case of Lyme disease was in Lyme Connecticut. Hiking or walking […]
  • Map of northeast U.S. Ticks: They’re taking over! - Nearly half of all counties in the United States are now home to the ticks that transmit Lyme disease, according to a new federal tick count released Monday. The black-legged tick has conquered Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Maine since the last survey was done in 1998. (The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) […]
  • HIgher rate of B. Miyamotol Infection? High Prevalence of Borrelia miyamotoi among Adult Blacklegged Ticks from White-Tailed Deer - February 5, 2016 EVERYTHING comes from somewhere. But where does the blacklegged tick relapsing fever germ Borrelia miyamotoi come from? Previous studies (Scott et al. 2010 J Med Entomol) found a high proportion of wild turkeys positive for B. miyamotoi infection in TN but none of the ticks found attached to the birds were positive for infection. Extremely low […]
  • Eco RI news Are tick populations and tick-borne disease related to climate change? - University of Rhode Island professor and director of the Center for Vector-Borne Disease Tom Mather says we’re seeing more ticks in more places. But is the increase in tick populations and tick-borne disease related to climate change? Watch the interview for answers to this question and much more important information that is useful knowledge about […]
  • Tick crawling on fabric Maine Calling - Did the combination of a mild winter and a cool spring have any effect on the ticks in our region this year? We’ll talk about whether it’s time to beware of ticks, what to do if you get a tick bite, and what the latest developments are with Lyme disease in Maine. Guests:  Dr. Rob […]
  • Protect yourself from ticks and lyme disease The TickGuy appears on Good Morning Washington - May is Lyme disease awareness month. The bad news is there are more ticks in more places. The good news is not all ticks give you Lyme disease. There are lots of disease that ticks transmit but only one type of tick transmits Lyme disease. If your bitten by one type of tick and it […]
  • Hands searching through a Christmas tree Those really aren’t ticks on your Christmas tree – here’s why - By Bill Tomison and T.J. Del Santo (WPRI.com) – December 13, 2016 “You need to be rest assured that these things are not ticks, and it’s very unlikely that you’d get a tick from a Christmas tree.” “It’s Christmas tree season and a bug expert at the University of Rhode Island says when you bring […]
  • The Most Effective Tick Repellents for Humans (and Dogs), According to Science - The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention warn that the incidence of tick-borne diseases continue to increase, following last year’s news that the number of insect-borne diseases in the United States has tripled since 2014. And the summer months are when you’re most susceptible, because “as the weather gets better, tick numbers rise,” according to Dr. Thomas Daniels, […]
  • NBC Nightly News CDC Warns Tick-Borne Illnesses Have Nearly Doubled Since 2004 (video) - NIGHTLY NEWS CDC warns tick-borne illnesses have nearly doubled since 2004 As cases of tick-borne illnesses rise, some patients now send photographs of the tick and details like how long it was attached to their skin to entomologists in order to assess their risk of infection. Watch the video to learn more from the University […]
  • Prevention Interview: Radio Boston with Dr. Thomas Mather - Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston interviews Dr. Thomas Mather, Professor of Entomology, from the University of Rhode Island, about Lyme disease, the role of deer and mice in tick-borne disease, tick habitat and life cycle, and finally TickSmart prevention strategies. Listen to the interview to learn more from “The Tick Guy.” 
  • inside the tick lab Cape Cod Times: Teresa Martin Tick Reports Offer Information, Peace of Mind (article) - Who doesn’t love summer? Soft nights, rolling ocean waves, flower-filled meadows, leafy paths … butterflies, honeybees, swallows on the wing, and — the tick. Uh, yeah. The tick. That dot-sized dreaded denizen that demands blood meals and gives many of us such a case of the heebie-jeebies that they turn a walk in the woods […]
  • Dr. Thomas Mather on Good Morning America Good Morning America: Are Seed Ticks Putting Your Family In Danger? - New report on increased tick risk. Is this the worst tick season ever? As warm weather spreads across the country we are now entering prime tick season. That means increased risk. But there are ways to keep your family safe. As kids and pets go to play outside, they are more likely than ever to […]
  • In total 54 surveys from more than 35 research groups involving more than 52,000 ticks have revealed Update: Lone star ticks are not spreading Lyme disease - Feb 1, 2018  A new paper out in the Journal of Medical Entomology presents a review spanning 30 years of research and concludes that lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum) do not transmit the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. Over the years, there were a handful of issues that created confusion about whether the bite of lone star ticks […]