Tick research projects
UKHSA collaborate with several partners on research focused on ticks and associated risks in the UK.
Applies to England
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Topic: health impacts
Vector-borne disease: ticks
Part of: monitoring and research
Key resources for project partners:
- Tick research projects
- OPTICK
- TickSolve
- Pragmatick
- GenES_VBD
OPTICK
OPTICK is a 3-year project (2023 to 2026) focusing on understanding and reducing the impact of tick-borne diseases in livestock, and associated public health risks. The project investigates how factors such as landscape changes, farm management and climate change impact the exposure of livestock and people to ticks and subsequent tick-borne illnesses.
TickSolve
TickSolve is a 4-year project (2021 to 2025) which aims to investigate the ecological conditions that allow the spread of tick-borne infections, and establish where in the UK health risks are likely to be high. It also explores whether changes like climate change and woodland expansion could increase tick-borne infections in the UK, for examples Lyme disease.
Pragmatick
Pragmatick is a 3-year project (2023 to 2026) which aims to anticipate and mitigate disease risk associated with ticks and tick-borne illnesses, particularly under climate change and other human-caused land use changes.
GenES_VBD
GenES_VBD network is a UKRI funded collaborative project with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). The aim of this project is to enhance existing UK tick and pathogen surveillance through the application of genomic methods. Ticks collected through the Tick Surveillance Scheme will be used as part of this work to study the genetic diversity of UK ticks and pathogens they transmit.