(Kearney, NE) -- Every spring and summer, as Nebraskans go outdoors to enjoy warmer weather, ticks reemerge.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly half a million Americans are diagnosed with tickborne diseases annually.
Julia Schaffer, a biology professor and department co-chair at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, says those illnesses are on the rise.
"In fact, we have more tickborne vectored disease than mosquito-borne vectored disease. We tend to think about mosquitoes, but ticks are actually the bigger problem," said Shaffer.
Each species of tick poses a different risk for Nebraskans.
"Most of these bacterial infections from ticks have similar symptoms, and some of them are more virulent than others, so you have to get treatment more quickly," said Shaffer. "If you don’t know what to expect, you may not get that person the right treatment fast enough."
Shaffer, working with researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Creighton University, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, plans to continue research on tickborne disease transmission.
The group hopes to secure federal funding to help purchase equipment for field testing.