A community-science tick surveillance platform developed at Bishop's University will expand its national reach through a new $1-million partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Dr. Jade Savage
This three-year partnership will expand the reach and capacity of eTick, an image-based surveillance system developed by Dr. Jade Savage, Full Professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry. The agreement formalizes Bishop's role as the primary provider of passive tick surveillance data to the Government of Canada, strengthens national efforts to monitor tick populations and supports public health officials in tracking the spread of tick species across the country.
"Ticks are spreading to new areas across Canada, which increases the chances of people and animals coming in contact with them and the diseases they may carry. This partnership with Bishop's University brings together community and technology to make it easy to report tick sightings. This will strengthen our surveillance and understanding of ticks, so that we can keep our communities informed and safe," said Dr. Joss Reimer, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada.
"Dr. Savage's work demonstrates the importance of curiosity-driven, community-engaged research", said Dr. Kerry Hull, Vice-Principal Academic and Research at Bishop's University. "What began as an interest in tick identification has grown into a nationwide initiative that contributes to public safety and wellbeing--in this case, literally one tick at a time".
"Tick surveillance works best if it's consistent, and consistency is expensive", said Dr. Jade Savage. "This partnership ensures the platform can keep running and improving, generating the long-term data we need to understand where and when Canadians and their pets and livestock encounter ticks. People submit photos for identification and eTick turns those everyday observations into scientific data that helps us track in real-time where ticks are appearing across Canada."
eTick is a free community science platform that allows people across Canada to submit tick photos for expert identification. The platform currently hosts over 83,00 publicly accessible tick records representing 25 species across the country. Within two days of a photo submission, eTick provides rapid, personalized and region-specific information that can help people understand potential health risks and provides tips on tick bite prevention. The platform also increases awareness of where ticks are emerging or becoming more common in various communities.
Led by Dr. Savage, the eTick network includes faculty and students from six universities and public health representatives from most provinces and territories.
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