University of Wisconsin-Madison launches tick tracking app

MADISON — University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are hoping a new smartphone app will help them gain a better understanding of where people come across ticks in the state.

Wisconsin Public Radio reports that the Tick App helps people identify ticks and provides instructions on how to remove them from the body. The app gives users daily reminders to keep track of when and where they find ticks.

It comes as the state is increasingly a hotbed for tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease.

Susan Paskewitz is the chairwoman of the entomology department at UW-Madison and helped develop the app. She says researchers are collecting data on all types of ticks, but they're especially interested in nymph data.

Nymphs are larvae that have molted into young ticks that carry illnesses they acquire while feeding as larvae.