Project ITCH:

What are you doing?

No matter where you are, there are two broad areas of tick prevention: personal protection (wearing long pants, using repellants, checking for ticks) and yard-based interventions (clearing vegetation and professional pesticide application).

NEWVEC’s researchers want to know if what you’re doing is working, and why.

Project ITCH focuses on

• — identifying landscape features that predict tick density

• — evaluating the effectiveness of pesticides for tick control

• — investigating the relationship between risk perception and vector-control use

• — examining property characteristics like geographic region and urban/rural classification

Project ITCH also looks at the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of homeowners regarding tick and mosquito control on their properties to evaluate what works, what doesn’t, and why. Additional efforts focus on including tick data in CDC's ArboNET (the national arthropod-borne diseases surveillance system) and aim to understand regional differences in public concern for ticks versus mosquitoes.

This work is supported by an impressive sample size of over 6,700 participants across New England, and the research team conducts state-specific analyses to refine their findings. 

Participation Project ITCH involves completing an online survey and giving permission for our research team to visit your yard up to two times from late May through early July 2025.

Project ITCH is being carried out in two phases and was started in the spring of 2023. This study is ongoing.

Phase 1

NEWVEC asks you to tell us about what you are doing at home to reduce the number of ticks and tick bites. Whether you are hiring a company to spray your lawn, going with a DIY approach, or just crossing your fingers, we would like to learn more about your experience. Complete the survey to participate in Phase 1.

Phase 2

NEWVEC investigator teams select residential properties to participate in the study and assess what is working. We partner with you to find out if your tick control is helping. While participating households will get free evaluation of their property, the results of Project ITCH will inform all residents of the best practices to protect themselves, their families, and their pets from ticks.