Freaky Friday: Debunking common tick myths (in English)

By Kirsten Crandall Joint Ph.D. candidate in McGill Dept. of Biology with Dr. Virginie Millien and Dr. Jeremy Kerr (University of Ottawa)

Talk title: Fact or fiction: Debunking common tick myths

With more ticks and disease in Canada than ever before, there has been a huge increase in the amount discussion on these topics, but what is fact or misinformation? In this talk, Kirsten will discuss some of the common tick myths that I have heard from members of the public while conducting her research.

Kirsten Crandall is a Joint Ph.D. candidate at McGill University and the University of Ottawa. Her interest in disease ecology increased while completing her master’s degree at McGill University on the body size variation of the mammalian hosts of Lyme disease in North America. As a result of this research and the numerous accounts of people negatively affected by tick-borne diseases near her hometown of Montréal, Quebec, her interest peaked as to what factors might be driving the increased number of cases of infectious disease in Canada. Her research focuses on the connections between tick and mammal abundance and diversity with disease risk and climate change at a large spatial scale in Ontario and Quebec. She integrates a wide variety of methods, such as specimen-based museum work, field surveys, field experiments, and modelling, to disentangle this complex disease system. In her spare time, Kirsten enjoys participating in science communication and education through the Skype a Scientist program, writing and editing pieces for the University of Ottawa’s BioMatters magazine, visiting natural history museums, and hiking some of Canada’s beautiful landscapes.

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