University of Turku receives live ticks as 14,500 samples await disease testing in -80°C freezers

The University of Turku’s citizen-driven tick collection has gathered 14,500 samples, with up to 400 submissions arriving in a single day, Yle reports.

Stored at -80°C, the ticks will be screened for pathogens such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus, while also tracking how climate change affects their spread. A similar collection in 2015 yielded 20,000 ticks and mapped disease carriers across Finland.

Researchers are urging more submissions, particularly from Satakunta and Central and South Ostrobothnia. Project researcher Janne Sulku noted an early-season surge in taiga ticks, whose activity typically begins sooner than the common castor bean tick.

Samples can be sent alive or dead, packed with a damp paper to preserve them. The project’s website, punkkipankki.fi, provides submission guidelines and a map of reported cases.