Steps eyed to educate public about illness

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The state Health Department plans several steps to educate the public about tick-borne illness including Powassan. They are: • Posting current and retrospective tick collection and testing results at Health Data NY. This data has always been shared with local health departments and state park managers to aid in their education and prevention campaigns. Given the considerable interest in data from providers, researchers and advocates, the state is working to make this data more readily available to the general public. The data is expected to be available on the website by the start of tick season in 2018.

• This fall, the Health Department will collaborate with the Department of Environmental Conservation to include tick and tick-borne disease informational materials in hunter education and licensure programs. These efforts include linking the department’s tick-removal video and other online tick resources to various hunting licensure websites. The department has al-

ready provided several thousand tick identification cards for in-person distribution at hunter education classes.

• The Health Department will also work with the state Education Department to implement new legislation requiring instructional materials for school districts and libraries to provide information about tick-borne disease.

• In 2018, the Health Department will release a tick-borne disease surveillance and response plan, similar to the plan in place for mosquito-borne diseases. This plan acts as a guidebook for local health departments, and discusses the current status of tick-borne diseases; the roles and responsibilities of the state and local health departments; and preventive strategies that can be used to address ticks at the local level.

For information about Powassan virus, go to: https://www.health. ny.gov/diseases/communicable/powassan/fact_ sheet.htm.