Ticks! On the playground - surveillance of ticks and tick-borne pathogens at a school adjacent to forested park in Maryland

School children represent a high-risk group for Lyme disease due to the time they spent outside at school engaging in recreational activities that may result in exposure to ticks. School properties in rural and suburban areas often have athletic fields and playgrounds with wooded perimeters and brushy vegetation that can harbor ticks and their animal hosts. We conducted a 3-year surveillance study of ticks and tick-borne pathogens at a school with a chronic tick problem in central Maryland. Ticks collected from the bi-weekly tick sampling (March-November) were tested for pathogens using multiplex qRT-PCR. The Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma americanum, was found to be the predominant tick species, accounting for 96.8% of all adult and nymphal ticks collected. During the June peak, the mean adult and nymphal density levels reached 66.3/100 m². Ticks were unevenly distributed along the school perimeter with density as high as 264.0/100 m² at sections behind the school building, and densities up to 344.0/100 m² on the mulched playground. Six tick-borne pathogens were detected from pooled tick samples, including Erlichia chaffeensis (3.4%) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (1.7%). Camera trapping efforts showed Eastern Grey Squirrel and White-Tailed Deer were the most frequently captured animals. The high tick density along the school perimeter found in this study highlights the importance and challenges of tick control. Information on tick seasonality and activity hotspots on school grounds would help formulate better tick control strategies, such as the timing and targeted application of treatments.