The Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg University (ESU) recently received funding to conduct tick testing free of charge for Pennsylvania residents.
Tick testing analyzes your tick for tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Once the tick is tested, the results determine if you are in need of further treatment for a tick-borne disease.
Nicole Chinnici, a tick and tick-borne disease expert, runs the Tick Research Lab at ESU and has testified in front of the Senate to help combat the tick crisis in the United States.
This epidemic is primarily caused by the lack of repellants on the market that protect against ticks. Currently, the repellants on the market only repel mosquitoes.
Chinnici created Organtick, an all-natural tick repellent, to combat this crisis. “The ingredients inside are so safe, you can actually eat it,” explained Chinnici.
In 2019, Chinnici competed in the tecBRIDGE Business Plan Competition with Organtick and won the non-collegiate division.
At the time, Organtick was an essential oil-based product. However, the Organtick team decided that the product needed to be even stronger to compete in the bug repellant market.
“Otherwise, it would get squashed,” laughed Chinnici.
Chinnici and her team went back to the lab and decided to break down the components inside of the essential oil to determine which components were most effective in repelling ticks.
Organtick should be used by everyone that works outdoors or enjoys leisurely outdoor activities like hiking as well as people who have to work outdoors like mowing the lawn and weeding.
“Most cases of tick-borne diseases occur in late spring and early summer” (www.idsociety.org). Therefore, Chinnici’s goal is to have a sample product available for next spring.
In addition to the tick spray, Chinnici also plans to have a tick collar for pets as well as a home and yard spray.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” Chinnici explained. “You can go two weeks without any progress and think you have ‘nothing,’ then a day later you can make a breakthrough and be on cloud 9.”
When she isn’t combating the tick crisis in the United States, you can find Chinnici at her gym, Crossfit Geronimo, in East Stroudsburg.
To learn more about Organtick visit http://organtick.com/.