The Forecaster interviews Dill for article on lone star tick ‘activist’

The Forecaster interviewed Griffin Dill, a pest management specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, for an article on a woman who has become an educational activist after being bitten by a lone star tick and developing a red meat allergy. Patty O’Brien Carrier was bitten by the tick in August while working in her garden, and after severe allergic reactions and testing discovered the source of her ailment. The lone star tick is usually found in the Southern United States, but it has been identified in several isolated cases in Maine and other parts of New England. The Cooperative Extension has offered a free tick identification service to the public for the past five or six years, according to Dill. O’Brien Carrier first heard about Dill’s work when she saw him on a TV news program. She decided to meet him and since then has been sending him tick samples from her property at least once a week, the article states. No other lone star ticks have been identified. But she is still taking precautions and educating others. “What we think is going on with the tick is it’s brought in on migratory birds. For the most part we think it’s these isolated incidents where that’s happening,” said Dill. “So when someone finds one and it was acquired here we really try to follow up and do some field surveys.”