One Bite Can Change Your Life: A Talk on Ticks with Entomologist Larry Dapsis

Lyme Disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in Massachusetts and is now considered to be a public health crisis. In addition to Lyme, deer ticks can carry the pathogens which cause Babesiosis, Anaplasmosis, Relapsing Fever and Powassan virus, all of which can be very serious.

This program will review the basic life cycle and ecology of deer, dog and lone star ticks. This will include an exercise in tick identification using temporary tattoos. A handout will be provided that covers all elements of personal protection. 

Larry Dapsis has been an entomologist since age 5. He has a B.S. in Environmental Science & Biology from Fitchburg State University and an M.S. in Entomology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. He also has forty years of professional pest management experience including vegetables, cranberries and household insects. He joined the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension in 2011 as a Deer Tick Project Coordinator and Entomologist and is a member of the Barnstable County Task Force on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.