Georgia researchers track tick-borne diseases

a woman in an orange safety vest and a bucket hat bends over in the underbrush of a forest, using tweezers to pick something up
Emory researcher Arabella Lewis collects a tick off a square of white flannel in the woods of Putnam County, Georgia. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

On a blisteringly hot, sunny day this summer, Emory researcher Arabella Lewis made her way through the underbrush in a patch of woods in Putnam County, outside Macon. She was after something most people try desperately to avoid while in the woods: ticks.

“Sometimes you got to get back in the weeds to get the best ticks,” she explained, sweeping a large square of white flannel along the forest floor.