Tick-research center dedicated at KSU

MANHATTAN, KAN. — Kansas State University's (KSU) veterinary college unveiled its Dryden-Merial Tick Research Center last month, a facility dedicated to disease-vector research relating to ticks that infest dogs and cats.

The center was made possible through an $815,000 gift from Merial.

Dr. Michael Dryden, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, says that while ticks infesting dogs and cats historically did not present a serious problem, that's changed due to climatic and ecological factors.

"Dr. Pat Payne (assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology) and I realized that a facility was needed" for research, Dryden says.

"Until now there have not been good evaluations of knockdown, repellency, speed-of-kill or resistance to insecticides and tick-control products," Dryden says. "There also was very little biological information on how efficiently and rapidly the ticks that infest dogs and cats transmit pathogens, how long and successfully they feed and what is the reproduction success of ticks."

The facility pushes KSU to the forefront of tick-control research, says Dr. Ralph Richardson, the veterinary college's dean.

"It's a relevant area, not simply for the research opportunity, but because we are invested in the results of this knowledge to provide better health care in our profession," Richardson says.