HARRISBURG – Legislation creating a standard protocol in response to a tick being removed from a student during the school day is headed to the governor after PA House approval. Senate Bill 232 would require schools to notify a parent or guardian in writing if a tick is removed from a student, in addition to providing information on the symptoms of Lyme disease. It also requires the school to preserve the tick for the parent or guardian, and to provide information on how to mail it to the Tick Research Lab of PA at East Stroudsburg University for free testing, if the parent or guardian chooses to do so. If not, the school can send the tick to the Tick Lab for free testing, and upon receiving the results, will provide them to the parent or guardian. The school may not make a copy of the results, nor include any information regarding the results in the child’s school medical record. They may notate the diseases present in the tick, with no identifying or personal information of the child, for purposes of compiling data as to what diseases are present in the ticks on and around the school’s property. About one in four cases of Lyme occur in children, with children ages 5 to 9 being at the greatest risk for contracting Lyme disease and other tickborne illnesses.
