Martha's Vineyard Public Health and Ticktogs

Ticktogs founder, Paul Elias, reports from Martha’s Vineyard:
(Paul is pictured below on the right with Patrick Roden-Reynolds, photo by Jeanna Shepard)

I have been teaming up with tick biologists, public health officials and patient advocates to speak publicly providing facts about tick-borne disease and tick bite prevention. 

Jeff Levy, CEO of Marthas Vineyard Medical, organized a morning of public talks in mid-August featuring primary care doctors, public health officers, tick biologists and sufferers of tickborne diseases and allergic syndromes. 

I spoke to a general audience of about a hundred vineyarders about the community-based process of developing Ticktogs on the Elizabeth Islands. Testing designs and fabrics through multiple iterations over the past decade to provide truly effective protection for the lower leg and foot, where ticks most commonly alight.  

The Vineyard medical community diagnosed over 500 cases of alpha gal meat allergy during summer 2025 (not to mention many cases of Lyme disease and other tickborne illnesses). Much of the public grew very concerned by the possibility of anaphylactic reactions, the dangers of eating at restaurants with unknown ingredients in foods, the risks of dairy products such as butter, cheese and yogurt for the highly sensitive, and even the risk posed by taking capsules coated in mammalian-origin gelatin.  

Speakers:

Aubrey Ryan PA-C at the MV Hospital opened the session with a broad review of tickborne illness on the island. 

A panel of primary care physicians (Gerry Yukevich, Bill Tsikitas, Kathleen Koehler, and Kelley Ellsworth) addressed diagnosis and treatment challenges as frontline clinicians facing a tidal wave of tickborne disease 

Tick biologist Patrick Roden-Reynolds of the MV Tick-borne Illness Initiative provided very practical advice about permethrin clothing treatment, insect repellent and careful tick-checking

Jake Tedaldi spoke about risk mitigation in animals

Jo Solet and Georgi Prevosti gave very moving accounts of life with Alpha gal allergy and Lyme disease

Sam Telford spoke from his deep experience researching tick issues in the region

Isobel Ronai discussed the challenges of basic research in tick biology and her forthcoming portal for the sharing of research results worldwide

Dick Johnson shared the prospects for emerging vaccines and treatments.

All in all it was a very useful morning, and much discussion centered around concrete next steps.