Prevention is the key to controlling infection with Lyme Disease. The Medical Entomology laboratory coordinates a surveillance project that was designed to inform us of where one might encounter blacklegged ticks (a.k.a. deer ticks) (Ixodes scapularis)in the state of Iowa. These are the ticks that can transmit the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, that causes Lyme Disease. In addition, the project aims to determine if ticks in those regions are infected with the Lyme Disease bacterium, because the risk of contracting Lyme disease is strongly associated with the presence and number of these ticks and the proportion of those that carry B. burgdorferi.