The following policies and procedures apply to any specimen submitted for testing:

  1. Testing Policy
      2. Once a sample has been submitted to the laboratory for testing it becomes our property. Upon completion of the testing procedures we may continue to use the sample for our own research purposes. Our offering of a testing service is not a guarantee that every sample submitted will result in a successful test. Submitted samples that are only partial ticks, or those that were treated with chemicals prior to submission have a greater chance of failure during testing. However, we will make our best effort to test each tick that is submitted.
  2. Refund Policy
      3. After an order for tick testing is placed, the testing costs can be refunded up until testing procedures begin. Once the testing has started, refunds will not be granted for any reason since a service has already been completed. The tick identification service we offer is still free of charge.
  3. Privacy Policy
      4. We will not distribute your personal information to any third party outside of the University of Maine System, except as required by law. However, the results of your test, along with the survey you answered during sample submission, may be released to third parties as a part of a statewide or regional tick-borne disease research program.
  4. Contact Policy
      5. We will only contact you in regards to the tick testing that you have requested. We will reach out to you via email once you have placed your order, when your specimen is received and identified at the laboratory, and when your test results are completed.
  5. Scope of Results
      6. The results of your tick test should not be thought of as a medical diagnosis or a recommendation for treatment. We DO NOT and CANNOT provide medical advice. However, a tick test can provide valuable information about risks of exposure to tick-borne disease.
  6. Reporting of Results
      7. Once testing is completed, the results of the test will be emailed to the party that originally ordered the test. We will not release your report to any third party (except as required by law), as this will be the responsibility of the client that submitted the tick for testing to release information to authorized persons.
  7. Test Selection Policy
      8. We will only test ticks for the pathogen panel we have designed for that particular species of tick. Ala carte testing is not available, and we will not honor requests to test ticks for pathogens other than those on the applicable panel.

For more information about our policies and procedures contact: tickID@maine.edu