A veterinary pathologist who first identified the Asian longhorned tick in Virginia said research on the tick has been halted because of the government shutdown.

Kevin Lahmers, DVM, PhD, clinical associate professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech, had been collaborating with the USDA to measure the disease threat associated with the tick. Lahmers reported that he had to stop working on a risk assessment related to a newly identified pathogen.