Tick boxes
Beginning in late March 2026, social media users on a variety of platforms began sharing a rumor originating from a person identifying herself as a “board certified holistic doctor” named Sarah Outlaw, whose posts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok claimed “farmers are reporting boxes of ticks being found in fields. This should concern you.” Her Facebook post has had 1,100 shares, 2,100 likes, and 967 comments, her TikTok post 23,900 shares, 115,900 likes, and 6,362 comments at the time of this writing. Although her initial claim was “I am hearing directly from farmers in the Midwest about unusual tick activity in their fields. Reports of boxes of ticks being found. Reports of ticks being seen in ways that feel out of the ordinary,” Outlaw was unable to provide any proof to confirm the claims, saying only that she received the information from a colleague. She declined to provide any further details, citing others’ privacy, beyond alleging that farmers reported finding tick boxes, specifically in Missouri. Despite representing herself as “Dr. Sarah Outlaw,” her website reveals she’s a “certified health coach,” with a “master herbalist certificate” (no program identified), and master’s degree in applied clinical nutrition from New York Chiropractic College (a 16-24 month online program open to the public), who practices Nutrition Response Testing℠ (a derivative of Applied Kinesiology [muscle testing] intended to provide specific recommendations on nutritional supplements and food choices), in Des Moines, Iowa.
Investigators for Snopes report reaching out individually to hundreds of Missouri officials associated with city and county health and police departments to ask whether they had received any information regarding farmers finding boxes of ticks. As of their report on April 3, 2026, no officials confirmed any such reports, and at least two dozen counties said they had either received no reports of boxes of ticks or were unaware of any such activity.
Lisa Cox, communications director with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, said the department had “not received reports as such.”
The coincidence of this claim with Pfizer’s March 23 announcement of the results of the phase 3 trials of their Lyme disease vaccine candidate PF-07307405 (LB6V) has led many to speculate on a conspiracy to intentionally spread Lyme disease using genetically engineered ticks in order to create a market for the vaccine. Others, citing Kris Newby’s book Bitten, suggest it represents a weaponization of genetically engineered tick-borne diseases on the part of the government for nefarious reasons. Bill Gates’ name comes up frequently in comments.
Searches for "ticks" and "boxes" locate no credible news reports of suspicious boxes of ticks, but instead find references to “ticking the boxes” and details and news media outlets' articles regarding “tick boxes,” a control strategy involving metal or plastic box traps baited to attract rodents (specifically deer mice and chipmunks), with brushes that apply a small amount of the phenylpyrazole insecticide Fipronil (fluocyanobenpyrazole, 5-amino-1-2,[6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-(trifluoromethylsulfinyl) pyrazole-3-carbonitrile) to their back & shoulders as they navigate the passage, killing ticks and tick larvae on these primary hosts without the need to distribute insecticide more generally.
