Experts at the Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) in France launched a tick alert app on iOS and Android this week, to track the spread of tick cases and reduce the risk and spread of Lyme Disease among other tick-borne cases. At this time, the app is only available in French

"Together, we can swiftly improve our knowledge, simply by exchanging knowledge in a spirit of participatory science," says the application.

In 2015, France responded to 30,000 cases of tick diseases comparable to the 28,453 cases reported in the United States by the CDC.

The aim of the app is to let people know where they were bitten by a tick in order for future research of the area. Users input their location, date and age. The user will then tell the app if a human or pet (dog or cat) was bit by a tick.

INRA experts advise people not soak ticks in alcohol before removal. Soaking ticks adds stress on the tick species and could cause it to regurgitate bacteria into the blood system.

Lyme Disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and the sixth most common Nationally Notifiable Disease in the country. Lyme affects approximately 300,000 individuals in the United States on an annual basis and is spread from animal-to-animal. While white-tailed deer are the number one carriers of ticks in the United States, the white-footed mouse is responsible for carrying the Lyme bacterium. For this reason, Deerbusters encourages homeowners to keep deer out of yards with deer fencing to eliminate deer ticks. It's simple: No deer + no ticks = no Lyme.