With mosquitoes thriving and allergies raging, there’s one less thing to be ticked off about this summer — deer tick populations are down.

Counts of the tiny ticks are about 30 percent lower than last year, a strong indicator that Lyme disease will be less prevalent this year, according to Thomas Mather, director of the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease.

“It will result in 20 percent to 25 percent fewer cases this year,” Mather estimated.

But he still emphasized the need to prevent tick bites by wearing protective clothing and being aware of tick habitats.

Mather, Sen. Jack Reed and infectious-disease specialists gathered at Hasbro Children’s Hospital on Monday to discuss the latest efforts to battle Lyme disease.

“We have some of the world’s and the nation’s best experts here in Rhode Island,” said Reed, who praised the work of Mather’s department.

Last summer, URI received a share of $13 million in National Institute of Health funding to develop vaccines for Lyme disease, hepatitis and stomach cancer. Mather said he is working with guinea pigs to create a vaccine that would stimulate the immune system to attack tick saliva. It could be delivered by a skin patch, he said, envisioning a partnership with Isis Biopolymer, the Jewelry District developer of a transdermal drug-delivery patch.

Reed said he has also secured more than $1.3 million in federal funds for URI to develop Lyme disease prevention programs. Mather’s department has created a Web site ( www.tickencounter.org) to raise awareness of how to avoid tick bites. The site gets 300 to 400 hits a day, from as far away as Canada and Poland.

Every year since 1993, URI students under Mather’s direction fan out to 61 sites around the state to count nymphal deer ticks. The studies have demonstrated an increase in tick populations over the years, as well as a migration emanating from southern Rhode Island.

“Now they are all over the state,” said Mather.

His department is conducting research on what affects the rise and fall of populations, with one study focusing on whether low humidity is deadly to nymphal ticks.

“Last year, it was so moist and so humid, they lasted until August,” said Mather.

Mather said that no reliable figures are available for new cases of Lyme disease in Rhode Island because it is “cumbersome” for the state and the Centers for Disease Control to monitor them.

Jerome Larkin, medical director of infectious diseases and the Lyme disease clinic at Rhode Island Hospital, and Penelope Dennehy, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Hasbro, emphasized that Lyme disease can affect people of all ages.

Anyone who suspects that their flu-like symptoms may be the result of a tick bite should see a doctor early, they said.

KEY POINTSTick tips

Wear clothing that’s pretreated with Permethrin or buy the repellent and spray it on your clothing. Spray shoes and socks, especially since studies show that you’re 70 times less likely to be bitten by a tick if you do. Ticks latch on to the lower part of the leg and climb upward before biting.

Spray insecticide to the perimeter of your yard, namely shady areas and perennial beds. No treatment is needed for open, sunny, grassy areas.

Pets should be groomed after going outside to remove ticks and treated with tick prevention products.

Know that deer ticks are much smaller than common dog ticks. They are about the size of a poppy seed.

For detailed information, go to www.tickencounter.org.

rsalit@projo.com