Integrated Pest Management in Controlling Ticks and Tick-Associated Diseases

The Blacklegged Tick, Ixodes scapularis : An Increasing Public Health Concern

“…Many different personal protective measures to prevent tick bites, and control strategies to reduce tick abundance or disrupt pathogen transmission cycles, have been evaluated and demonstrated to be effective at preventing tick bites or reducing the abundance of host-seeking ticks or infection rates in ticks or reservoir hosts [24–26]. These approaches include: tick repellents and permethrin-treated clothing to prevent human–tick contact; synthetic chemicals, natural products, and biological agents to suppress host-seeking ticks; deer reduction to suppress tick populations; topical application of pesticides to reduce tick burdens on rodents and deer; and antibiotic treatment or vaccination of rodent reservoirs against Lyme borreliosis spirochetes [27].…”

“…In the Lyme disease focus in the northeast, we also know that humans most often encounter I. scapularis ticks in peridomestic settings, including on their own residential properties [26,37]. Despite this detailed knowledge of when and where humans are most at risk for exposure to infected ticks, we remain unable to control I. scapularis -borne diseases.…”

“…Previous reviews have addressed (i) personal protective measures to reduce human contact with I. scapularis ticks and environmentally based control methods to suppress host-seeking ticks and reduce infection with Lyme disease spirochetes in tick vectors and rodent reservoirs [25–27,101]; (ii) the evidence base for such measures, and methods to reduce Lyme disease [28,29,102,103]; and (iii) the prospect for a human Lyme disease vaccine to re-emerge in the wake of the rise and fall of Lymerix, an effective licensed vaccine that was removed from the US market in 2003 [104,105]. Despite the emergence of a wide array of approaches to avoid contact with ticks through personal protective measures, suppress host-seeking I. scapularis, or disrupt enzootic B. burgdorferi transmission, we unfortunately still lack robust evidence for any method other than a human Lyme disease vaccine to reduce disease cases.…”

“…This can be achieved by the use of tick repellents on skin and clothing, or the use of permethrin-treated clothing [27,116], combined with regular checks for crawling ticks, changing clothes when coming inside (and drying removed clothing articles at high heat), and taking a shower (ensuring removal of clothes worn outside, increasing the likelihood of detecting crawling ticks, and perhaps also dislodging crawling ticks while showering) [25,29,95]. The main problem is that all of these actions require a level of daily vigilance and effort that is hard to keep up for the period of 2–3 months during which I. scapularis nymphs are most active.…”

“…Even further distant from the human infection, we can intervene by minimizing contact with host-seeking ticks (Figure 5) through (i) avoidance of habitats with a high risk for tick contact (easier said than done if it includes your backyard), (ii) reduction in longevity or survival of desiccation-sensitive host-seeking I. scapularis ticks in the peridomestic environment (e.g., xeriscaping, hardscaping, and vegetation management, including keeping grass short, clearing brush and removing leaf litter), or (iii) direct killing of host-seeking ticks with acaricides or biological control agents [24,25,27,29,117]. Here we introduce increased complexity by relying on solutions that are highly sensitive to human movement patterns.…”