This site needs JavaScript to work properly. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features!
Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

NIH NLM Logo
Log in
Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Jul 15;214(2):182-8.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiv775. Epub 2016 Jan 5.

Effectiveness of Residential Acaricides to Prevent Lyme and Other Tick-borne Diseases in Humans

Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of Residential Acaricides to Prevent Lyme and Other Tick-borne Diseases in Humans

Alison F Hinckley et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: In the northeastern United States, tick-borne diseases are a major public health concern. In controlled studies, a single springtime application of acaricide has been shown to kill 68%-100% of ticks. Although public health authorities recommend use of acaricides to control tick populations in yards, the effectiveness of these pesticides to prevent tick bites or human tick-borne diseases is unknown.

Methods: We conducted a 2-year, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial among 2727 households in 3 northeastern states. Households received a single springtime barrier application of bifenthrin or water according to recommended practices. Tick drags were conducted 3-4 weeks after treatment on 10% of properties. Information on human-tick encounters and tick-borne diseases was collected through monthly surveys; reports of illness were validated by medical record review.

Results: Although the abundance of questing ticks was significantly lower (63%) on acaricide-treated properties, there was no difference between treatment groups in human-tick encounters, self-reported tick-borne diseases, or medical-record-validated tick-borne diseases.

Conclusions: Used as recommended, acaricide barrier sprays do not significantly reduce the household risk of tick exposure or incidence of tick-borne disease. Measures for preventing tick-borne diseases should be evaluated against human outcomes to confirm effectiveness.

Keywords: Lyme disease; acaricide; humans; pesticide; prevention; tick-borne diseases; ticks.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Enrollment and completion of households in the study in 2011 and 2012.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Box plots of Ixodes scapularis nymphs recovered per hour across all sites 3–4 weeks after treatment, by treatment group and year.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Box plots of Ixodes scapularis nymphs per hour 3–4 weeks after treatment, by treatment group and site during 2011 and 2012 combined.

Comment in

References

    1. Hinckley AF, Connally NP, Meek JI, et al. Lyme disease testing by large commercial laboratories in the United States. Clin Infect Dis 2014; 59:676–81. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Curran KL, Fish D, Piesman J. Reduction of nymphal Ixodes dammini (Acari: Ixodidae) in a residential suburban landscape by area application of insecticides. J Med Entomol 1993; 30:107–13. - PubMed
    1. Maupin GO, Fish D, Zultowsky J, Campos EG, Piesman J. Landscape ecology of Lyme disease in a residential area of Westchester County, New York. Am J Epidemiol 1991; 133:1105–13. - PubMed
    1. Schulze TL, Jordan RA, Vasvary LM, et al. Suppression of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs in a large residential community. J Med Entomol 1994; 31:206–11. - PubMed
    1. Stafford KC III. Effectiveness of carbaryl applications for the control of Ixodes dammini (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs in an endemic residential area. J Med Entomol 1991; 28:32–6. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Full text links
Silverchair Information Systems full text link Silverchair Information Systems Free PMC article
Cite

AltStyle によって変換されたページ (->オリジナル) /