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A message from Dr. Thomas Mather, noted University of Rhode Island researcher

Thomas N. Mather, Ph.D.

Dear Camp Directors:

I am a professor at the University of Rhode Island and a researcher on the subject of diseases carried by ticks and other biting insects. As an outdoor enthusiast and former boy scout, I fully support all efforts aimed at getting children and their families outside to latch onto nature. My job, however, is to keep these little "bits of nature" from latching onto people. Like you, I am very concerned about increases in diseases like Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Unfortunately, children playing and hiking outdoors are particularly susceptible.

Studies increasingly are showing just how therapeutic nature experiences can be for children. But not if they get sick doing them! Now, there is an important new way to help keep children as safe as possible from biting ticks and insects whenever playing outdoors, camping, or hiking. And, it's easy, too. Insect Shield is a new technology that builds insect repellency directly into children's (and adults') clothes. Effective protection is built in; all you have to do is wear the clothing.

I do not have any relationship with this company other than the fact that I visited their headquarters in North Carolina to personally ask them to create a line of Insect Shield clothes intended especially for summer campers.

Insect Shield agreed to my request, and now clothes with Insect Shield technology are available for you to offer to your campers and staff.

The insect protection provided by this clothing will last much longer than just through summer camp-the repellency lasts through 70 washes-so children can be protected at camp, in the backwoods, and after they return to their backyards at home.

I encourage you to look at our website ( www.tickencounter.org/research) for results of a trial using this technology to protect people wearing summer weight clothes from tick bites. Contact us at TERC@etal.uri.edu if you have specific questions. Tick and mosquito transmitted diseases are completely preventable if you and your camper families are ready to take appropriate action.

Thomas N. Mather, Ph.D.
Professor & Director
Center for Vector-Borne Disease
Tick Encounter Resource Center
www.tickencounter.org

Originally posted on Insect Shield web site (Scroll to bottom of the page)
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Are you concerned about the serious health threat caused by ticks?

Would you like to make appropriate tick-borne diseases prevention programming more widely available? If you answered yes to these questions, please consider supporting the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island. Proceeds help support tick-bite prevention programs.