Read about some of our ongoing research studies, or check out opportunities to be an active participant in scientific research to prevent tick encounters.
Area-Wide Tick Control : An Opportunity For Lyme Disease Prevention
For over a decade, Narragansett has reported one of the highest incidence rates for Lyme disease in Rhode Island. Even last year when ticks were less abundant, 1 out of every 400 residents suffered a newly identified case. Many more were likely infected but remained unconfirmed. Reducing tick abundance, especially in residential areas, is the key to disease prevention, but neither the state nor any town in Rhode Island have yet to provide for any kind of tick reduction program. Until now, tick-borne disease prevention has been solely the responsibility of individuals.
Many strategies for tick control are available but most are at the scale of individual properties. Small-scale trials using a novel strategy developed by the USDA called the '4-poster' were recently completed in 5 northeastern states including Rhode Island. Over a 5-year period, abundance of nymphal deer ticks, the stage most responsible for disease transmission, was reduced by over 50% across a 2 square mile area. Now, with funding made available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the town of Narragansett has the opportunity to put this technology into action on a town-wide scale, to test if this device can reduce Lyme disease incidence.
The '4-poster' device
White-tailed deer are the essential hosts for adult deer ticks; without deer, deer tick
populations simple would not exist. However, eliminating deer is too costly to
implement and maintain in most afflicted communities, and even talk of eliminating
deer usually evokes high levels of public controversy. The '4-poster' device targets
the ticks that feed on deer without harming the animal, and has the potential for
delivering the broadest-scale impact on tick-borne disease risk while requiring the
lowest level of community engagement.
How it works
The '4-poster' has a central bin filled with corn (to attract deer) that trickles into
specially designed feeding troughs surrounded by a pair of foam posts at either end
of the device. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved acaricide, to kill
ticks, is applied weekly to the foam posts by a licensed pesticide applicator. Deer
rub their head against these posts while attempting to get the corn, applying the
acaricide directly to the deer's head and neck, which is where most ticks feed.
Most of the ticks are killed before having a chance to reproduce.
Is it safe?
The tick-killing chemical permethrin is commonly used in many households on pets ...
even for controlling head lice on children. For this use, it is completely contained
on the foam posts and deer; pesticide is not sprayed into the environment. Additionally,
each device must be located at least 100 yards from any resident, apartment or playground,
and be clearly marked with appropriate precautionary statements. Moreover, there is no
evidence to suggest that the small amount of corn deer consume from these devices influences
their natural population.
For further information or to inquire about participating in this study please contact:
Office of Community Tick Control Research
University of Rhode Island
9 East Alumni Ave., Kingston, RI 02881
Tick Bite Protection With Permethrin-Treated Summer Clothing
Insect repellents represent one of the first lines of defense against attacks by blood feeding ticks and the diseases they can transmit. The most common products contain DEET and are applied to skin. An alternative personal-use repellent strategy is to apply repellent or toxicant products (usually permethrin) to clothing or other fabrics rather than directly on the skin.
Anti-tick Vaccine Development
This project stems from the observation
that an acquired tick resistance (ATR) to blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) blood feeding
provides partial (~70%) protection from Lyme disease spirochete infection in a Guinea pig (GP)
model. The project builds upon a suite of novel high-throughput antigen screening tools,
developed over the past 5 year period.
Area-Wide Tick Control
For over a decade, Narragansett has reported one of the highest incidence rates for Lyme disease in Rhode Island. Even last year when ticks were less abundant, 1 out of every 400 residents suffered a newly identified case.
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.