next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects After my brush with a black legged tick in April and subsequent sensitivity to doxycycline (extreme sun sensitivity), I really wanted to find out how to avoid them altogether. Thanks to Peter Payzant for some direction. tickinfo.com is a good source of info. As explained there, wearing pyrethrum-treated clothing combined with use of Deet on exposed skin areas is considered "100% effective" in keeping ticks off of your body. Permethrin has not been registered by the PMRA for personal use in Canada. Why not? - a good question; the Canadian military uses it and Health Canada advises Canadians to use it against malaria etc. I feel that health officials in Canada/NS are still underplaying the tick/lyme issue. We need to pressure health officicals and politicians to in turn pressure the PMRA to allow permethrin products (sprays and clothing) for protection against ticks to be sold in Canada, and to advise on use of the same. (I go for the full chemical protection route, especially use of DEET, only when I know I will be in habitats (e.g., tall grass) and areas known to have high levels of black-legged tick and high frequency of lyme in the black-legged tick.) Some US retailers will ship permethrin spray to Canada. LL Bean and other major outdoor-oriented retail stores sell Insect Shield and other brands of permethrin treated clothing so if you are in USA, pick some up! A few further sources of info: www.cdc.gov/lyme/resources/1209lyme.pdf Treatment of Lyme Disease... New Medical Letter recommendations for prophylaxis and treatment. (2005) NS gov. site with map of six areas where blacklegged ticks carrying the bacteria that can cause Lyme disease are known to be established: http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/cdpc/lyme.asp A Canadian study on effectiveness of spraying clothing (poster report) www.textilescience.ca/downloads/Arielle_Orteza_Report.pdf Canadian Lyne Disease Foundation http://canlyme.com Repelling the insect-repellent hat http://www.macleans.ca/science/health/article.jsp?content=20070723_107268_107268 -interesting reading as it's a 2007 article that anticipated PMRA approval of permetrhrin products "in the next three to six months". Quoting cjknndy@mta.ca: > Late follow-up on the Tick issue. i was recently in an area near > Bridgetown and > in a 400m stretch of tall grass i picked up 40+ ticks, later that day i found > one in my ear mildy engorged :(. I have not yet reached my 'zen' > with ticks and > am wondering where i could even acquire 'perethrin' or 'perethrum'? I did > purchase some insect repellant that uses Lemon Eucalyptuc oil as the active > ingrediant as I've read this is somewhat effective against ticks. > > Cheers, > Chris Kennedy in dartmouth > > > >> Any chance that pyrethrum is a related chemical? It would be nice if >> pyrethrum was toxic or repellant to ticks. I hope you are not in contact >> with cats or fish, Peter; or that your clothing wash water >> doesn’t get into >> any water that has fish. >>> >> > > David Patriquin http://versicolor.ca
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects