Breakthrough discovery offers new era in spring tick defence
New research has found a promising way to keep ticks off of you as we dive further into spring
Black legged ticks are just as much fans of temperatures above 4°C as we are, so you’ll want to protect yourself from them as you head out in the spring.
Not only are they sneaky and annoying, the black legged tick, also known as a deer tick, also transmits a bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Symptoms of Lyme disease can range from being mild to severe, with some people experiencing major long-term impacts to their health.
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Dr. Nicoletta Faraone has been trying to understand which compound attracts them and which compound repels them since 2017.
In a recent groundbreaking study led by Acadia University, her team has gained a better understanding of how lemongrass essential oil significantly impairs the ability of blacklegged ticks to detect humans. The findings have been published in Current Research in Insect Science.
"They mask the ability of the tick to smell a potential host," Dr. Faraone says.
Blacklegged ticks in the Faraone Lab at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. (Nathan Coleman/TWN)
While collecting ticks in the field, researchers also noticed some were developing a fungus that would eventually kill them. This led to even more specific study on the mechanism of exactly how the fungus was killing the ticks.
“We have theories based on our observations but we want to really clarify how this fungus works and the potential application of the fungus for the management of the tick population here,” Dr. Faraone adds.
The fungus was detected for the first time in Nova Scotia and it’s commonly found in the soil. Dr. Faraone says in the future, spreading the spore in your backyard could be one way to control the population, but more research is required at this time.
Copy edited by Anika Beaudry, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.
Thumbnail image created by Anika Beaudry via Canva Pro.