Lyme disease cases are increasing in the United States. The vector of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease is the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis Say) (Acari:Ixodidae). While there are several tick control options, many are expensive or involve large‐scale or ecological interventions such as landscape acaricide spraying or wildlife baiting. Tick control tubes, cardboard tubes with acaricide‐treated cotton that can be used as nesting material by tick hosts, offer an alternative to more invasive tick control by treating tick hosts with an acaricide. In this study, tick tubes with cotton treated with two formulations of acaricide and water as a control were evaluated for wildlife use and for tick burden reductions on Peromyscus spp. an important reservoir host for the Lyme disease pathogen. Tick tubes were deployed for four weeks. Ticks parasitizing Peromyscus spp. and cotton use by wildlife were evaluated pre‐deployment and post‐deployment. Cotton from both treatments was used similarly, and permethrin‐treated cotton was used more frequently than the control. In addition, I. scapularis were eliminated from hosts captured in treatment plots post‐tick tube deployment. Tick tubes show promise as a tool for tick control on Peromyscus spp., especially as part of an integrated pest management plan.

中文翻译：

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蜱管减少了美国宾夕法尼亚州白脚小鼠的黑腿蜱负担

在美国，莱姆病病例正在增加。导致莱姆病的病原体的载体是黑腿蜱（Ixodes scapularis Say）（Acari：Ixodidae）。虽然有多种蜱虫控制选择，但许多都非常昂贵或涉及大规模或生态干预，例如景观杀螨剂喷洒或野生动物诱饵。蜱虫控制管是一种带有杀螨剂处理过的棉花的纸板管，可用作蜱宿主的筑巢材料，通过用杀螨剂处理蜱宿主，提供了一种替代更具侵入性的蜱控制的方法。在这项研究中，评估了用两种杀螨剂和水作为对照的棉花蜱管，用于野生动物的使用和对 Peromyscus spp 的蜱负担减少。莱姆病病原体的重要宿主。滴答管被部署了四个星期。蜱寄生 Peromyscus spp。野生动物对棉花的使用在部署前和部署后进行了评估。两种处理的棉花使用相似，氯菊酯处理的棉花使用频率高于对照。此外，I. scapularis 从蜱管部署后处理地块中捕获的宿主中消除。蜱管显示出作为 Peromyscus spp. 蜱控制工具的前景，尤其是作为综合害虫管理计划的一部分。