Personal tick-bite protection and tick control are important public health measures for combating Lyme disease. In the United States, the majority of Lyme disease cases are acquired in the peridomestic landscape placing the responsibility for-.disease prevention mostly at the local level, especially on individual householders. This project hopes to bridge the gap between tick control research and implementation by 1) assessing the effectiveness of individual and integrated tick control strategies, and by 2) developing a novel, user-friendly decision support and health promotion system for translating research knowledge into cost-effective tick-bite protection measures. To be effective, decision support tools must provide guidance regarding local risk of pathogen-infected tick encounter as well as information on appropriate interventions that are customized for the ecological conditions and individual level of risk. Accordingly, we propose a plan that assesses and compares the tick-killing efficacy and residual activity of currently used synthetic pyrethroids with a number of candidate products having perceived lower toxicity/greater safety (MRNPs-minimal risk natural and biological products). Adapting techniques from turf pest management, we will develop a novel micro-scale strategy for conveniently and robustly evaluating the efficacy and residual activity of individual tick control products under field conditions, and will test the most promising MRNPs in macro-scale residential community field trials. Additionally, we will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of integrating rodent and deer-targeted tick control strategies with applications of synthetic pyrethroids and MRNPs. The effectiveness of individual and integrated tick control approaches will be assessed based on the extent to which the probability of exposure to the pathogen (Pg) was lowered by the management program. Our principal focus in this project will be on implementing tick management by developing a novel Smartphone application - TickEncounter Risk Calculator with Action Guidance -- for use by landscapers, commercial pest control operators, and homeowners. Additionally, we will develop and evaluate other social marketing and social network-based approaches for increasing the number of people opting to control ticks on their property. By integrating entomological and epidemiological tick-borne disease risk factors with new-media health promotion systems, expected outcomes from this project are improved tick-bite protection decision support and a significant increase in the number of people controlling ticks on their property.
