Insecticide-treated clothes effective against disease-carrying ticks

• United States of America North America

• Consumer products Scientific studies Textile

A new U.S. government study confirms that insecticide-treated clothes marketed for preventing tick-borne ills do, in fact, thwart the pests.

In lab tests of clothes bought from one manufacturer, researchers found that the garments either quickly caused ticks to fall off, or rendered them unable to bite.

The study involved three types of ticks that, in the United States, are major carriers of disease -- including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and what's known as southern tick-associated rash illness, or STARI.

The clothes were pretreated with permethrin, a synthetic form of an insect-thwarting compound from the chrysanthemum flower. It's used in insecticide sprays and shampoos and creams that treat lice and scabies.

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