Ticks can be a concern for schools, especially species that can transmit serious diseases to humans such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease and Powassan encephalitis. Approximately 12 species are of major public health or veterinary concern. Most of these species are in the family Ixodidae (hard ticks.)

Ticks are blood-feeding arthropods related to spiders and mites. The primary habitat for ticks is wooded areas and the open or grassy areas at the edges of wooded areas. On school properties, ticks are most often found on playgrounds, athletic fields, cross-country trails, paths and school yards located in and adjacent to wooded areas especially where deer and other wildlife hosts are abundant.

Table 8.66. Common disease-vector ticks occurring in North America from Tick Management Handbook. 2004. Kirby Stafford, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b1010.pdf (PDF)

Monitoring and inspection for ticks

Ticks are typically monitored by dragging a piece of light colored soft cloth (usually corduroy or flannel) stapled to a dowel to which a cord is attached, across an area of grass or low brush. At fixed intervals (for example, every 10 meters at high tick density or every 100 yards at low density) the cloth is examined and the numbers of ticks attached to it are counted. This method catches about one out of every ten ticks.

Cultural and physical options for tick management

Management practices include personal protective measures, habitat modification and limited use of pesticides as a targeted barrier treatment.

Table 8.67 Cultural and physical strategies for ticks.

Personal protection

• Wear light-colored clothing with long-pants tucked into socks when going into tick-infested areas.
• Educate students, families and school staff about ticks, tick-vectored diseases, and the proper use of repellents.
• Keep to the center of trails to minimize contact with brush and tall grasses.
• Wash and dry clothing at the highest temperature setting upon returning from a tick-infested area.
• At the end of the day after being outdoors, carefully inspect the entire body. Carefully remove any attached ticks using fine-tipped tweezers to gently grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Pull the tick straight upward with steady even pressure. Save the tick for future identification by placing it in a waterproof, crushproof container with alcohol.

Habitat modification

• Manage landscape to reduce humidity where ticks are likely to be found.
• Reduce cover for mice. Eliminate wooded, brush-covered habitat, prune lower branches of bushes, clean-up storage areas, woodpiles and junk piles.
• Reduce deer habitat or erect deer-exclusion fencing.
• Rake leaf litter and use wood chips or plant shade-tolerant grass under shade trees to reduce tick abundance.
• Trim trees and brush to open up wooded areas in and around areas of human activity, allowing sunlight to penetrate to reduce moisture and thus reduce tick habitat.
• Keep grass mowed.
• Remove leaf litter, brush and weeds at the edge of the lawn.
• Restrict the use of groundcover, such as pachysandra in areas frequented by people.
• Discourage rodent activity. Cleanup and seal stonewalls and small openings on school properties.
• Move bird-feeders away from school buildings.
• Avoid landscape plantings that attract deer or use deer-exclusion fencing to keep deer off school properties.
• Keep playground equipment away from woodland edges and place them on wood-chip or mulch-type foundation.
• Trim trees and shrubs on the school properties and at the woodland edges to permit more sunlight.
• Create three foot or wider wood chip, mulch, or gravel border between turf and woods.
• Widen woodland trails/walkways to permit trail-users to avoid contact with woody vegetation and tall grasses.

Table 8.68 Commonly used products for physical, cultural or mechanical management of ticks and uses.

Pesticide options for tick management

If tick-vectored disease risk is high, a targeted barrier treatment can reduce tick populations along wooded property edges where human activity is also high. These locations can include along edges of sports fields, along cross-country running trails, at margins of playgrounds. These applications should be timed to coincide with peak nymphal populations.

Pyrethrins plus synergist provide limited tick control. Pyrethrins plus synergist with insecticidal soap or silicon dioxide was more effective against ticks in one trial.

Table 8.69 Pesticide products available for the management of ticks.

a. Insecticides carrying a CAUTION label or exempt from EPA registration, in formulations that reduce potential for exposure.

b. CAUTION-label insecticides in devices that minimize potential human exposure.

Emerging issues, new strategies and priorities

Tick vectored diseases are on the rise in the US, therefore tick management issues are likely to be increasingly important for schools. For instance, Lyme disease is now found in 46 states and the number of new cases reported increased by 9.6% over the three-year period 2003-2005. Rocky Mountain spotted fever has been reported in 40 states. The number of cases reported in the US more than tripled between 2000 and 2003.

Current IPM strategies for tick management place an emphasis on pesticides used as repellents for treatment of skin and clothing, and as landscape barrier treatments. Most repellents are not recommended for use on young children. Research and surveillance is needed to improve understanding of tick ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne diseases.

Table 8.70 Priorities for ticks. Research Tick ecology. Epidemiology of tick-borne diseases. Effective biocontrol options. Low hazard pesticides including repellents. Education Accurate identification of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Proper use of protective clothing and repellents.

Additional resources for tick management

Pennsylvania IPM Program. 2004. IPM for Pennsylvania Schools: a How-to Manual. www.paipm.cas.psu.edu/206.htm

Stafford, K. 2004. Tick Management Handbook. Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/bulletins/b1010.pdf (PDF)

US Centers for Disease Control. Learn about Lyme Disease. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/index.htm

US Centers for Disease Control. MMWR Report, June 15, 2007 / 56(23);573-576. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5623a1.htm?s_cid=mm5623a1_e#ta

US Centers for Disease Control. Prevention and Control of Tick-borne Diseases. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/ehrlichia/Prevention/Prevention.htm

US Centers for Disease Control. 2005. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: Epidemiology. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/Epidemiology.htm

US Centers for Disease Control. Websites for tick-borne diseases. www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/list_tickborne.htm

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