Richardson Elise A, Ponnusamy Loganathan, Roe R Michael
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, 3230 Ligon Street, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Insects. 2022 Jul 26;13(8):672. doi: 10.3390/insects13080672.
Cases of Lyme disease in humans are on the rise in the United States and Canada. The vector of the bacteria that causes this disease is the blacklegged tick, . Current control methods for mainly involve chemical acaricides. Unfortunately, ticks are developing resistance to these chemicals, and more and more, the public prefers non-toxic alternatives to chemical pesticides. We discovered that volcanic glass, Imergard WP, and other industrial minerals such as Celite 610 were efficacious mechanical insecticides against mosquitoes, filth flies, and agricultural pests. In this report, when 6-10- and 50-70-day old unfed nymphs were dipped for 1-2 s into Celite, the time to 50% mortality (LT) was 66.8 and 81.7 min, respectively, at 30 °C and 50% relative humidity (RH). The LT was actually shorter at a higher 70% RH, 43.8 min. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the ticks were coated over most of their body surface, including partial to almost total coverage of the opening to their respiratory system. The other mechanical insecticide, Imergard, had similar efficacy against blacklegged unfed nymphs with an LT at 30 °C and 50% RH of 70.4 min. Although more research is needed, this study suggests that industrial minerals could be used as an alternative to chemical pesticides to control ticks and Lyme disease.
在美国和加拿大，人类莱姆病病例呈上升趋势。引发这种疾病的细菌的传播媒介是黑脚蜱。目前针对蜱的控制方法主要涉及化学杀螨剂。不幸的是，蜱正在对这些化学物质产生抗性，而且越来越多的公众更喜欢化学杀虫剂的无毒替代品。我们发现火山玻璃、Imergard WP以及其他工业矿物（如硅藻土610）对蚊子、家蝇和农业害虫是有效的机械杀虫剂。在本报告中，当6至10日龄和50至70日龄未进食的若蜱在30℃和50%相对湿度（RH）下浸入硅藻土1至2秒时，达到50%死亡率（LT）的时间分别为66.8分钟和81.7分钟。在70%相对湿度较高时，LT实际上更短，为43.8分钟。扫描电子显微镜显示，蜱的身体大部分表面都被覆盖，包括其呼吸系统开口部分到几乎全部被覆盖。另一种机械杀虫剂Imergard对未进食的黑脚若蜱也有类似的效果，在30℃和50%RH下的LT为70.4分钟。尽管还需要更多研究，但这项研究表明工业矿物可作为化学杀虫剂的替代品来控制蜱和莱姆病。
