Preventing exposure to ticks and tick-borne illness in outdoor workers

预防户外工作人员接触蜱虫和蜱传疾病

• 批准号: 8300696
• 负责人: Steven Richard Meshnick
• 金额: $ 29.3万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8300696
• 关键词: Preventing; exposure; ticks; tick; borne

Preventing exposure to ticks and tick-borne illness in outdoor workers ABSTRACT In North Carolina, tick-borne diseases represent a growing public health problem and an occupational hazard for outdoor workers. Currently, tick-bite prevention requires time- consuming reapplication of insecticides to clothing and exposed skin. Unfortunately, adherence to these procedures is poor. Recently, a factory-based method for long- lasting permethrin impregnation of clothing has been developed which allows clothing to retain insecticidal activity for over 70 washes (the effective lifetime of a garment). The treatment process has been approved by the US EPA and classified as non-toxic. We have preliminary evidence from a small pilot project suggesting that workers wearing this clothing have ~90% fewer tick bites than workers not wearing this clothing. In order to measure the effectiveness and safety of this clothing in protecting outdoor workers, we are proposing a randomized controlled intervention with 300 workers in the NC State Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR). Outdoor workers in the Division of Forestry and the Division of Parks and Recreation will be randomly assigned to two groups. Workers will have their uniforms treated or sham-treated in a double- blinded manner. All study subjects will fill out weekly tick logs, and keep removed ticks in specimen vials for later speciation and pathogen detection. Serum samples, drawn at enrollment and study conclusion will be titered for antibody to common tick-borne pathogens. Possible clothing-related adverse events, such as rashes, will be recorded. The results of this study could lead to a simple and cost-effective method of protecting outdoor workers from tick-borne illnesses.

预防户外工作人员接触蜱虫和蜱传疾病 抽象的 在北卡罗来纳州，蜱传疾病是一个日益严重的公共卫生问题，也是一个日益严重的公共卫生问题。 户外作业人员的职业危害。目前，蜱虫叮咬的预防需要时间—— 在衣服和暴露的皮肤上重新喷洒杀虫剂。很遗憾， 这些程序的遵守情况较差。最近，一种基于工厂的方法用于长期 已开发出对衣物进行持久氯菊酯浸渍，使衣物能够 70 次以上洗涤后仍能保持杀虫活性（衣服的有效寿命）。这 处理工艺已获得美国EPA批准并被归类为无毒。我们 从一个小型试点项目中获得的初步证据表明，佩戴此产品的工人 与不穿这种衣服的工人相比，穿着这种衣服的蜱虫叮咬率减少约 90%。为了 衡量这种服装在保护户外工人方面的有效性和安全性，我们 提议对北卡罗来纳州的 300 名工人进行随机对照干预 环境和自然资源部 (DENR)。户外工作者在 林业部和公园与游憩部将随机分配 分两组。工人的制服将在双重处理中进行处理或假处理。 盲目的方式。所有研究对象将填写每周蜱虫日志，并保留移除的蜱虫 装在样品瓶中，用于以后的形态和病原体检测。血清样本，抽取于 登记和研究结论将针对常见蜱传抗体进行滴定 病原体。将记录可能与服装相关的不良事件，例如皮疹。 这项研究的结果可能会导致一种简单且具有成本效益的保护方法 户外工作人员免受蜱传疾病的影响。