{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T13:48:05Z","timestamp":1790776085678,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,26]],"date-time":"2022-07-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658793600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at NC State University","award":["W911QY1910003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W911QY1910003"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000005","name":"Department of the Army, US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["W911QY1910003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W911QY1910003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000005","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"NC Ag. Res. Station","award":["W911QY1910003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["W911QY1910003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Insects"],"abstract":"<jats:p>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, Ixodes scapularis. Current control methods for I. scapularis 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, ImergardTM 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\u201310- and 50\u201370-day old unfed I. scapularis nymphs were dipped for 1\u20132 s into Celite, the time to 50% mortality (LT50) was 66.8 and 81.7 min, respectively, at 30 \u00b0C and 50% relative humidity (RH). The LT50 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 LT50 at 30 \u00b0C 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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/insects13080672","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,27]],"date-time":"2022-07-27T04:59:16Z","timestamp":1658897956000},"page":"672","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Mechanical Acaricides Active against the Blacklegged Tick, Ixodes scapularis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4979-3438","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elise A.","family":"Richardson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, 3230 Ligon Street, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0700-4472","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Loganathan","family":"Ponnusamy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, 3230 Ligon Street, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6386-0994","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"R. Michael","family":"Roe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, 3230 Ligon Street, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pt.2017.12.006","article-title":"The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis: An increasing public health concern","volume":"34","author":"Eisen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Trends Parasitol."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2022, May 20). Lyme Disease|CDC, Available online: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lyme\/index.html."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6354a1","article-title":"Summary of notifiable infectious diseases and conditions\u2014United States, 2014","volume":"63","author":"Adams","year":"2019","journal-title":"MMWR. Morb. 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