TICK SUPPLEMENT: Spreading The Word

The pest control operator’s ability to educate customers about their role in pest management is critical for solving any pest problem. When pests pose public health risks, the PCO’s role as public educator takes on added significance.
In recent years, the rise in reported cases of Lyme disease has magnified the need for the public to be educated about the dangers of ticks.

Reported cases of Lyme disease climbed to a record high in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recorded 17,730 cases in 2000, the latest year for which data was available. The figure represented an 8 percent increase from 1999 and was well above the average of 12,745 cases reported annually since 1991. Plus, the figure comes from just 44 states and the District of Columbia, so the actual count is probably higher, the CDC reports.

Lyme disease cases nearly doubled in the 1990s, in part because more Americans built homes in the woods, exposing themselves to ticks, according to the CDC.

Tick control may not account for a large percentage of a pest control company’s business, but that may be changing.

In 1997, Dr. Kirby Stafford, chief scientist of the forestry and horticulture department at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn., reported in the Journal of Medical Entomology that “Tick control represents a small but growing part of the pest management professional’s business. The application of acaricides for the control of I. scapularis is a relatively recent service (which corresponds) to an increase in tick abundance and an increase in the number of Lyme disease cases.”

Stafford spoke of the challenges PCOs encounter when developing a tick management program at the PCT/Aventis Tick Symposium.

A COOPERATIVE EFFORT. Clearly, opportunities abound for PCOs offering tick control, but this line of work is specialized and requires extensive planning, attention to detail and — perhaps most important — the ability to effectively communicate with various groups.

Any type of tick management program is a three-tiered effort involving PCOs, public health officials (PHOs) and the public itself, according to Stafford. Public health officials are primarily concerned with Lyme disease prevention and their involvement includes the diagnosis, surveillance, control and response of the disease.

PCOs, on the other hand, deal with a wide variety of pests and their efforts are geared more at management. However, both PCOs and PHOs are involved in educating the public: PHOs hold activities geared towards communities or large groups within a community while PCOs deal with the public on an individual client basis.

As part of Target Lyme Disease — a community project to prevent tick-borne illness in Westport and Weston, Conn., that was funded by the CDC — the Center for Survey Research and Analysis (University of Connecticut) for the Connecticut Department of Public Health conducted a telephone survey in Westport and Weston, Conn. (see related story, left). This survey helped public health officials in those communities develop their tick control programs.

Because public health officials deal with larger groups they are better able to monitor tick activity over large areas and can generate comprehensive reports based on community-wide survey findings. Still, PCOs can gather similar important information from working with individual clients.

Another important component of the Target Lyme Disease program was a consumer education campaign. The Westport/Weston Health District used radio ads, buttons, pamphlets, brochures, newspaper ads, seminars, community groups and demonstration sites to educate the public about Lyme disease and prevention.

PCOs directly educate customers by advising them that they can reduce tick numbers in frequently used areas in their yard by making simple landscaping changes to their property, Stafford said. For example, homeowners can minimize the risk of deer ticks by installing a deer fence around their vegetable garden and placing wood chips under foundation plantings.

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH. Like many other types of pest control, Stafford advises PCOs to develop an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tick control program. Stafford said PCOs should ask themselves the following questions when developing a tick IPM program:
•  What market segment will you serve?
•  Define your market: residential, corporate and/or day care
•  What services will you offer?
•  Will you offer landscaping services, deer resistant native plants or pesticide programs?
•  How will you design a control program?
•  What pesticides, if any, will you use?
•  What equipment will you use?
•  How will you educate your clients and staff?
•  What are your liability considerations?

Stafford said clients who pay for tick control services are often wealthy and well educated but not necessarily knowledgeable on issues of ticks and pesticides. They may be wary of pesticides and companies offering such services. Thus, pest control operators need to be detail-oriented when explaining to customers the services they offer. Upon arriving at a site PCOs should survey the property for tick “hot spots,” Stafford said. This involves noting the different types of landscaping that are present and finding out who occupies the property and what parts are frequented. Herb and vegetable gardens, wetlands, and open manicured lawns are all areas where ticks are generally not found. PCOs should also find out the client’s objectives. For example, if the client has a large amount of property they may not be concerned about ticks in areas that are remote and rarely traveled.

Non-chemical tick control services should be used as a part of a tick IPM program. These include: leaf litter removal; mowing in areas with ticks; placement of barriers near woods; and fencing property to keep out deer. PCOs can also advise clients to plant deer-resistant native plants and advise against vegetation that can serve as tick hosts.

Although public health officials and others can play a major role in educating customers, controlling ticks using pesticides is the domain of PCOs. One of the most important considerations for a PCO is protecting his or her own staff (see related story, below). A variety of pesticides and formulations are effective against ticks. Liquid or granular residual products can be sprayed or distributed (only according to label directions) for both immediate knockdown and long-term control. Granular insecticides can be used to treat soil or mulched areas around the fringes of yards while microencapsulated products can be used to treat any type of vegetation. Hydraulic sprayers, backpack mist blowers and cyclone or fertilizer spreaders can all be used to apply the pesticides, Stafford said.

A GROWTH MARKET. Tick control is a relatively new service for both pest control operators and their customers. As such, PCOs and public health officials must be prepared to deal with public perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

To overcome these barriers, PCOs and PHOs must work together to educate the public, Stafford said. “Public engagement is at two levels: community-based programs and tick programs offered by pest control companies,” he said.

While tick control is relatively new to both pest control operators and customers, all indications are that there will be a need for PCOs to provide this line of work in the present and in the future, especially for PCOs who work in Lyme disease “hot spots,” such as the Northeast United States.

“Tick control in the future will involve new strategies and continuing education of the public by PCOs,” Stafford said. “There will be a need for new effective tick control strategies at the level of the individual residence or park.” 

The author is internet editor for www.pctonline.com. he can be reached at bharbison@pctonline.com.