The heat is on: Killing blacklegged ticks in residential washers and dryers to prevent tickborne diseases

Publication date: Available online 28 April 2016 Source:Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases Author(s): Christina A. Nelson, Catherine M. Hayes, Molly A. Markowitz, Jacqueline J. Flynn, Alan C. Graham, Mark J. Delorey, Paul S. Mead, Marc C. Dolan Reducing exposure to ticks can help prevent Lyme disease and other tickborne diseases. Although it is currently recommended to dry clothes on high heat for one hour to kill ticks on clothing after spending time outdoors, this recommendation is based on a single published study of tick survival under various washing conditions and a predetermined one-hour drying time. We conducted a series of tests to investigate the effects of temperature, humidity, and drying time on killing nymphal and adult blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis). Muslin bags containing 5 ticks each were washed then dried or dried only with six cotton towels during each drying cycle. All nymphal and adult ticks were killed when exposed to wash cycles when the water temperature reached ≥54°C (≥130°F); however, 50% of ticks survived hot water washes when the water temperature was <54°C. The majority (94%) of ticks survived warm washes [temperature range, 27–46°C (80–115°F)] and all ticks survived cold washes [15–27°C (59–80°F)]. When subsequently dried on high heat setting [54–85°C (129–185°F)], it took 50min to kill all ticks (95% confidence limit, 55min). Most significantly, we found that all adult and nymphal ticks died ...
Source: Ticks and Tick borne Diseases - Category: Zoology Source Type: research