University of Massachusetts Amherst: UMass researchers working on new repellents that appear to slow down ticks

Researchers at UMass Amherst are testing new tick repellants that may be more effective than DEET.

They say they found two chemicals in a “controlled-release device” that act as a “forcefield” slowing down ticks and changing their behavior.

Scientists say it makes ticks less likely to climb upward and more likely to fall down, which could prevent them from staying on us for too long.

“DEET, the gold standard, works fairly well, but a holy grail would be to have another repellency tool – not a contact repellent like DEET but a spatial repellent – that works as good as or better than DEET against ticks,” senior author Stephan Rich said.

“While we still have much work to do, these innovative findings prove the principle that these spatial repellents alter the behavior in ticks in a way we hope will lead to fewer tick bites,” Rich added.