Repellent activity of essential oils to the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum

The Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum is important to human health because of a variety of pathogenic organisms transmitted to humans during feeding events, which underscores the need to identify novel approaches to prevent tick bites. Thus, the goal of this study was to test natural and synthetic molecules for repellent activity against ticks in spatial, contact and human fingertip bioassays. The efficacy of essential oils and naturally derived compounds as repellents to Am. americanum nymphs was compared in three different bioassays: contact, spatial and fingertip repellent bioassays. Concentration response curves after contact exposure to 1R-trans-chrysanthemic acid (TCA) indicated a 5.6 μg/cm2 concentration required to repel 50