Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT01454414

Tick-borne Illness and Clothing Study

The high risk of acquiring tick-borne diseases by outdoor workers is well documented. Workers most at risk include, foresters, park rangers, land surveyors and other outdoor workers have frequent exposure to tick-infested habitats. Many North Carolina state employees with outdoor occupations report multiple tick bites each year, which indicates that existing tick preventive strategies may be ineffective. The principal goal of this study is to assess whether the use of long-lasting permethrin impregnated uniforms can reduce the number of tick bites sustained by North Carolina outdoor workers.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Tick Bites Bites and Stings Chemically-Induced Disorders Poisoning Tick-borne Illness Wounds and Injuries

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Gillings School of Global Public Health

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Being over 18 years of age
  • Employee of NC Division of Forest Resources, the NC Division of Parks and Recreation, NC Wildlife Resources Commission, or NC County and Local Parks and Recreation who work in Central and Eastern North Carolina
  • An average of 10 or more hours of outdoor work per week during tick season
  • Self-reported prior work-related tick bites

Exclusion criteria

  • Pregnancy
  • Non-English speaking
  • Known allergy to insecticides

Treatment and study plan

Permethrin Impregnated Uniforms

Other

Uniforms treated with permethrin according to proprietary process used by Insect Shield, Inc.

Other names: Insect Shield

Primary outcomes

  1. Work Related Tick Bites

    Time frame: Weekly for two years

    Tick bites are defined as ticks attached to or embedded in the skin

Secondary outcomes

  1. Seroconversion Against a Tick-borne Illness

    Time frame: Upon enrollment, after the first year, and after the second year

    We will define seroconversion as one in which there is a 4-fold change in Immunoglobulin G class antibody titer between sera at enrollment, sera obtained after one year and/or sera obtained at study's end or between acute and convalescent sera for participants developing an acute illness. The antigens that will be used in the serologic assays include Ehrlichia chaffeensis (which would also detect antibodies to E. ewingii and Anaplasma phagocytophilum) and Rickettsia rickettsii (which would also detect antibodies to other spotted fever group rickettsiae).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Other

Collaborators

  • North Carolina State University

Registry information

Official study title

Preventing Exposure to Ticks and Tick-borne Illness in Outdoor Workers

Acronym: TICS

Important dates

Study start
2010
Primary completion
2012
Study completion
2013
First posted
Oct 19, 2011
Registry last updated
Mar 30, 2021

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.