Got Ticks? Check This Out.

Chewables for People are in Human Trials

We never had to worry about ticks when I was growing up in Western New York (the arachnids, not involuntary muscle spasms). I’m not sure why we weren't concerned; the weather is compatible with where I live now, about 375 miles closer to the Atlantic. But I can’t recall ever hearing about it in those days when I spent more time outdoors than in.

I’m sure we had them, but no one talked about it—not even in Scouts (way back before it got woke and went broke). We had mosquitoes, ants, wasps - the typical bunch of critters, but I don’t remember much talk about ticks.

When I finally moved back to New England (I was born but not raised here), I had some idea what I was in for. Black flies—another feature you didn’t find with “Midwest” living (yes, to some east coasters, western New York is the Midwest)—and ticks. How did I know? I’d been hiking the White Mountains with friends for years.

Before relocating, I’d get one four-day weekend off each month from work, and with few exceptions, I would drive to New Hampshire. I could hit the beach or the mountains. But there are black flies, which I have to say are less dangerous but more annoying than ticks.

Hell has blackflies. I have no doubt.

Tick Tick Boom

I got introduced to the tick-check not long after relocating full-time to the Granite State. I joined the Renegades (a local paintball team), and we practiced behind an apple orchard (with permission). There was a good distribution of wilderness with trees and ground cover, hills, and so on. And ticks. I’d never seen one in person and had no idea what to look for. My only real “exposure” had been ads for the Hartz 2-in-1 collar. It prevented fleas and ticks (and that pesky Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). There was no mention of Lyme back then. I grew up with cats and the collars and no ticks ‘way’ “out west.”

Anyway, my friend Mike picked one off the cuff of his camo pants during practice and torched it on a rock with a Bic lighter. Snap, crackle, pop—a very satisfying end (from our perspective) for a filthy parasite. And there was not much more to say until I bought a home with land many years later and … got a dog.

I’m not sure what magic spell is cast when you get a dog (I’m familiar with the loving, caring one), but we’d not seen any ticks on us or the kids despite stomping about the ‘back forty’ (code for the two acres of trees I may have mentioned before). We cleared brush, cut timber, and raked leaves (acorns and pinecones)—no ticks. Get a dog. Where’d all these damn things come from?

Cosmo looking for … Deer, Birds, Squirrels, Chipmunks, wind blow leaves…

The dog(s) don't seem to notice, but they have had the option of preventatives, or at least their owners can choose to buy them for their pets. We had drops in the early days, which were nasty, but a few years later, they created a nifty chew you could give them once a month, both with the same side effect. The tick jumps on the dog, rides them into the house, discovers the dog was tainted (very few ticks ever die on the dog), jumps off, and looks for other prey.

Us.

I’ve pulled more than a dozen ticks out of my hide in the last decade or so, with my family members suffering maybe one or two each, ever! I am the tick magnet because I am the dog magnet. He lies with me, naps with me, and watches TV in our laps, which is fun with a fit 95-pound labrador.

We make it work.

But I have pulled more live ticks off the dog and myself than have ever managed to get into either of us if that counts, and that may be less of an issue for people with a similar problem.

Chewables for People?

Yes, chewable for people … are in development, and while I and others have lost a lot of trust in the Medical establishment and pharmaceutical research, it’s still interesting, especially since I know a few people with Lyme, and that’s some nasty stuff.

On February 22, Tarsus Pharmaceuticals announced the results from a trial evaluation of its orally administered drug, demonstrating a mean tick mortality rate of 97% for a high dose and 92% for a low dose 24 hours after ingestion. 

It remained effective 30 days after dosing, maintaining a mean tick mortality of 89% and 91% for the high and low doses, respectively. Additionally, no adverse side effects were reported, according to Wired.

"The takeaway is that it killed the ticks really quickly," Linden Hu, a professor of immunology at Tufts Medical School and experiment leader, told Wired. "And the effect lasted for a long time."

Tarsus Pharma will need some investigation, and I’m not clear on how early we are with human trials, but so far, so good. Not for me necessarily, but every time I find a tick or have to un-embed one from my skin, it’s the same refrain. “When are they going to invent a chewable for people?”

Now, it seems, and while I doubt I’ll have a need or use despite my annual run-ins (I’ve never had one in me for more than a few hours without my noticing), I know folks who work in fields (literally) that find several on themselves daily. One guy I met said a dozen wasn’t unusual. That’s a dozen a day.

Those at high risk of contact are at higher risk for Lyme. Assuming further testing, lots of honest details, and informed consent, those folks would have this new option. Employers with staff in these “fields” could perhaps find a way to pay for them depending on the prescription status. OTC would be great, but it seems unlikely.

Hey guys, it’s the first of the month—one chewable for the dog and one for you.

Or maybe just one for you.

That day might be someday soon, and that’s good news for those of us who want to live outdoors but could do without the disease-laden, blood-sucking parasites.