Repelling Ticks

[pict]

This is a technical question for any chemists or bug experts out there.

As I posted a while back I now have a serious allergy to ticks.

A Dr back in the states is sending me Epi-pens to treat shock if necessary. So I have that end of things covered.

I have a can of Duranon Tick repellent, active ingredient Permethrine, to treat my clothes with. This is very expensive here, US$24 a can (it sells for $7 in the US). I plan to use this in addition to DEET on my skin. In the past just the DEET has been good enough. Combined with the Permethrine on my clothes I should be OK.

THE PROBLEM: I am having a hard time locating permethrine here in Brazil. I have easy access to deltamethrine and cypermethrine. Both are used here to treat areas like barns for ticks. I have also read instructions on how to treat mosquito nets with these two. My question is this, can either of these be used to treat clothing like the permethrine? I think I can get away with treating packs and gear deltamentrine but what does this do if in contact with skin? Mac

 

[Badbunny]

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one with any success, but it seems to me that you would be OK as long as you don't eat spoonfuls of the stuff. They don't have the nasty *-genic effects, according to literature (muta-, terato-, carsinogenic).

I found this for deltamethrine:
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~CmcYML:1

And this one for cypermethrine:
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~guy9Dl:1

It probably would be wise to try it first with a little amount on your clothes.