As tick season gets underway, scientists at the University of Massachusetts have discovered the potential of a new natural product: donkey sweat.
Currently, the most common tick repellants on the market are chemicals like DEET and picaradin.
But a few years ago, one UMass Amherst graduate student, Eric Siegel, noticed something interesting in past research: skin glands on donkeys seem to produce a substance that ticks don't like.
UMass Microbiologist Stephen Rich runs the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases, based at UMass Amherst.
"So we're looking to to replace these short term repellents and to replace them with things that theoretically are not human made, that are not synthetic compounds," Rich said, "because that seems to be a desire of consumers."
The CDC-funded research team just published positive results on the donkey sweat. But Rich said they need to do more lab testing before it's ready for federal approval.
He said they're also wondering if combining the substance with a grapefruit extract already on the market could make a more effective tick repellant.
In the meantime, Rich said this is the season when small teenage ticks are biting.
"It's not just Lyme disease that we worry about anymore," he said. "There's close to two dozen different pathogens associated with the various species."
He said people should check frequently for ticks on the skin, and if they attach, remove them as soon as possible.
