Should I wear tick repellent clothing?

Spring is upon us here in the northeast and with the warmer temperatures come the adult stage blacklegged tick females who weren't able to find a blood meal this past fall.  They're hungry and if you're in the right place at the right time, you might be their unlucky host.  Lately a lot of people have been asking about permethrin-treated clothing and whether it works and if it's safe.  Our answer is that it DOES work fairly well to repel ticks, even after some laundering.  We've tested the clothing in the lab and the field, and our summer interns often wear permethrin treated clothing while doing field work.  And permethrin products like clothing spray or factory-impregated clothing have been EPA-registered, and that means that the repellent has been tested for both effectiveness and safety.  You can learn more about some work we did on permethrin-treated clothing on a blog post we wrote for Entomology Today.   Meanwhile your tick prevention shouldn't be limited to just summer months.  Ticks are active all year long here in the northeast as long as the temperatures are around 40F or above.