Table 2.

Characteristics of key field studies from the northeastern United States (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York) on topical acaricide treatment of rodents via bait boxes to suppress Ixodes scapularis and reduce the intensity of enzootic transmission of human disease agents. All studies included bait box deployment in both spring (targeting nymphal ticks) and summer (targeting larval ticks) during at least one treatment year.

	Study environmentb		Design characteristics of field intervention				Outcome measures presented for rodents, Ix. scapularis and humans
							Rodents				Questing ticks		Humans
Bait box	Treatment	Controlc	Bait box placement on treated residential properties	Rebaiting of deployed boxes	Treatment years	Pretreatment data for outcome measures	Abundance	Bait box useg	Tick infestation	Pathogen infectionh	Abundance	Pathogen infectionh	Tick encounters	Tick-borne diseaseh	Reference
Prototype	RP (n = 154)	W (n = 5)	Boxes spaced 10 m apart in row along ecotone of maintained landscaping (mostly lawn) with woods, brush or stone walls; extra boxes placed near wood-piles and outbuildings.	Yes	1999–2001d	Yese	Yesf	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Dolan et al. (2004)
Maxforce TMS	RP (n = 4)	RP (n = 3); W (n = 1)	Boxes spaced 25 m apart in rows (i) along lawn ecotone with woods and (ii) 10 m into wooded habitat	Yes	2008–2009	Yese	No	Yes	Yes	N/Ai	Yes	n/a i	No	No	Dolan et al. (2017)
SELECT TCSa	RP (n = 12)	W (n = 1)	Boxes spaced 10 m apart in rows located (i) 3 m into woods from ecotone with lawn and (ii) 13 m into wooded habitat (as needed depending on extent of wooded habitat on the property)	No	2012–2013	Yese	Yesf	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Schulze et al. (2017)
SELECT TCSa	RP (n = 6)	W (n = 1)	Boxes spaced 20 m apart in rows located (i) 10 m into woods from ecotone with lawn and (ii) 30 m into wooded habitat (as needed depending on extent of wooded habitat on the property)	No	2014–2015	Yese	Yesf	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Jordan and Schulze (2019)
SELECT TCSa	RP (n = 269)	RP (n = 269)	Boxes spaced 10 m apart in row located 3 m into woods or brush from ecotone with lawn, with additional boxes placed along unsealed rock piles and wood piles located at or near the wooded edge	No	2012–2014; or 2013–2015	Yese	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Hinckley et al. (2021)
SELECT TCSa	RP (n~220 RPs in six neighborhood clusters)	RP (n~220 RPs in six neighborhood clusters)	Boxes placed ≥10 m apart in all habitat types sampled for ticks; deployed in protected locations (e.g., along building foundations and under vegetation)	No	2017–2020	No	No	No	Yes	Noj	Yes	Noj	Yes	Yes	Keesing et al. (2022)

^aSELECT TCS product label recommendation language for box deployment: “Boxes are placed a minimum of 10 m (30 feet) apart near the edge of maintained landscaping and woodlots and/or brush. For woodlots that extend farther than 40 feet an additional row of units should be considered for maximum control. The second row should be placed 30–40 feet from the first set of boxes.”.

^bRP, residential properties; W, woodland sites.

^cControl areas without bait boxes (Dolan et al., 2004, 2017; Schulze et al., 2017; Jordan and Schulze, 2019) or with placebo bait boxes lacking fipronil (Hinckley et al., 2021; Keesing et al., 2022).

^dA single treatment year for the majority of properties (n = 110), with smaller numbers treated over 2 years (n = 31) or three years (n = 13).

^eIncluding collection of questing nymphs in the year the treatment started as nymphs of that cohort (resulting from larvae fed on hosts in the summer of the previous year) were not considered to be impacted by the treatment in the first year.

^fBased on data presented for both number of rodents captured and number of trap days/nights.

^gBased on removal of bait from the boxes.

^hPathogens and diseases associated with Ix. scapularis, including Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Lyme disease), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (anaplasmosis), and Babesia microti (babesiosis).

ⁱNot applicable; only measures related to tick infestation of rodents or abundance of questing ticks is considered here as the intervention also included antibiotic treatment of the rodents which would impact pathogen infection in both rodents and questing ticks.

^jData were collected but not included in this publication.