New research from Simon Fraser University has revealed that ants could be the solution to preventing tick bites.
The university announced in a media release Monday that researchers found that ticks avoid ants and the areas where they were present. Even if the ants leave the area, the ticks will not go where the ants were before.
“When they see ants, they basically say, ‘There might be ants there, and there might be more ants soon, so I’m not going to go there,'” said the lead researcher. said author Claire Gooding.
This study was recently published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Gooding said the research team studied ants as a potential solution because insects live in large groups and use chemicals to communicate.
“They are social insects and use a huge variety of pheromones to communicate with each other,” Gooding says.
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After discovering the effectiveness of ant pheromones, the research team collaborated with synthetic chemists and were able to “recreate a synthetic version” of the pheromones.

This synthetic ant pheromone was also successful in repelling ticks.
“There’s a real risk of encountering ticks in the summer,” Gooding says. “We often encounter them on the side of the trail.”
This study suggests that hikers may consider using ant pheromones as repellents to ward off ticks.
They are currently filing a patent application for the repellent they developed.
There are three types of ticks that commonly bite humans. In some cases, if the bite is not treated quickly enough, the outcome can be fatal.
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