Introduction

By preventing tick bites, a range of tick-borne infectious diseases can be prevented. This document refers to protection against all biting stages of the tick Ixodes ricinus, hereafter named wood tick, the tick species with the largest occupational and public health relevance in Europe.

The most prevalent disease transmitted by the wood tick is Lyme borreliosis, but (until now incidentally) also other diseases like tick-borne encephalitis. Lyme borreliosis can affect the skin, nervous system, joints and heart. In some EU countries, Lyme borreliosis is regarded as an occupational disease. Employers are then obliged to make the best possible effort to prevent occupational diseases among employees. Employees are also obliged to reasonably abide by the measures offered.

The garments help protect people who can come into contact with ticks during their work. Wood ticks lay in ambush in the lower vegetation and cling on to passers-by with whom they come in to contact. They then crawl over skin or garment to find a site where they can consume a blood meal. The protective effect of the garment against tick bites is primarily determined by the extent to which the garment covers the skin, and this effect will increase as a larger part of the body is covered. It is important here that those body parts (legs, waist, torso and arms) are covered that have contact with vegetation in which ticks can be present (up to a height of 1,5 m). When wearing covering garments without permethrin, ticks are able to crawl over the fabric for minutes up to several hours and reach bare skin to bite. In addition to the protective effect of covering the body, the permethrin on or in the fabric offers extra protection. Ticks that come in contact with permethrin are immobilized, and as a result they are no longer able to reach bare skin and transfer pathogens through a bite. Protection against tick bites can be one of the functions of a garment. Examples of other functions can be maintaining body heat, preventing exposure to UV light, camouflage, preventing skin irritation or injury by plants or working conditions, or representation and recognizability.

The body covering garments can also help other target groups such as volunteers and recreationists (such as hunters) to offer protection against tick bites. However, the choice of using the garments is ideally based on a professional risk assessment which includes exposure to ticks, and factors such as age and pregnancy. Instructions for use and warnings for tick bite risks also apply to these users and it is important that these are provided to these groups by the manufacturers of these garments.

The body covering garment industrially treated with permethrin or made with fabrics based on yarn containing permethrin yarns, or other treated fabrics, can also help to protect against other arthropods that can transmit diseases, such as different tick and mosquito species ^[⁶^]. However, this document only applies to the protection against bites by the wood tick, and specifically the most relevant developmental stage (nymphs). A detailed description of the requirements is given in Clause 4 of this document.

Garments can be treated with permethrin to prevent tick bites. In accordance with the Biocidal Products Regulation (EU) 528/2012, such garments can be regarded either as ‘treated articles’ (if protection against ticks is part of a set of functionalities such as protection against weather conditions, camouflage, company representation, protection against stinging plants, etc.) or as ‘biocides’ (if the primary function of the garment is protection against tick bites). This document is only focusing on garments to be considered as treated articles ^[³^].

The release rate of permethrin from the garment should be as minimal as possible in order protect the environment and the human health, and is for example dependent on the way the permethrin has been fixated on- or inside the fabric. The World Health Organization (WHO) states limits to the daily uptake of permethrin by the human body. This document states requirements to ensure that these limits will not be exceeded by wearing the protective garments and to safeguard that the additional protective effect of the permethrin is maintained throughout the lifetime of the garment. Additional general information can be found in Annex C. The importance of the manufacturers cleaning instructions to prevent early deterioration of the effect of permethrin treatment is stressed throughout the document.

National requirements can be in place in different countries for the maximum permethrin concentration in consumer products. Collection of relevant data can be helpful for a further assessment for conformity of garments based on this document to those national requirements.

BS EN 17487:2024

Protective clothing. Garments with permethrin as-treated articles supporting the protection against tick bites

Current

Published:

31 Dec 2024