# Novel application of isoxazoline veterinary drugs to streamline reservoir-targeted abatement of tick-borne zoonoses

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA · 2020 · $209,860

## Abstract

Tick-borne diseases are of increasing importance in the USA. The majority (75%) of vector-borne diseases is
tick-borne, the number of human tick-borne illnesses is steadily increasing, the geographic range of known tick
vectors is expanding, and at least seven new tick-borne pathogens have been shown to infect people in the
USA within the last two decades. All tick-borne diseases are zoonotic and perpetuation of tick-borne diseases
depends on tick parasitism of non-human vertebrate reservoirs. In the USA, the vertebrate reservoirs for
human tick-borne disease are primarily rodents. Effective strategies targeting rodent reservoirs are needed to
help break the zoonotic transmission cycles and lower the incidence of tick-borne diseases in the USA. This
proposal addresses that need by taking advantage of recent advances in veterinary medicine. A new class of
orally-administered veterinary drug marketed for dogs (i.e., isoxazoline drugs) displays fast-acting, long-lasting
acaricidal activity against ticks that feed on isoxazoline-treated animals. Because of the speed by which these
drugs kill ticks after attaching to treated animals, isoxazoline drugs can also block tick transmission of bacterial
pathogens to treated dogs. This pilot project will test the efficacy and transmission-blocking abilities of these
drugs when given orally to two species of rodents known to be natural reservoirs of Lyme disease in North
Dakota – the white-footed mouse and the red-backed vole. If orally administered isoxazoline drugs work in
these rodent reservoir species as well as has been reported in dogs, then the stage will be set to seek funds
for a larger R01 project and implement a regional-wide field trial, incorporating isoxazoline drugs in an oral bait
formulation to rid rodent reservoirs of their ticks, disrupt zoonotic transmission cycles, and contain the
westward spread of Lyme disease across North Dakota.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10041242
- **Project number:** 1R21AI154045-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jefferson Archer Vaughan
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $209,860
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10041242

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10041242, Novel application of isoxazoline veterinary drugs to streamline reservoir-targeted abatement of tick-borne zoonoses (1R21AI154045-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10041242. Licensed CC0.

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