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To the Editor: In their Research Letter, Ms Stjernberg and Dr Berglund¹ documented a repellent effect of garlic against an unnamed species of tick and stated that daily consumption of 1200 mg of garlic was an alternative to "other agents that might have more adverse effects." Based on the design of their study, any conclusions concerning the relative effectiveness and safety of garlic as a tick repellent are unfounded. They compared garlic to a placebo, not to other currently available repellents, and they did not present any data on the comparative safety of garlic vs other repellents.

In fact, consumption of garlic appeared to be only marginally better than doing nothing at all to prevent tick bites. By contrast, treatment of clothing with permethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid, has been shown to be 100% effective against Ixodes scapularis,² the vector of Borrelia burgdorferi in the northeastern United States, and to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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