Tickless Camerino University Study

School of Veterinary Medical Sciences

Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory

62024 Matelica Via Circonvallazione, 93/95 Tel. 0737.404001 Fax 0737.404002 vincenzo.cuteri@unicam.it www.cuteri.eu

Matelica, 14 March 2016

CLARIFICATION ON:

EVALUATION OF ACTIVITY AGAINST TICKS AND FLEAS ON DOGS AND CATS OF AN ELECTRONIC ULTRASOUND EMISSION DEVICE (BATTERY-POWERED) CALLED TICKLESS TO WHOME IT CONCERN: As per your request I would like to explain and clarify some aspects regarding this report redacted on February 2012.

The main aspects are into the paragraph n. 5 Conclusion, reported below.

Please find my integration inside the paragraph, keeping on mind that the previous report was produced in a simplified form, without a lot of technical part, because destined to a non-scientific public.

Before to enter into the specific description of different sentences, it is necessary to specify that the entire experiment was carried out into two municipal sanitary dog shelters with an high level of infestation and with a large number of animals (about 300 for each one) closely related and maintained into open space boxes. This means that ticks were always present into the box and with a constant possibility of re-infestation and also with the opportunity for ticks to cross from one box to the next.

The entire experiment was carried out for 30 days, and during this period animals had the opportunity to re-infest, and furthermore in the period included o the end of June and the end of July, that is the worst period for animals to be infested.

5.

CONCLUSIONS The results obtained 30 days after the activation of the product show the effectiveness of

“Tickless” in not permitting an increase in the number of ticks and fleas in all subjects studied in the experimentation and to reduce the number of parasite in some subjects.

In this sentence, the phrase “not permitting an increase” does not mean that the animal always had the same ticks and thus the number remained stable. But the real meaning is that: despite the time of year with the highest prevalence of ticks, and an highly infested environment, the animals included into

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School of Medical Veterinary Sciences Scienze Veterinarie Prof. Vincenzo Cuteri

Medical Microbiology and Infectious diseases Laboratory

the experiment, in some cases (8 out of 20 subjects, 40%) did not increase the number of ticks, and in others (12 out of the 20 subjects, 60%) the number of ticks decreased significantly.

In the group of control animals with “Tickless” not activated and pharmacologically treated, at T1 a drastic reduction of the number of parasites was recorded, and this situation remained stable for the entire duration of the experimentation.

This was an expected result, since the drugs used have the ability to kill in a short time all ticks and to remain on the skin, for variable times, by continuing the effect. In this group Tickless was not activated, so the registered activity can be attributed only to the drug. Nothing new because, a part the possibility to have some resistance to the drug, this is the usual obtained effect.

In the group of control animals with “Tickless” not activated and not pharmacologically treated, the number of parasites remained stable in some subjects, but increased considerably in others.

In this group, because of the high-infested environment, the animals, without any protection (no ultrasound, no drugs) had the possibility to have continuous contact with ticks, and it is for this that in some cases (1 out of 5 subjects, 20%) did not increase the number of ticks, and in others (4 out of the 5 subjects, 80%) the number of ticks increased significantly.

Finally, in the group of animals treated with “Tickless” activated, the number of parasites remained stable, and in some subjects a considerable reduction was observed. In no case was an increase in the concentration of parasites recorded.

For this sentence it is possible to read again the first one. Here just to highlight that in no animal there was an increase in the number of parasites It must be noted that in some subjects belonging to all groups, some devices (4 in number) were replaced because they failed to function correctly due to bites from other dogs while playing. It is believed however that this in no way influenced the experimentation, since the maximum period of inactivity of devices was equivalent to 12 hours.

This problem occurred because the novelty of the pendant induced some dogs to play with the device. As clearly explained, the replacement of 4 devices did not affect the experiment as every 12 hours the man in charge of the kennel had the task to verify the perfect functionality of the device.

“Tickless” seems therefore capable of preventing parasites, always present in the place where the dogs were kept, from infesting the host. The advice for the best use of the device is therefore to treat animals with a pharmacologically active product, and to then activate the device so as to prevent a new infestation.

This is the most important sentence in my opinion. We are veterinarians and our job is to safeguard the health of animals. When an animal has a tick infestation always he runs the risk of taking

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School of Medical Veterinary Sciences Scienze Veterinarie Prof. Vincenzo Cuteri

Medical Microbiology and Infectious diseases Laboratory

several infectious diseases, as shown in the introduction of this report. So, because all animals were infested and present in a kennel, we had the duty to advice as first treatment a drug able in few hours to kill the highest number of ticks and then to apply the device to prevent further infestation. Therefore, this phrase should be interpreted with that purpose. For animals that are kept at home or in the garden, with a presumably environment with a low infestation rate, the application of the device is simply intended to eliminate ticks on the animal and prevent new ticks infest the animal.

No hearing disturbances were reported by operators during the entire experimentation phase.

The results obtained by the application of “Tickless� confirm the effectiveness of the product in not permitting an increase of the parasites and in reducing the number of parasite in some subjects, which can therefore be used, without side effects of any kind, on subjects for which an infestation of ticks/fleas has been confirmed, so as to avoid the worsening of the situation, and in healthy subjects so as to prevent infestation.

In conclusion we reiterate that the object of the experimentation device is able to prevent a new infestation and to reduce those already present, without side effects to the animals. The phrase "not permitting an increase of the parasites and in reducing the number" that was related to animals already infected and maintained in an environment with high infestation rate, must be interpreted as above. This means that ticks, when present, are detached from the animal and that once detached, hardly back on the animal.

What we certainly cannot say is that the device is able to kill ticks, which is what happens when you apply a spot on drug.

Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Laboratory School of Veterinary Medical Sciences University of Camerino PROF. VINCENZO CUTERI

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