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Objective(s): Hyalomma spp. is responsible for transmission of protozoan, bacterial, rickettsial and viral diseases in humans and animals. Recently, there was a wide number of promising attempts to evaluate and use of nanoparticles for the control of ticks. Methods: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acaricidal activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) size 15 nm against Hyalomma spp. in vitro. The arcaricidal activity of Zn NPs were evaluated at concentrations of 50, 125 and 250 mg/ml and controls (distilled water and Cypermethrin) following 10, 30 and 60 min of exposure in triplicate and the experiments were performed two spraying and contact methods. Results: The results of this study showed that all concentrations of Zn NPs had acaricidal activity and concentration of 125 mg/ml at exposure time of 30 min and concentration of 250 mg/ml at all exposure times had highest acaricidal effect (100%). The median lethal concentration (LC50) values were 50 mg/ml in 60 min and (LC99) values were 150 mg/ml in 30 min for Hyalomma spp.. The results showed that the spray method was more effective than the contact method. Conclusions: The findings of present study showed that Zn NPs had potent acaricidal effect and recommended as an effective acaricidal agent. However, further in vivo studies are required to evaluate the efficacy of this nanoparticle.

Objective(s): Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles with the size range approximately from 1 to 100 nanometers that are made in different shapes. Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that expected to open some new opportunities in order to destroy and control of microorganisms using of materials and systems at the scale of the atom. Echinococcus granulosus is the agent of cystic echinococcosis (CE), which has a cosmopolitan distribution. This parasite causes hydatid cysts that can afflicted at various organs of mammalian host such as liver, lung even in heart, brain and bone which may lead to death. The current methods for treatment of human CE include surgery. Methods: This study was undertaken for the first time to evaluate the scolicidal effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO- NPs) against hydatid cyst protoscolices in vitro. The scolicidal activities of the zinc oxide nanoparticles were tested in concentrations of 50,100 and 150 mg/ml following 10, 30 and 60 min of incubation and tested were repeated at three times. Data were analyzed by SAS software. Results: The results showed that the zinc oxide nanoparticles at the concentration of 50 mg/ml leads to killing 19/6% protoscolices at 10 minutes. In 150 mg/ml concentration, the black ZnO particles were covered on all protoscolices, and they could not be seen or counted. Conclusions: This investigation showed that ZnO-NPs a statistically significant difference in the protoscolicidal activity with different dilutions but, is not recommended as a powerful scolicidal agent.