[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 30, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24707-24709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-11018]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-17-17ABD; Docket No. CDC-2017-0036]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on ``Backyard 
Integrated Tick Management Project'' which will evaluate the 
effectiveness of specific tick control methods used on single versus 
multiple adjacent properties to suppress host-seeking ticks infected 
with Lyme disease spirochetes and to reduce human tick bites, and help 
the CDC better understand human landscape use patterns and tick 
exposure locations.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 31, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2017-
0036 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.
    Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact Leroy Richardson, Information Collection 
Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton 
Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To

[[Page 24708]]

comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

Backyard Integrated Tick Management Project--Existing Collection in Use 
Without an OMB Control Number--National Center for Emerging and 
Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC)

Background and Brief Description
    The combined number of confirmed and probable Lyme disease cases 
have exceeded 30,000 in all years since 2008, and recent estimates 
suggest that the true number of Lyme disease cases may be 10-fold 
higher. There is no Lyme disease vaccine for use in humans and 
prevention of infection is therefore completely reliant on personal 
protective measures (avoiding tick habitat, use of repellent, tick 
checks or prompt tick removal, etc.) and methods to suppress vector 
ticks in the environment.
    The primary goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness 
of specific tick/pathogen control methods used on single versus 
multiple adjacent properties on the risk of human exposure to ticks. 
The secondary goal is to better understand human landscape use patterns 
and tick exposure locations. The project was initiated in direct 
response to knowledge gaps, identified by CDC Subject Matter Experts 
(SMEs), for the use of integrated tick vector/rodent reservoir 
management to reduce human risk of exposure to Ixodes scapularis ticks, 
the sole vector of Lyme disease in the Northeast.
    Resulting data is intended to be used to provide suggestions for 
improving tick/pathogen control methods used in the environment.
    Information will be collected, under protocols approved by the 
institutional review boards (IRBs) at Western Connecticut State 
University (WCSU) and the University of Rhode Island (URI), from 
inhabitants of residential properties to (i) compare the effectiveness 
of an integrated tick management approach at single-treated residential 
properties vs. contiguously-treated residential properties to reduce 
human tick bites and (ii) increase the understanding of where people 
encounter ticks, both near their homes and in other outdoor settings.
    Another potential positive outcome of the information collection is 
more effective targeting of tick control efforts to high risk areas, 
minimizing pesticide use. Not collecting the information would lead to 
inadequate evaluation of the implemented integrated tick management 
program (solely focusing on host-seeking ticks collected from the 
vegetation) as well as the unacceptable status quo for detailed 
knowledge of where people encounter ticks within their residential 
properties and on the residential properties versus elsewhere.
    Information will be collected by WCSU and URI researchers from 
inhabitants (adults and children) of participating residential 
properties (freestanding homes with tick habitat on the property) 
located in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Consenting participants will 
complete one introductory survey by telephone, projected to last no 
more than 15 minutes. In May-August of Years 1-4, participants will 
also complete an emailed monthly tick encounter survey about the number 
of ticks found on each member of the household and each household 
member's tick-borne disease status, projected to take no more than 10 
minutes per month to complete. An end-of-season survey will also be 
administered in March/April each year, projected to take no more than 
10 minutes to complete.
    In addition, participants will be asked to record location of daily 
activity on behalf of themselves and household members each day over 
the first week of June in a single year via emailed daily surveys, 
projected to take 70 minutes over the week of participation. Lastly, an 
end-of-study survey will be administered in September 2020, projected 
to take no more than 15 minutes. In total, we expect approximately two 
hours or less of total time spent on surveys by consented participants 
in each year of the study. All survey instruments have been approved by 
the IRBs at WCSU and URI.
    The collection of information is conducted by WCSU, and its 
subcontractor, URI, as part of a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (1U01CK0004912-01). The 
Cooperative Agreement was established based on WCSU competing 
successfully for CDC RFA-CK-16-002 (Spatially Scalable Integrated Tick 
Vector/Rodent Reservoir Management to Reduce Human Risk of Exposure to 
Ixodes scapularis Ticks Infected with Lyme Disease Spirochetes).
    This study is authorized by Section 301 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241).
    There is no cost to respondents other than their time to 
participate.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Households or Individuals.....  Eligibility                  500               1           15/60             125
                                 Survey.
                                Introductory                 230               1           30/60             115
                                 Survey
                                 (including
                                 Consent Form).
                                Monthly Surveys.             230               4           10/60             154

[[Page 24709]]

 
                                Daily Surveys...             230               7           10/60             269
                                Annual End of                230               1           15/60              58
                                 Year Survey.
                                Final Survey....             230               1           15/60              58
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............             779
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2017-11018 Filed 5-26-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P