Community engaged tick surveillance and tickMAP as a public health tool to track the emergence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York

Abstract

A community engaged passive surveillance program was utilized to acquire ticks and associated information throughout New York state. Ticks were speciated and screened for several tick-borne pathogens. Of these ticks, only I. scapularis was commonly infected with pathogens of human relevance, including B. burgdorferi, B. miyamotoi, A. phagocytophilum, B. microti, and Powassan virus. In addition, the geographic and temporal distribution of tick species and pathogens was determined. This enabled the construction of a powerful visual analytical mapping tool, tickMAP to track the emergence of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in real-time. The public can use this tool to identify hot-spots of disease emergence, clinicians for supportive evidence during differential diagnosis, and researchers to better understand factors influencing the emergence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in New York. Overall, we have created a community-engaged tick surveillance program and an interactive visual analytical tickMAP that other regions could emulate to provide real-time tracking and an early warning for the emergence of tick-borne diseases.

Human attachment site preferences of ticks parasitizing in New York

“…Statistical significance could not be determined for D. variabilis . This is due to the remarkably low rate of D. variabilis nymph/larvae submission, as noted previously 1 . In addition, Dermacentor variabilis is almost exclusively encountered by humans in its adult life stage, with nymphs and larvae are rarely observed on either humans or domestic animals.…”

“…For example, in Korea, H. longicornis was determined to prefer abdomen and lower extremities (33%) and the abdomen/inguinal area (26.4%) 21 , which is a behavior similar to that of A. americanum observed here. Although H. longicornis is present in New York 1 , insufficient numbers were detected to draw definitive conclusions about its biting preference here. Additionally, a study in England ( I. ricinus ) reported that tick bites were most common in the legs (50%) of adult humans, but in the head and necks of children (43%) 22 , a differentiation that our survey does not at this time include.…”

“…Ticks are the primary vector of arthropod-borne pathogens in temperate environments. In New York state, ticks are primarily active between March and November, although cold-tolerant species are active in winter during intermittent periods of above-freezing temperatures 1 , 2 . The vast majority of ticks found feeding upon humans in New York State are Ixodes scapularis , Dermacentor variabilis , and Amblyomma americanum 1 .…”

“…Ixodes scapularis is the most common tick species encountered by humans in New York State 1 and throughout New England, the Upper Midwest, and much of the northeastern United States. This tick species is an established vector of numerous pathogens, including Borrelia burgdorferi , Anaplasma phagocytophilum , Babesia microti , Borrelia miyamotoi , Deer Tick virus (Powassan virus Lineage 2), Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis 3 – 8 , and potentially undiscovered pathogens.…”

“…The location of tick attachment is of clinical importance because it can allow for ticks to be rapidly discovered and removed, curtailing their ability to transmit pathogens. Here, we describe analysis of our survey data gained from a community-engaged passive surveillance program 1 to identify the regions of the body where ticks are most likely to be found in relation to tick species and whether or not the presence of tick-borne pathogens impact attachment region selection. We provide evidence that infection of I. scapularis with Borrelia burgdorferi resulted in a significant change in tick attachment site.…”