Comparing the Climatic and Landscape Risk Factors for Lyme Disease Cases in the Upper Midwest and Northeast United States

Dong, Yuting; Huang, Zheng; Yong, Zhang; Wang, Yingying X. G.; La, Yang

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051548

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…While birds are likely involved in dispersing ticks among locations within New York, there is no evidence that migration of tick-infested birds is driving tick range expansions. Differences in the drivers of ranges expansion within New York, which is not at the current northern boundary of the species range, and into Canada, which is at the species range boundary, should be expected as the processes impacting tick population dynamics are likely to vary among regions with different underlying ecologies and environmental conditions [ 71 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeographic dynamics of the arthropod vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis)

et al. 2022

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Background The emergence of vector-borne pathogens in novel geographic areas is regulated by the migration of their arthropod vectors. Blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) and the pathogens they vector, including the causative agents of Lyme disease, babesiosis and anaplasmosis, continue to grow in their population sizes and to expand in geographic range. Migration of this vector over the previous decades has been implicated as the cause of the re-emergence of the most prevalent infectious diseases in North America. Methods We systematically collected ticks from across New York State (hereafter referred to as New York) from 2004 to 2017 as part of routine tick-borne pathogen surveillance in the state. This time frame corresponds with an increase in range and incidence of tick-borne diseases within New York. We randomly sampled ticks from this collection to explore the evolutionary history and population dynamics of I. scapularis. We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of each tick to characterize their current and historical spatial genetic structure and population growth using phylogeographic methods. Results We sequenced whole mitochondrial genomes from 277 ticks collected across New York between 2004 and 2017. We found evidence of population genetic structure at a broad geographic scale due to differences in the relative abundance, but not the composition, of haplotypes among sampled ticks. Ticks were often most closely related to ticks from the same and nearby collection sites. The data indicate that both short- and long-range migration events shape the population dynamics of blacklegged ticks in New York. Conclusions We detailed the population dynamics of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in New York during a time frame in which tick-borne diseases were increasing in range and incidence. Migration of ticks occurred at both coarse and fine scales in the recent past despite evidence of limits to gene flow. Past and current tick population dynamics have implications for further range expansion as habitat suitability for ticks changes due to global climate change. Analyses of mitochondrial genome sequencing data will expound upon previously identified drivers of tick presence and abundance as well as identify additional drivers. These data provide a foundation on which to generate testable hypotheses on the drivers of tick population dynamics occurring at finer scales. Graphical Abstract

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeographic dynamics of the arthropod vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis)

et al. 2022

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“…However, a study in Canada showed that climate warming with a higher average daily minimum summer temperature was positively associated with tick densities, and suggested that a relatively warm microclimate may even benefit tick populations [13] . A recent study also demonstrated that the climatic variables generally had opposite effects on Lyme cases in the Northeast and Upper Midwest of the USA [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Lyme disease has become a serious public health concern and a recent study made a prediction that human Lyme cases in the USA will increase by 20% in the next two decades [4]. Better understanding the spatial pattern of Lyme disease and the driving factors is not only beneficial to its prediction but also contributes to better prevention [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Land-Use Change on the Changes in Human Lyme Risk in the United States

Yang

et al. 2022

Sustainability

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The spatial extent and incidence of Lyme disease is increasing in the United States, particularly in the Upper Midwest and Northeast. Many previous studies have explored the drivers of its spatial pattern, however, few studies tried to explore the drivers for the changes of Lyme disease. We here compared the spatial patterns of changes of human Lyme cases and incidence in the Northeast and Upper Midwest between 2003–2005 and 2015–2017, and applied two different approaches (i.e., a statistical regularization approach and model averaging) to investigate the climatic and landscape factors affecting the risk change between the two periods. Our results suggested that changes in land-use variables generally showed different relationships with changes of human Lyme risk between the two regions. Changes of variables related to human-use areas showed opposite correlations in two regions. Besides, forest area and forest edge density generally negatively correlated with the change of human Lyme risk. In the context of ongoing habitat change, we consider this study may provide new insight into understanding the responses of human Lyme disease to these changes, and contribute to a better prediction in the future.

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“…Another research study dealt with Lyme disease, which represents one of the most important vector-borne diseases globally [ 20 ]. A steady increase in affected humans has been observed in the United States and no human vaccines are available; therefore, the motivation for the study was to improve the knowledge about the risk factors for Lyme disease infections [ 20 , 21 , 22 ]. In this context, Dong and colleagues (2021) compared the climate and landscape risk factors for Lyme disease in the Upper Midwest and Northeastern regions of the United States, where Lyme disease is endemic and transmitted by Ixodes scapularis (vector: deer ticks).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The study analyzed the relationship between the annual number of human Lyme disease cases for each county from 2012 to 2016, and the predictor variables of climate, seven national land cover classes and the distance to the origin areas of Lyme disease. For this purpose, the authors used a generalized linear mixed model with negative binomial regression [ 22 ]. The model results indicated that in both analyzed regions the landscape factors (related to developed areas and forest) had similar effects on the occurrence of Lyme disease.…”

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confidence: 99%

Epidemiological, Mitigation and Economic Impact of Zoonoses

Conrady

2021

IJERPH

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Comparing the Climatic and Landscape Risk Factors for Lyme Disease Cases in the Upper Midwest and Northeast United States

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Phylogeographic dynamics of the arthropod vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis)

Phylogeographic dynamics of the arthropod vector, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis)

Effect of Land-Use Change on the Changes in Human Lyme Risk in the United States

Epidemiological, Mitigation and Economic Impact of Zoonoses

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