Ectoparasitic Syndemics: Polymicrobial Tick‐borne Disease Interactions in a Changing Anthropogenic Landscape

Abstract

Based on an assessment of the available research, this article uses syndemic theory to suggest the role of adverse bio-social interactions in increasing the total disease burden of tick-borne infections in local populations. Given the worldwide distribution of ticks, capacity for coinfection, the anthropogenic role in environmental changes that facilitate tick dissemination and contact, evidence of syndemic interaction in tick-borne diseases, and growing impact of ticks on global health, tick-borne syndemics reveal fundamental ways in which human beings are not simply agents of environmental change but objects of that change as well.

Lyme disease: Insight from social sciences

“…This was brought about by the modified hosts/parasites and pathogen/pathogen (coinfections) interactions, and affects differently the various social groups. Patients presenting with Lyme disease in the United States are, for instance, more likely to belong to the upper middle class living in the suburb and to present with a coinfection (Lyme disease and babesiosis) [8]. Merrill Singer thus reminds us that humans both contribute to and suffer from environmental changes.…”

Hymenopteran Parasitoids of Hard Ticks in Western Africa and the Russian Far East

“…As a result, because of the pathogens they transmit and the enormous economic losses they cause, the epidemiological importance of ticks is increasing dramatically worldwide [ 4 ]. Recently, the recognized number of human diseases caused by microorganisms transmitted by ticks has increased [ 5 , 6 ].…”

The syndemogenesis of depression

“…My own work (Lerman 2017(Lerman , 2015 and that of Mendenhall (2016), Trainer and colleagues (2017), Illangasekare and colleagues (2014), and González-Guarda and colleagues (2011), among others, highlight the necessity of taking a multifaceted look at structural and biological underpinnings of depression, particularly as they relate to other diseases. In particular, they build on the work of Ostrach and colleagues (2017) and Singer (and Ziegler 2017;and Bulled 2016and Bulled , 2015and Bulled , 2009and Bulled , 1994 in taking a critical look at the complex ways that depression serves as a case study of syndemogensis. This theoretical focus draws attention to the need for multilevel actions to address not only the separate structural and biological bases of depression, but also the intersections.…”

“…He later clarifies the term as a 'syndemic-causing' process and describes the process as digging deeper to address the root of other syndemics (Singer 2015, 208). While the significance of syndemics research has already been proven due to its emphasis on both biosocial and structural factors as parallel contributors to illness promulgation (Everett and Wieland 2013;Lerman, Ostrach and Singer 2017;Mendenhall 2012;Singer and Bulled 2016;Willen et al 2017), research into syndemogenesis is equally essential due to its pinpointing of particular syndemic relationships which, by early detection and prevention, can mitigate other illnesses and syndemics. One value of this approach is the potential to identify specific syndemic interactions by tracing specific diseases across several syndemics and understanding the structural factors that support disease etiology.…”