Lyme Disease Emergence after Invasion of the Blacklegged Tick,<i>Ixodes scapularis</i>, Ontario, Canada, 2010–2016

Kulkarni, Manisha A.; Narula, Isha; Slatculescu, Andreea; Russell, Curtis

doi:10.3201/eid2502.180771

Cited by 26 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…This region is encompassed within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region, which is dominated by hardwood forests featuring maple, oak, birch, and pine and is home to a variety of wildlife including white-tailed deer, moose, small mammals, and migratory birds [48,49]. The predicted habitat suitability for I. scapularis in our model is consistent with other studies that have examined the recent distribution and expansion of I. scapularis in Ontario [14,30,50]. However, our model also detected moderate habitat suitability for I. scapularis along the Georgian Bay and regions bordering Algonquin Provincial Park.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Our I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi models showed good discrimination of positive and negative sites when validated against two independent datasets, indicating that the predicted distributions of I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi are supported by the currently available data. Our results are also consistent with human Lyme disease incidence rates in the province, with eastern Ontario health units reporting the highest incidence rates per 100,000 population [9,14]. This further demonstrates that areas of highest environmental risk are strongly correlated with areas of highest human Lyme disease incidence, although this is not the case in all parts of the world [66].…”

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 83%

“…The risk of contracting Lyme disease depends on several factors including human activity and behaviours as well as the density of B. burgdorferi infected ticks in the environment, which is determined by both the abundance of I. scapularis and the proportion of ticks infected with B. burgdorferi [11][12][13][14]. The most common method used for estimating risk of exposure to B. burgdorferi is the identification of I. scapularis populations in the environment using various surveillance methods [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…scapularis and the proportion of ticks infected with B . burgdorferi [ 11 – 14 ]. The most common method used for estimating risk of exposure to B .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species distribution models for the eastern blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, in Ontario, Canada

et al. 2020

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The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is established in several regions of Ontario, Canada, and continues to spread into new geographic areas across the province at a rapid rate. This poses a significant public health risk since I. scapularis transmits the Lyme diseasecausing bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, and other pathogens of potential public health concern. The objective of this study was to develop species distribution models for I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi to predict and compare the potential distributions of the tick vector and the Lyme disease pathogen as well as the ecological factors most important for species establishment. Ticks were collected via tick dragging at 120 sites across southern, central, and eastern Ontario between 2015 and 2018 and tested for tick-borne pathogens. A maximum entropy (Maxent) approach was used to model the potential distributions of I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi. Two independent datasets derived from tick dragging at 25 new sites in 2019 and ticks submitted by the public to local health units between 2015 and 2017 were used to validate the predictive accuracy of the models. The model for I. scapularis showed high suitability for blacklegged ticks in eastern Ontario and some regions along the shorelines of the Great Lakes, and moderate suitability near Algonquin Provincial Park and the Georgian Bay with good predictive accuracy (tick dragging 2019: AUC = 0.898; ticks from public: AUC = 0.727). The model for B. burgdorferi showed a similar predicted distribution but was more constrained to eastern Ontario, particularly between Ottawa and Kingston, and along Lake Ontario, with similarly good predictive accuracy (tick dragging 2019: AUC = 0.958; ticks from public: AUC = 0.863. The ecological variables most important for predicting the distributions of I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi included elevation, distance to deciduous and coniferous forest, proportions of agricultural land, water, and infrastructure, mean summer/spring temperature, and cumulative annual degree days above 0˚C.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…scapularis and the proportion of ticks infected with B . burgdorferi [ 11 – 14 ]. The most common method used for estimating risk of exposure to B .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species distribution models for the eastern blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, in Ontario, Canada

et al. 2020

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“…In eastern North America, blacklegged ticks are considered to be the main vector of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.), one of the main agents of Lyme disease, and may efficiently transmit the pathogen to humans and domestic animals ( Steere et al 1983 , 2004 ; Thompson et al 2001 ). An association between northward propagation of B. burgdorferi s.s. and northward range expansion of blacklegged ticks has been observed in the same region of Ontario, Canada, from 2010 to 2016 ( Clow et al 2017 ; Kulkarni et al 2019 ). The bordering cities of Ottawa in Ontario and Gatineau in Quebec are situated near the current northern edge of the distribution of blacklegged ticks ( Roy-Dufresne et al 2013 ; Soucy et al 2018 ), making this an important region for understanding factors related to tick and tick-borne pathogen emergence.…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Genetic Melting Pot in Blacklegged Ticks at the Northern Edge of their Expansion Front

Talbot

Leighton

Kulkarni

2020

Journal of Heredity

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Abstract Blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are considered to be the main vector of Lyme disease in eastern North America. They may parasitize a wide range of bird and mammal hosts. Northward dispersal of blacklegged ticks has been attributed largely to movement of hosts to areas outside of the current range of the tick, in conjunction with climate change. In order to better understand the drivers of range expansion in the blacklegged tick, we need investigations of the genetic connectivity and differentiation of tick populations at a fine spatial scale using appropriate markers. In this study, we investigated genetic connectivity and differentiation in blacklegged ticks, in an area of putatively recent advance in Ontario and Quebec, Canada, using microsatellite markers. Our findings suggest patchy differentiation of alleles, no spatial pattern of genetic structure and genetic subdivision within sites, which are consistent with the very limited evidence available near the leading edge of range expansion of blacklegged ticks into Canada. These findings are consistent with the prevailing hypothesis, drawn from a variety of fields of study, suggesting that migratory birds from a variety of regions may be bringing hitchhiking ticks north into Canada.

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Tick-Borne Infections of the Central Nervous System

Bradshaw

Bloch

2020

Current Clinical Neurology

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Lyme Disease Emergence after Invasion of the Blacklegged Tick,Ixodes scapularis, Ontario, Canada, 2010–2016

Cited by 26 publications

References 10 publications

Species distribution models for the eastern blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, in Ontario, Canada

Species distribution models for the eastern blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, in Ontario, Canada

Genetic Melting Pot in Blacklegged Ticks at the Northern Edge of their Expansion Front

Tick-Borne Infections of the Central Nervous System

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