Scouts, forests, and ticks: Impact of landscapes on human-tick contacts

Keukeleire, Mathilde De; Vanwambeke, Sophie; Somassè, Elysée; Kabamba, Benoît; Luyasu, Victor; Robert, Annie

doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.05.008

Cited by 38 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…One survey, of 568 soldiers at an outdoor training base in Germany, recorded 710 tick bites during April–September 2009, a mean incidence rate of 2.3 bites/1,000 person-days ( 20 ). More recently, a survey of 931 scouts attending summer camps in Belgium yielded a mean incidence rate of 22.8 tick bites/1,000 person-days ( 21 ). Both of these incidence rates are markedly lower than that reported in the current study, which equates to 677 bites/1,000 competitor-days.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, in the study in Germany, >95% of all tick bites occurred during 3 of the 6 months (April–September) surveyed ( 20 ). Also, in Belgium, marked differences in incidence rates were observed between camps; a range of 0–97.9 bites/1,000 person-days were recorded ( 21 ). None of the 3 surveys under discussion included accurate estimates of questing tick densities at the survey sites; however, given that the questing tick densities at the 3 LAMM sites surveyed were not unusually high (mean of 189 ticks/person-hour, which equates to 98/100 m 2 ( 23 ), it is unlikely that the ≈100-fold variation in mean incidence rate of tick bites between our study and that of Faulde et al ( 20 ) is solely a reflection of variation in local tick abundance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of Mass-Participation Outdoor Events to Assess Human Exposure to Tickborne Pathogens

Hall¹,

Alpers²,

Bown³

et al. 2017

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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Mapping the public health threat of tickborne pathogens requires quantification of not only the density of infected host-seeking ticks but also the rate of human exposure to these ticks. To efficiently sample a high number of persons in a short time, we used a mass-participation outdoor event. In June 2014, we sampled ≈500 persons competing in a 2-day mountain marathon run across predominantly tick-infested habitat in Scotland. From the number of tick bites recorded and prevalence of tick infection with Borrelia burgdoferi sensu lato and B. miyamotoi, we quantified the frequency of competitor exposure to the pathogens. Mass-participation outdoor events have the potential to serve as excellent windows for epidemiologic study of tickborne pathogens; their concerted use should improve spatial and temporal mapping of human exposure to infected ticks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Mass-Participation Outdoor Events to Assess Human Exposure to Tickborne Pathogens

Hall¹,

Alpers²,

Bown³

et al. 2017

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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“…Our model showed the negative effect of ecotone between arable land and grasslands on the risk of seropositivity. Arable land is considered the most unfavorable agricultural habitat for ticks because of drastic changes in plant cover and soil management throughout a year (4, 37). But we know that the occurrence of ticks is influenced by the neighboring habitat (38): a contact between grassland and woodland is more favorable than a contact between grassland and arable lands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because we do not know the date of infection, we considered the mean game density over the 2002–2011 period. As in previous work (4, 16) and using dasymetric mapping (19) and equation 1, an estimation of the density of red deer, roe deer, and wild boar at the municipality level was obtained. The density of these animals shot by municipality was also calculated.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Individual and environmental factors associated with the seroprevalence ofBorrelia burgdorferiin Belgian farmers and veterinarians

Keukeleire

Robert

Kabamba

et al. 2016

Infection Ecology & Epidemiology

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BackgroundLyme disease (LD) is a common tick-borne disease in Europe. Diverse factors at various scales determine the spatial distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi infection risk and a better understanding of those factors in a spatially explicit framework is needed for disease management and prevention. While the ecology of ticks and the landscape favoring their abundance have been extensively studied, the environmental conditions favoring an intense contact with susceptible humans, including groups at risk, are sparse. The aim of this study is to assess which individual and environmental factors can favor B. burgdorferi infection in a Belgian group professionally at risk.MethodsSerological results of 127 veterinarians and farmers enrolled in this study were analyzed, taking into account their municipality of residence. Using binary logistic regression and considering interaction terms, the joint effects of landscape composition and configuration, and forest and wildlife management were examined.ResultsSeven of the 127 workers were seropositive for LD, leading to a seroprevalence of 5.51%. Seropositivity was higher in older persons. The proportion of forest and semi-natural habitats and wetland had a positive impact on LD seroprevalence while arable land–grassland ecotones had a negative one. Our results confirmed the need to consider complex interactions between landscape variables in order to model risk.ConclusionsOur data show that LD has to be considered as a risk for farmers and veterinarians. Rather than focusing either on ecological aspects of tick and pathogen distribution or on purely epidemiological aspects such as individual risk factors, our model highlights the role of human–environment interactions in LD risk assessment.

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Forest classes and tree cover gradient: tick habitat in encroached areas of southern Norway

et al. 2015

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Forest, in particular deciduous forest, is a key element in determining areas with a high probability of tick presence. The way forest is generally monitored may be ill suited to some landscapes where Ixodes ricinus is found, as forest is usually characterised using crisp land cover classes. However, tree vegetation can be found outside of forests and continuous gradations of tree density can be found in a variety of landscapes. In this paper we investigate the probability of tick presence in southern Norway using landscape description based both on land cover classes and continuous data describing the tree cover fraction. Both perspectives on the landscape are significant in the logistic model, indicating that the usual approach based solely on land cover classes may not be comprehensive enough in capturing tick habitat, and characterising the landscape with variables focused on single specific elements may be insufficient.

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Scouts, forests, and ticks: Impact of landscapes on human-tick contacts

Cited by 38 publications

References 35 publications

Use of Mass-Participation Outdoor Events to Assess Human Exposure to Tickborne Pathogens

Use of Mass-Participation Outdoor Events to Assess Human Exposure to Tickborne Pathogens

Individual and environmental factors associated with the seroprevalence ofBorrelia burgdorferiin Belgian farmers and veterinarians

Forest classes and tree cover gradient: tick habitat in encroached areas of southern Norway

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