Stemming the Rising Tide of Human-Biting Ticks and Tickborne Diseases, United States

Eisen, Lars

doi:10.3201/eid2604.191629

Cited by 55 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A standardized tick and tick-borne disease surveillance program in NJ (and across the northeast) is needed to investigate the growing tide of tick-borne diseases afflicting the millions living in this region. 38,39 We propose that the best steps forward toward understanding the causal factors underlying the significant numbers of SFGR cases in NJ involve collaborative teams of physicians, medical entomologists, diagnostic laboratories, and public health professionals to positively identify the vectors, reservoirs, and pathogen(s) associated with local SFGR cases. Although some may argue that additional costs for specific identification are not justified because treatment is the same for all Rickettsia infections, the clinical outcomes associated with different Rickettsia species can be radically different ranging from a rash to death.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Jersey-Wide Survey of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae) in Dermacentor variabilis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae)

Occi

Egizi

Goncalves

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For the last decade, the New Jersey (NJ) Department of Health has reported between 42 and 144 new cases each year of "spotted fever group rickettsiosis" (SFGR), a statistic that reflects uncertainty regarding which rickettsial agents (Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae: Rickettsia) are infecting NJ residents. To identify the Rickettsia circulating in NJ ticks, we used a combination of conventional and real time PCR approaches to screen 560 Dermacentor variabilis Say and 245 Amblyomma americanum L. obtained from a 1-day statewide surveillance in May 2018 and an additional 394 D. variabilis collected across NJ in 2013-2018. We found zero D. variabilis infected with Rickettsia rickettsii, the agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and, on average, 1.3% infected with presumed nonpathogenic Rickettsia montanensis. We also found zero A. americanum infected with R. rickettsii, and 20% infected with Rickettsia amblyommatis, a prevalence somewhat lower than in more southern states. Overall, we conclude that it is unlikely that R. rickettsii vectored by D. variabilis is a primary cause of SFGR cases in NJ and discuss our findings in the context of known facts and current limitations. We conclude that understanding the causes of SFGR east of the Mississippi will require collaboration among medical doctors, public health authorities, and medical entomologists to follow up presumptive human cases of SFGR with detailed histories of exposure, species-specific molecular assays, and active surveillance of putative vectors and the pathogens they may carry.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Jersey-Wide Survey of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae) in Dermacentor variabilis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae)

Occi

Egizi

Goncalves

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the U.S., putting a large number of people living in tick-endemic areas at risk ( Eisen, 2020 ; Eisen et al., 2017 ; Paules et al., 2018 ). Tick repellents are a strategy widely used for individual protection from tick bites ( Pages et al., 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel Tick Carousel Assay for testing efficacy of repellents on Amblyomma americanum L.

Luker

Rodriguez

Kandel

et al. 2021

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ticks are important vectors of human and veterinary diseases. A primary way ticks gain access to human hosts is by engaging to clothing. Repellents or acaricides sprayed onto fabric are used to deter ticks’ access to human hosts. However, there are a limited amount of standardized laboratory assays that can determine the potency and efficacy of repellents. We present a novel fabric-engagement assay referred to as the ‘Tick Carousel Assay’. This assay utilizes fabric brushing past ticks located on an artificial grass patch and measures tick engagements to fabric over time. After screening a variety of tick species, we used the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) to test the efficacy of four commonly used active ingredients in repellents: DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, and Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus. Repellency was tested immediately, after three hours, and six hours post application to fabric. Our data show that each repellent we tested significantly reduced the number of tick engagements to fabric for at least 6 hours. We did not find significant differences in repellent efficacy between the four active ingredients tested directly and three hours after application. After six hours, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus repelled ticks more than the other active ingredients. We show that our Tick Carousel Assay provides an affordable, repeatable, and standardized way to compare and test repellent efficacy on treated fabrics. Our results confirm that commonly used repellents applied to fabric are an effective way to reduce tick engagement.

show abstract

“…Recent attention has focused on hard-bodied (ixodid) ticks and their pathogens (tickborne diseases [TBD]) as a growing public health concern. The emergence has been both in the expansion of geographic ranges and in the increased incidence of the associated diseases ( Eisen et al 2017 , Beard et al 2019 , Eisen 2020 ). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed guidelines for standardized surveys of these ticks to better monitor the extent and changes in their occurrences ( CDC 2018 , 2020 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The standards ensure both that higher quality surveillance is performed and that gaps in knowledge are filled. Standardized survey protocols also reduce biases in the collected information—reducing analytical errors and erroneous interpretations ( CDC 2018 , Eisen 2020 ). These surveys generate local snapshots of occurrence or abundance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Validating Species Distribution Models With Standardized Surveys for Ixodid Ticks in Mainland Florida

Glass

Ganser

Kessler

2021

Journal of Medical Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tick-borne pathogens are of growing concern. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed guidelines standardizing surveys of tick vectors to better monitor the changes in their occurrences. Unbiased surveillance data, from standardized surveys, are presumed critical to generate valid species distribution models (SDMs). We tested previously generated SDMs from standardized protocols for three medically important ticks [Amblyomma americanum (Linnaeus, Ixodida, Ixodidae), Ixodes scapularis (Say, Ixodida, Ixodidae), and Dermacentor variabilis (Say, Ixodida, Ixodidae)]. These previous models ruled out a quarter to half of the state as having these species, with consensus occurrence in about a quarter of the state. New surveys performed throughout 2019 on 250 transects at 43 sites indicated the rule-out functions were 100% accurate for I. scapularis and D. variabilis and 91.9% for A. americanum. As SDM concordance increased, the proportion of transects yielding ticks increased. Independent surveys of SDMs provide external validation—an aspect missing from many SDM studies.

show abstract

Stemming the Rising Tide of Human-Biting Ticks and Tickborne Diseases, United States

Cited by 55 publications

References 41 publications

New Jersey-Wide Survey of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae) in Dermacentor variabilis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae)

New Jersey-Wide Survey of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia (Proteobacteria: Rickettsiaceae) in Dermacentor variabilis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae)

A novel Tick Carousel Assay for testing efficacy of repellents on Amblyomma americanum L.

Validating Species Distribution Models With Standardized Surveys for Ixodid Ticks in Mainland Florida

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About