NDLI: The risk of contact between visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks is associated with fine-scale landscape features in a southeastern Canadian nature park

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Dumas, Ariane Bouchard, Catherine Drapeau, Pierre Lindsay, L. Robbin Ogden, Nicholas H. Leighton, Patrick A.
Abstract	Background Infectious diseases are emerging across temperate regions of the world, and, for some, links have been made between landscapes and emergence dynamics. For tick-borne diseases, public parks may be important exposure sites for people living in urbanized areas of North America and Europe. In most cases, we know more about the ecological processes that determine the hazard posed by ticks as disease vectors than we do about how human population exposure varies in urban natural parks. Methods In this study, infrared counters were used to monitor visitor use of a public natural park in southern Quebec, Canada. A risk index representing the probability of encounters between humans and infected vectors was constructed. This was done by combining the intensity of visitor trail use and the density of infected nymphs obtained from field surveillance. Patterns of risk were examined using spatial cluster analysis. Digital forest data and park infrastructure data were then integrated using spatially explicit models to test whether encounter risk levels and its components vary with forest fragmentation indicators and proximity to park infrastructure. Results Results suggest that, even at a very fine scales, certain landscape features and infrastructure can be predictors of risk levels. Both visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks concentrated in areas where forest cover was dominant, so there was a positive association between forest cover and the risk index. However, there were no associations between indicators of forest fragmentation and risk levels. Some high-risk clusters contributed disproportionately to the risk distribution in the park relative to their size. There were also two high-risk periods, one in early summer coinciding with peak nymphal activity, and one in early fall when park visitation was highest. Conclusions Here, we demonstrate the importance of integrating indicators of human behaviour visitation with tick distribution data to characterize risk patterns for tick-borne diseases in public natural areas. Indeed, understanding the environmental determinants of human-tick interactions will allow organisations to deploy more effective risk reduction interventions targeted at key locations and times, and improve the management of public health risks associated with tick-borne diseases in public spaces.
Related Links	https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12889-024-18673-w.pdf
Ending Page	15
Page Count	15
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712458
DOI	10.1186/s12889-024-18673-w
Journal	BMC Public Health
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	24
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2024-04-26
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Public Health Medicine Epidemiology Biostatistics Vaccine Environmental Health Local scale Risk assessment Tick-borne disease Public natural areas Trail network Spatial analysis Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Journal Impact Factor	3.5/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.9/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Who is afraid of ticks and tick-borne diseases? Results from a cross-sectional survey in Scandinavia

Behavioral risk factors associated with reported tick exposure in a Lyme disease high incidence region in Canada

Changing the Recipe: Pathogen Directed Changes in Tick Saliva Components

Integrating tick density and park visitor behaviors to assess the risk of tick exposure in urban parks on Staten Island, New York

Regional and Local Temporal Trends of Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma spp. Seroprevalence in Domestic Dogs: Contiguous United States 2013–2019

Assessing the value and knowledge gains from an online tick identification and tick-borne disease management course for the Southeastern United States

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in Ixodes ricinus Ticks Collected from Kaylaka Park in Pleven, Bulgaria

Monitoring Risk: Tick and Borrelia burgdorferi Public Participatory Surveillance in the Canadian Maritimes, 2012–2020

Can protection motivation theory predict protective behavior against ticks?

The risk of contact between visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks is associated with fine-scale landscape features in a southeastern Canadian nature park

Similar Documents

Who is afraid of ticks and tick-borne diseases? Results from a cross-sectional survey in Scandinavia

Behavioral risk factors associated with reported tick exposure in a Lyme disease high incidence region in Canada

Changing the Recipe: Pathogen Directed Changes in Tick Saliva Components

Integrating tick density and park visitor behaviors to assess the risk of tick exposure in urban parks on Staten Island, New York

Regional and Local Temporal Trends of Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma spp. Seroprevalence in Domestic Dogs: Contiguous United States 2013–2019

Assessing the value and knowledge gains from an online tick identification and tick-borne disease management course for the Southeastern United States

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato in Ixodes ricinus Ticks Collected from Kaylaka Park in Pleven, Bulgaria

Monitoring Risk: Tick and Borrelia burgdorferi Public Participatory Surveillance in the Canadian Maritimes, 2012–2020

Can protection motivation theory predict protective behavior against ticks?

The risk of contact between visitors and Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks is associated with fine-scale landscape features in a southeastern Canadian nature park