Human-Biting Ixodes scapularis Submissions to a Crowd-Funded Tick Testing Program Correlate with the Incidence of Rare Tick-Borne Disease: A Seven-Year Retrospective Study of Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis in Massachusetts.

ABSTRACT: Tick-borne zoonoses pose a serious burden to global public health. To understand the distribution and determinants of these diseases, the many entangled environment-vector-host interactions which influence risk must be considered. Previous studies have evaluated how passive tick testing surveillance measures connect with the incidence of human Lyme disease. The present study sought to extend this to babesiosis and anaplasmosis, two rare tick-borne diseases. Human cases reported to the Massachusetts Department of Health and submissions to TickReport tick testing services between 2015 and 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Moderate-to-strong town-level correlations using Spearman's Rho (ρ) were established between Ixodes scapularis submissions (total, infected, adult, and nymphal) an

SUBMITTER: Siegel EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10301449 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature