Integrated assessment of behavioral and environmental risk factors for Lyme disease infection on Block Island, Rhode Island.

ABSTRACT: Peridomestic exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi-infected Ixodes scapularis nymphs is considered the dominant means of infection with black-legged tick-borne pathogens in the eastern United States. Population level studies have detected a positive association between the density of infected nymphs and Lyme disease incidence. At a finer spatial scale within endemic communities, studies have focused on individual level risk behaviors, without accounting for differences in peridomestic nymphal density. This study simultaneously assessed the influence of peridomestic tick exposure risk and human behavior risk factors for Lyme disease infection on Block Island, Rhode Island. Tick exposure risk on Block Island properties was estimated using remotely sensed landscape metrics that strongly correlated

SUBMITTER: Finch C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3885597 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature