Low Risk Perception about Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases in an Area Recently Invaded by Ticks in Northwestern Italy.

ABSTRACT: Risk perception, together with the adoption of measures to prevent tick bites, may strongly influence human exposure to ticks and transmitted pathogens. We created a questionnaire to evaluate how people perceive the health risk posed by ticks in an area recently invaded by these arthropods, in the western Italian Alps. Moreover, through a collaborative effort with park rangers and physicians, we investigated which tick species bite humans and their infection with pathogens (Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and spotted-fever group Rickettsiae). Apart from two Dermacentor marginatus bites, we identified Ixodes ricinus (n = 124) as the main species responsible for tick bites. The investigated pathogens infected 25.4% of tested I. rici

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Vozmediano A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8310202 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature