Search results for "Lyme Disease"
showing 7 items of 47 documents
Comparing the Climatic and Landscape Risk Factors for Lyme Disease Cases in the Upper Midwest and Northeast United States
2020
Lyme disease, recognized as one of the most important vector-borne diseases worldwide, has been increasing in incidence and spatial extend in United States. In the Northeast and Upper Midwest, Lyme disease is transmitted by Ixodes scapularis. Currently, many studies have been conducted to identify factors influencing Lyme disease risk in the Northeast, however, relatively few studies focused on the Upper Midwest. In this study, we explored and compared the climatic and landscape factors that shape the spatial patterns of human Lyme cases in these two regions, using the generalized linear mixed models. Our results showed that climatic variables generally had opposite correlations with Lyme d…
The role of maternal effects in host-parasite interactions: examination of the development of the immune defense in a colonial seabird, the black-leg…
2004
One of the main aims of evolutionary biology is to understand the mechanisms responsible for the phenotypic variation on which natural selection can act. Maternal effects occur when a mother's phenotype or her environment influence her offspring's phenotype. Despite the importance of such effects for the ecology of host-parasite interactions, their role has been relatively neglected to date. In this thesis, we examined how mothers influence the immune defense of their young in an environment that varies in space and time. This work has primarily focused on a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Using this model, we have first shown that specific maternal antibodi…
Rodent host population dynamics drive zoonotic Lyme Borreliosis and Orthohantavirus infections in humans in Northern Europe
2021
Zoonotic diseases, caused by pathogens transmitted between other vertebrate animals and humans, pose a major risk to human health. Rodents are important reservoir hosts for many zoonotic pathogens, and rodent population dynamics affect the infection dynamics of rodent-borne diseases, such as diseases caused by hantaviruses. However, the role of rodent population dynamics in determining the infection dynamics of rodent-associated tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme borreliosis (LB), caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato bacteria, have gained limited attention in Northern Europe, despite the multiannual abundance fluctuations, the so-called vole cycles, that characterise rodent population d…
Review of European and American guidelines for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis
2019
International audience; Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial disease with polymorphic clinical manifestations (cutaneous, rheumatological, and neurological). In recent years the issue of the diagnosis of this infection has been highly publicized on the Internet and other media in Europe and America. Some patients and physicians may share the perception that the diagnosis of the infection is not reliable in France. We reviewed current European and American guidelines on Lyme disease and performed a methodological evaluation of all guidelines. We retrieved 16 guidelines from seven countries. Our analysis revealed a global consensus regarding diagnosis at each stage of the infection. All gui…
Questing abundance of adult taiga ticks Ixodes persulcatus and their Borrelia prevalence at the north-western part of their distribution
2020
Background Because ixodid ticks are vectors of zoonotic pathogens, including Borrelia, information of their abundance, seasonal variation in questing behaviour and pathogen prevalence is important for human health. As ticks are invading new areas northwards, information from these new areas are needed. Taiga tick (Ixodes persulcatus) populations have been recently found at Bothnian Bay, Finland. We assessed seasonal variation in questing abundance of ticks and their pathogen prevalence in coastal deciduous forests near the city of Oulu (latitudes 64–65°) in 2019. Methods We sampled ticks from May until September by cloth dragging 100 meters once a month at eight study sites. We calculated a…
Entry and processing of Borrelia burgdorferi pleomorphic forms
2015
Lymen borrelioosi on Suomessakin yleinen puutiaisten levittämä tauti. Borrelioosin ensimmäisiä oireita ovat muun muassa puutiaisen pureman ympärille muodostuva ihottuma, päänsärky, väsymys ja kuume. Myöhemmin tauti voi aiheuttaa nivel- tai sydäntulehduksen sekä neurologisia oireita. Borrelioosi on monessa suhteessa kiistanalainen tauti, sillä esimerkiksi sen hoidosta ja mahdollisesta kroonistumisesta on kaksi eriävää näkemystä. Taudin aiheuttaja on Borrelia burgdorferi -bakteeri (Bb). Bb pystyy välttelemään isännän immuunipuolustusta useilla eri mekanismeilla. Bakteeri on korkkiruuvinmuotoinen spirokeetta, mutta voi esiintyä myös epätyypillisinä muotoina, joihin kuuluu esimerkiksi pyöreä mu…
The sculpture of tick-borne diseases media coverage in the United States and China
2017
Media’s ability to enhance the salience of certain topics for the public and affect governmental policy-setting processes is widely recognized. This is particularly evident in health communication, where newspapers are one of the most important sources of health information. This study compares media depictions of tick-borne disease in the United States and China, attempting to enhance newspaper influence in health information delivery in both countries. The United States and China are experiencing an increase in tick-borne diseases and have vastly different media landscapes. To investigate US and Chinese newspaper coverage of tick-borne diseases, a content analysis was conducted of four …