MOOD publications

@article{nokey,

title = {Assessing tick attachments to humans with citizen },

author = {"Lisa Bald

Nils Ratnaweera

Tomislav Hengl

Patrick Laube

Jürg Grunder

Werner Tischhauser

Netra Bhandari

Dirk Zeuss"},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-024-06636-4},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-01-23},

journal = {Parasites & Vectors},

abstract = {Ticks are the primary vectors of numerous zoonotic pathogens, transmitting more pathogens than any other blood-feeding arthropod. In the northern hemisphere, tick-borne disease cases in humans, such as Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis, have risen in recent years, and are a significant burden on public healthcare systems. The spread of these diseases is further reinforced by climate change, which leads to expanding tick habitats. Switzerland is among the countries in which tick-borne diseases are a major public health concern, with increasing incidence rates reported in recent years.



},

keywords = {TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Risk factors for tick attachment in companion animals in Great Britain: a spatiotemporal analysis covering 2014–2021},

author = {Elena Arsevska and Tomislav Hengl and David A. Singleton and Peter-John M. Noble and Cyril Caminade and Obiora Eneanya and Philip H. Jones and Kayleigh Hansford and Jolyon Medlock and Carmelo Bonannella and Alan D. Radford},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-023-06094-4},

year  = {2024},

date = {2024-01-22},

urldate = {2024-01-22},

journal = {Parasites and Vectors},

keywords = {OpenDataSet, TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {A social-ecological systems approach to tick bite and tick-borne disease risk management: Exploring collective action in the Occitanie region in southern France},

author = {Iyonna Zortman and Michel de Garine-Wichatitsky and Elena Arsevska and Timothée Dub and Wim Van Bortel and Estelle Lefrançois and Laurence Vial and Thomas Pollet and Aurélie Binot,},

url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771423001507},

doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100630},

issn = {2352-7714},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-12-01},

urldate = {2023-12-01},

journal = {One Health},

volume = {17},

pages = {100630},

abstract = {Ticks are amongst the most important zoonotic disease vectors affecting human and animal health worldwide. Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are rapidly expanding geographically and in incidence, most notably in temperate regions of Europe where ticks are considered the principal zoonotic vector of Public Health relevance, as well as a major health and economic preoccupation in agriculture and equine industries. Tick-borne pathogen (TBP) transmission is contingent on complex, interlinked vector-pathogen-host dynamics, environmental and ecological conditions and human behavior. Tackling TBD therefore requires a better understanding of the interconnected social and ecological variables (i.e., the social-ecological system) that favor disease (re)-emergence. The One Health paradigm recognizes the interdependence of human, animal and environmental health and proposes an integrated approach to manage TBD. However, One Health interventions are limited by significant gaps in our understanding of the complex, systemic nature of TBD risk, in addition to a lack of effective, universally accepted and environmentally conscious tick control measures. Today individual prevention gestures are the most effective strategy to manage TBDs in humans and animals, making local communities important actors in TBD detection, prevention and management. Yet, how they engage and collaborate within a multi-actor TBD network has not yet been explored. Here, we argue that transdisciplinary collaborations that go beyond research, political and medical stakeholders, and extend to local community actors can aid in identifying relevant social-ecological risk indicators key for informing multi-level TBD detection, prevention and management measures. This article proposes a transdisciplinary social-ecological systems framework, based on participatory research approaches, to better understand the necessary conditions for local actor engagement to improve TBD risk. We conclude with perspectives for implementing this methodological framework in a case study in the south of France (Occitanie region), where multi-actor collaborations are mobilized to stimulate multi-actor collective action and identify relevant social-ecological indicators of TBD risk.},

keywords = {TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Outdoor recreation, tick borne encephalitis incidence and seasonality in Finland, Norway and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020/2021)},

author = {Solveig Jore and Hildegunn Viljugrein and Marika Hjertqvist and Timothée Dub and Henna Mäkelä},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/20008686.2023.2281055},

doi = {10.1080/20008686.2023.2281055},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-11-18},

urldate = {2023-11-18},

journal = {Infection Ecology & Epidemiology},

volume = {13},

number = {1},

pages = {2281055},

abstract = {During the pandemic outdoor activities were encouraged to mitigate transmission risk while providing safe spaces for social interactions. Human behaviour, which may favour or disfavour, contact rates between questing ticks and humans, is a key factor impacting tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) incidence. We analyzed annual and weekly TBE cases in Finland, Norway and Sweden from 2010 to 2021 to assess trend, seasonality, and discuss changes in human tick exposure imposed by COVID-19. We compared the pre-pandemic incidence (2010–2019) with the pandemic incidence (2020–2021) by fitting a generalized linear model (GLM) to incidence data. Pre-pandemic incidence was 1.0, 0.29 and 2.8 for Finland, Norway and Sweden, respectively, compared to incidence of 2.2, 1.0 and 3.9 during the pandemic years. However, there was an increasing trend for all countries across the whole study period. Therefore, we predicted the number of cases in 2020/2021 based on a model fitted to the annual cases in 2010–2019. The incidences during the pandemic were 1.3 times higher for Finland, 1.7 times higher for Norway and no difference for Sweden. When social restrictions were enforced to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 there were profound changes in outdoor recreational behavior. Future consideration of public health interventions that promote outdoor activities may increase exposure to vector-borne diseases. },

keywords = {Covid-19 (Coronavirus), TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Ecological and environmental factors affecting the risk of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe, 2017 to 2021},

author = {Francesca Dagostin and Valentina Tagliapietra and Giovanni Marini and Claudia Cataldo and Maria Bellenghi and Scilla Pizzarelli and Rosaria Rosanna Cammarano and William Wint and Neil S Alexander and Markus Neteler and Julia Haas and Timothée Dub and Luca Busani and Annapaola Rizzoli

},

url = {https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.42.2300121},

doi = {10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.42.2300121},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-10-19},

urldate = {2023-10-19},

abstract = {Background

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a disease which can lead to severe neurological symptoms, caused by the TBE virus (TBEV). The natural transmission cycle occurs in foci and involves ticks as vectors and several key hosts that act as reservoirs and amplifiers of the infection spread. Recently, the incidence of TBE in Europe has been rising in both endemic and new regions.



Aim

In this study we want to provide comprehensive understanding of the main ecological and environmental factors that affect TBE spread across Europe.



Methods

We searched available literature on covariates linked with the circulation of TBEV in Europe. We then assessed the best predictors for TBE incidence in 11 European countries by means of statistical regression, using data on human infections provided by the European Surveillance System (TESSy), averaged between 2017 and 2021.



Results

We retrieved data from 62 full-text articles and identified 31 different covariates associated with TBE occurrence. Finally, we selected eight variables from the best model, including factors linked to vegetation cover, climate, and the presence of tick hosts.



Discussion

The existing literature is heterogeneous, both in study design and covariate types. Here, we summarised and statistically validated the covariates affecting the variability of TBEV across Europe. The analysis of the factors enhancing disease emergence is a fundamental step towards the identification of potential hotspots of viral circulation. Hence, our results can support modelling efforts to estimate the risk of TBEV infections and help decision-makers implement surveillance and prevention campaigns.},

keywords = {TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {High habitat richness reduces the risk of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe: A multi-scale study},

author = {Francesca Dagostin and Valentina Tagliapietra and Giovanni Marini and Giulia Ferrari and Marco Cervellini and William Wint and Neil S. Alexander and Maria Grazia Zuccali and Silvia Molinaro and Nahuel Fiorito and Timothée Dub and Duccio Rocchini and Annapaola Rizzoli},

url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352771423001891},

doi = {10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100669},

issn = {2352-7714},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-06-01},

urldate = {2023-06-01},

journal = {One Health},

volume = {18},

pages = {100669},

abstract = {Background

The natural transmission cycle of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus is enhanced by complex interactions between ticks and key hosts strongly connected to habitat characteristics. The diversity of wildlife host species and their relative abundance is known to affect transmission of tick-borne diseases. Therefore, in the current context of global biodiversity loss, we explored the relationship between habitat richness and the pattern of human TBE cases in Europe to assess biodiversity's role in disease risk mitigation.

Methods

We assessed human TBE case distribution across 879 European regions using official epidemiological data reported to The European Surveillance System (TESSy) between 2017 and 2021 from 15 countries. We explored the relationship between TBE presence and the habitat richness index (HRI1) by means of binomial regression. We validated our findings at local scale using data collected between 2017 and 2021 in 227 municipalities located in Trento and Belluno provinces, two known TBE foci in northern Italy.

Findings

Our results showed a significant parabolic effect of HRI on the probability of presence of human TBE cases in the European regions included in our dataset, and a significant, negative effect of HRI on the local presence of TBE in northern Italy. At both spatial scales, TBE risk decreases in areas with higher values of HRI.

Interpretation

To our knowledge, no efforts have yet been made to explore the relationship between biodiversity and TBE risk, probably due to the scarcity of high-resolution, large-scale data about the abundance or density of critical host species. Hence, in this study we considered habitat richness as proxy for vertebrate host diversity. The results suggest that in highly diverse habitats TBE risk decreases. Hence, biodiversity loss could enhance TBE risk for both humans and wildlife. This association is relevant to support the hypothesis that the maintenance of highly diverse ecosystems mitigates disease risk.},

keywords = {TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey_42,

title = {Correlation between airborne pollen data and the risk of tick-borne encephalitis in northern Italy},

author = {Giovanni Marini and Valentina Tagliapietra and Fabiana Cristofolini and Antonella Cristofori and Francesca Dagostin and Maria Grazia Zuccali and Silvia Molinaro and Elena Gottardini and Annapaola Rizzoli },

url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-35478-w#article-info},

doi = {10.1038/s41598-023-35478-w},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-05-22},

urldate = {2023-05-22},

abstract = {Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is caused by a flavivirus that infects animals including humans. In Europe, the TBE virus circulates enzootically in natural foci among ticks and rodent hosts. The abundance of ticks depends on the abundance of rodent hosts, which in turn depends on the availability of food resources, such as tree seeds. Trees can exhibit large inter-annual fluctuations in seed production (masting), which influences the abundance of rodents the following year, and the abundance of nymphal ticks two years later. Thus, the biology of this system predicts a 2-year time lag between masting and the incidence of tick-borne diseases such as TBE. As airborne pollen abundance is related to masting, we investigated whether inter-annual variation in pollen load could be directly correlated with inter-annual variation in the incidence of TBE in human populations with a 2-year time lag. We focused our study on the province of Trento (northern Italy), where 206 TBE cases were notified between 1992 and 2020. We tested the relationship between TBE incidence and pollen load collected from 1989 to 2020 for 7 different tree species common in our study area. Through univariate analysis we found that the pollen quantities recorded two years prior for two tree species, hop-hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) and downy oak (Quercus pubescens), were positively correlated with TBE emergence (R2 = 0.2) while a multivariate model with both tree species better explained the variation in annual TBE incidence (R2 = 0.34). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt at quantifying the correlation between pollen quantities and the incidence of TBE in human populations. As pollen loads are collected by widespread aerobiological networks using standardized procedures, our study could be easily replicated to test their potential as early warning system for TBE and other tick-borne diseases.},

keywords = {OpenDataSet, TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{nokey,

title = {Estimating rodent population abundance using early climatic predictors},

author = {Giovanni Marini and Daniele Arnoldi and Annapaola Rizzoli and Valentina Tagliapietra},

url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10344-023-01666-2#citeas},

doi = {10.1007/s10344-023-01666-2},

year  = {2023},

date = {2023-03-17},

urldate = {2023-03-17},

journal = {European Journal of Wildlife Research},

volume = {69},

number = {2},

pages = {36},

keywords = {OpenDataSet, TBE (Tick Borne Encephalitis)},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}