For example, Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and transmitted by Ixodes scapularis in the eastern US and I. Tick-borne pathogens have emerged or have expanded their geographic range throughout North America and are currently the most frequently reported vector-borne disease threat in the US.
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information file.įunding: Our research was supported by a grant to NC Nieto from the Bay Area Lyme Foundation ( ). Received: ApAccepted: JPublished: July 12, 2018Ĭopyright: © 2018 Nieto et al. PLoS ONE 13(7):Įditor: Brian Stevenson, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, UNITED STATES (2018) Using citizen science to describe the prevalence and distribution of tick bite and exposure to tick-borne diseases in the United States. These data corroborate entomologic investigations of tick distributions in North America, but also identify patterns of local disease risk and tick contact with humans throughout the year in numerous species of ticks and associated pathogens.Ĭitation: Nieto NC, Porter WT, Wachara JC, Lowrey TJ, Martin L, Motyka PJ, et al. miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti. 16,080 ticks were submitted between January 2016 and August 2017, and screened for B. We report on an investigation of exposure to ticks and tick-borne bacteria, conducted at a national scale, using citizen science participation. However, data on exposure to vectors and pathogens can be difficult to determine e.g., if disease does not occur. Public health agencies have access to human incidence data on notifiable diseases e.g., Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and often local pathogen prevalence in vector populations.
Tick-borne pathogens are increasing their range and incidence in North America as a consequence of numerous factors including improvements in diagnostics and diagnosis, range expansion of primary vectors, changes in human behavior, and an increasing understanding of the diversity of species of pathogens that cause human disease.
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