在美国,蜱传疾病是一个日益严重的公共卫生问题,美国东北部几十年来报告的病例率一直很高。蒙茅斯县,新泽西,是1979年最早报告莱姆病病例的司法管辖区之一,近40年后每年报告数百例。从那时起,然而,蜱传播的健康风险已经远远超出莱姆病,包括各种其他细菌病原体和病毒,和其他向量,需要一种不断发展的方法来进行滴答监视。2017年,蒙茅斯县启动了一项针对三个生态区的积极监测计划,以收集肩cap虫(Acari:Ixodidae)和AmblyommaamericanumL.(Acari:Ixodidae),并通过qPCR测试相关的细菌病原体。在该计划的前五年(2017-2021年),我们报告了两个物种的若虫密度和感染流行率的高度时空变异性,限制可以从统计数据预测人类风险的粒度。尽管如此,更广泛的模式出现了,包括美洲曲霉占主导地位的持续趋势,miyamotoiBorrelia构成的风险,以及共感染蜱的频率。我们介绍了一些第一个县级,美国东北部若虫密度和感染率的系统监测。我们还记录了伯氏疏螺旋体的暂时下降,这可能与水库宿主种群的未测量趋势有关。我们讨论了我们的发现对蜱传疾病生态学的影响,公共卫生传播,以及流行地区的tick监测策略。
Tick-borne diseases are a growing public health problem in the United States, and the US northeast has reported consistently high
case rates for decades. Monmouth County, New Jersey, was one of the earliest jurisdictions to report Lyme disease cases in 1979 and
reports several hundred cases per year nearly 40 yr later. In the time since, however, tick-borne health risks have expanded far beyond Lyme disease to include a variety of other bacterial pathogens and viruses, and additional vectors, necessitating a continually evolving approach to tick surveillance. In 2017, Monmouth County initiated an active surveillance program targeting sites across three ecological regions for collection of Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) and Amblyomma americanum L. (Acari: Ixodidae) as well as testing via qPCR for associated bacterial pathogens. During the first five years of this program (2017-2021), we report high levels of spatiotemporal variability in nymphal density and infection prevalence in both species, limiting the granularity with which human risk can be predicted from acarological data. Nonetheless, broader patterns emerged, including an ongoing trend of A. americanum dominance, risks posed by Borrelia miyamotoi, and the frequency of coinfected ticks. We present some of the first county-level, systematic surveillance of nymphal A. americanum density and infection prevalence in the northeastern US. We also documented a temporary decline in Borrelia burgdorferi that could relate to unmeasured trends in reservoir host populations. We discuss the implications of our findings for tick-borne disease ecology, public health communication, and tick surveillance strategies in endemic areas.