Analyzing the Potential Risk of Climate Change on Lyme Disease in Eastern Ontario, Canada Using Time Series Remotely Sensed Temperature Data and Tick Population Modelling

Models and data used to predict the abundance and distribution of Ixodes scapularis (blacklegged tick) in North America: a scoping review

Tick-borne diseases (TBD) remain prevalent worldwide, and risk assessment of tick habitat suitability is crucial to prevent or reduce their burden. This scoping review provides a comprehensive survey of models and data used to predict I. scapularis distribution and abundance in North America. We identified 4661 relevant primary research articles published in English between January 1st, 2012, and July 18th, 2022, and selected 41 articles following full-text review. Models used data-driven and mechanistic modelling frameworks informed by diverse tick, hydroclimatic, and ecological variables. Predictions captured tick abundance (n = 14, 34.1%), distribution (n = 22, 53.6%) and both (n = 5, 12.1%). All studies used tick data, and many incorporated both hydroclimatic and ecological variables. Minimal host- and human-specific data were utilized. Biases related to data collection, protocols, and tick data quality affect completeness and representativeness of prediction models. Further research and collaboration are needed to improve prediction accuracy and develop effective strategies to reduce TBD.

Climate change: A driver of increasing vector-borne disease transmission in non-endemic areas

In this Perspective, Shlomit Paz discusses the link between climate change and transmission of vector-borne diseases in non-endemic areas.

Climate crisis risks to elderly health: strategies for effective promotion and response

The climate crisis significantly impacts the health and well-being of older adults, both directly and indirectly. This issue is of growing concern in Canada due to the country's rapidly accelerating warming trend and expanding elderly population. This article serves a threefold purpose: (i) outlining the impacts of the climate crisis on older adults, (ii) providing a descriptive review of existing policies with a specific focus on the Canadian context, and (iii) promoting actionable recommendations. Our review reveals the application of current strategies, including early warning systems, enhanced infrastructure, sustainable urban planning, healthcare access, social support systems, and community engagement, in enhancing resilience and reducing health consequences among older adults. Within the Canadian context, we then emphasize the importance of establishing robust risk metrics and evaluation methods to prepare for and manage the impacts of the climate crisis efficiently. We underscore the value of vulnerability mapping, utilizing geographic information to identify regions where older adults are most at risk. This allows for targeted interventions and resource allocation. We recommend employing a root cause analysis approach to tailor risk response strategies, along with a focus on promoting awareness, readiness, physician training, and fostering collaboration and benchmarking. These suggestions aim to enhance disaster risk management for the well-being and resilience of older adults in the face of the climate crisis.

Trending Occupational Fatalities and Injuries: An Assessment of Projected Climate Change Related Impacts in the United States since 1992

BACKGROUND

Some impacts of climate change that are expected to affect the American workforce are rising temperatures, greater prevalence of wildland fires, increase in Lyme disease, and exposure to insecticides. The purpose of this study was to assess how fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries due to environmental heat, forest/brush fires, Lyme disease, and exposure to insecticides have changed over time in the United States and if there were any significant relationships between national occupational injury/illness data and national temperature trends.

METHODS

Linear regression models assessed fatal and non-fatal injuries/illnesses since 1992 by both the frequency of incidents and the proportion of total incidents and the effects of national average temperatures.

RESULTS

There were significant increases in occupational fatalities and illnesses due to exposure to environmental heat and national average annual temperatures were predictive of heat exposure fatalities and illnesses.

CONCLUSION

Heat exposure is an occupational hazard that must be managed carefully in the coming years. Organizations will need to take more aggressive heat exposure control measures as temperatures continue to rise and remain hotter for longer periods during the year. While not currently showing increasing trends on a national scale, the prevalence of occupational incidents due to forest/brush fires, Lyme disease, and insecticides should be monitored as the United States experiences more of the projected impacts of climate change.

Passive Surveillance of Human-Biting Ixodes scapularis Ticks in Massachusetts from 2015-2019

This study aimed to analyze human-biting Ixodes scapularis ticks submitted to TickReport tick testing service from 2015-2019 in Massachusetts to (1) examine possible patterns of pathogen-positive adult and nymphal ticks over time and (2) explore how socioeconomic factors can influence tick submissions. A passive surveillance data set of ticks and tick-borne pathogens was conducted over 5 years (2015-2019) in Massachusetts. The percentages of four tick-borne pathogens: Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia microti, and Borrelia miyamotoi were determined by Massachusetts county and by month and year. Regression models were used to examine the association between zip-code-level socioeconomic factors and submissions. A total of 13,598 I. scapularis ticks were submitted to TickReport from Massachusetts residents. The infection rate of B. burgdorferi, A. phagocytophilum, and B. microti was 39%, 8%, and 7% in adult ticks; 23%, 6%, and 5% in nymphal ticks, respectively. A relatively higher level of education was associated with high tick submission. Passive surveillance of human-biting ticks and associated pathogens is important for monitoring tick-borne diseases, detecting areas with potentially high risks, and providing public information. Socioeconomic factors should be considered to produce more generalizable passive surveillance data and to target potentially underserved areas.

Climate Change and Cascading Risks from Infectious Disease

Climate change is adversely affecting the burden of infectious disease throughout the world, which is a health security threat. Climate-sensitive infectious disease includes vector-borne diseases such as malaria, whose transmission potential is expected to increase because of enhanced climatic suitability for the mosquito vector in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America. Climatic suitability for the mosquitoes that can carry dengue, Zika, and chikungunya is also likely to increase, facilitating further increases in the geographic range and longer transmission seasons, and raising concern for expansion of these diseases into temperate zones, particularly under higher greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Early spring temperatures in 2018 seem to have contributed to the early onset and extensive West Nile virus outbreak in Europe, a pathogen expected to expand further beyond its current distribution, due to a warming climate. As for tick-borne diseases, climate change is projected to continue to contribute to the spread of Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis, particularly in North America and Europe. Schistosomiasis is a water-borne disease and public health concern in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia; climate change is anticipated to change its distribution, with both expansions and contractions expected. Other water-borne diseases that cause diarrheal diseases have declined significantly over the last decades owing to socioeconomic development and public health measures but changes in climate can reverse some of these positive developments. Weather and climate events, population movement, land use changes, urbanization, global trade, and other drivers can catalyze a succession of secondary events that can lead to a range of health impacts, including infectious disease outbreaks. These cascading risk pathways of causally connected events can result in large-scale outbreaks and affect society at large. We review climatic and other cascading drivers of infectious disease with projections under different climate change scenarios. Supplementary file1 (MP4 328467 KB).

Modeling the invasion and establishment of a tick-borne pathogen

We develop a discrete-time tick–host–pathogen model to describe the spread of a disease in a hard-bodied tick species. This model incorporates the developmental stages for a tick, the dependence of the tick life-cycle and disease transmission on host availability, and three sources of pathogen transmission. We first establish the global dynamics of the disease-free system. We then apply the model to two pathogens, Borellia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophila, using Ixodes ricinus as the tick species to study properties of the invasion and establishment of a disease numerically. In particular, we consider the basic reproduction number, which determines whether a disease can invade the tick-host system, as well as disease prevalence and time to establishment in the case of successful disease invasion. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we calculate the means of each of these disease metrics and their elasticities with respect to various model parameters. We find that increased tick survival may help enable disease invasion, decrease the time to disease establishment, and increase disease prevalence once established. In contrast, though disease invasion is sensitive to tick-to-host transmission and tick searching efficiencies, neither disease prevalence nor time to disease establishment is sensitive to these parameters. These differences emphasize the importance of developing approaches, such as the one highlighted here, that can be used to study disease dynamics beyond just pathogen invasion, including transitional and long-term dynamics.

Modelling Spatiotemporal Patterns of Lyme Disease Emergence in Québec

Lyme disease is a growing public health problem in Québec. Its emergence over the last decade is caused by environmental and anthropological factors that favour the survival of Ixodes scapularis, the vector of Lyme disease transmission. The objective of this study was to estimate the speed and direction of human Lyme disease emergence in Québec and to identify spatiotemporal risk patterns. A surface trend analysis was conducted to estimate the speed and direction of its emergence based upon the first detected case of Lyme disease in each municipality in Québec since 2004. A cluster analysis was also conducted to identify at-risk regions across space and time. These analyses were reproduced for the date of disease onset and date of notification for each case of Lyme disease. It was estimated that Lyme disease is spreading northward in Québec at a speed varying between 18 and 32 km/year according to the date of notification and the date of disease onset, respectively. A significantly high risk of disease was found in seven clusters identified in the south-west of Québec in the sociosanitary regions of Montérégie and Estrie. The results obtained in this study improve our understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns of Lyme disease in Québec, which can be used for proactive, targeted interventions by public and clinical health authorities.

Models for Studying the Distribution of Ticks and Tick-Borne Diseases in Animals: A Systematic Review and a Meta-Analysis with a Focus on Africa

Ticks and tick-borne diseases (TTBD) are constraints to the development of livestock and induce potential human health problems. The worldwide distribution of ticks is not homogenous. Some places are ecologically suitable for ticks but they are not introduced in these areas yet. The absence or low density of hosts is a factor affecting the dissemination of the parasite. To understand the process of introduction and spread of TTBD in different areas, and forecast their presence, scientists developed different models (e.g., predictive models and explicative models). This study aimed to identify models developed by researchers to analyze the TTBD distribution and to assess the performance of these various models with a meta-analysis. A literature search was implemented with PRISMA protocol in two online databases (Scopus and PubMed). The selected articles were classified according to country, type of models and the objective of the modeling. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy available data of these models were used to evaluate their performance using a meta-analysis. One hundred studies were identified in which seven tick genera were modeled, with Ixodes the most frequently modeled. Additionally, 13 genera of tick-borne pathogens were also modeled, with Borrelia the most frequently modeled. Twenty-three different models were identified and the most frequently used are the generalized linear model representing 26.67% and the maximum entropy model representing 24.17%. A focus on TTBD modeling in Africa showed that, respectively, genus Rhipicephalus and Theileria parva were the most modeled. A meta-analysis on the quality of 20 models revealed that maximum entropy, linear discriminant analysis, and the ecological niche factor analysis models had, respectively, the highest sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve effect size among all the selected models. Modeling TTBD is highly relevant for predicting their distribution and preventing their adverse effect on animal and human health and the economy. Related results of such analyses are useful to build prevention and/or control programs by veterinary and public health authorities.

The Impacts of Climate Change on Ticks and Tick-Borne Disease Risk

Ticks exist on all continents and carry more zoonotic pathogens than any other type of vector. Ticks spend most of their lives in the external environment away from the host and are thus expected to be affected by changes in climate. Most empirical and theoretical studies demonstrate or predict range shifts or increases in ticks and tick-borne diseases, but there can be a lot of heterogeneity in such predictions. Tick-borne disease systems are complex, and determining whether changes are due to climate change or other drivers can be difficult. Modeling studies can help tease apart and understand the roles of different drivers of change. Predictive models can also be invaluable in projecting changes according to different climate change scenarios. However, validating these models remains challenging, and estimating uncertainty in predictions is essential. Another focus for future research should be assessing the resilience of ticks and tick-borne pathogens to climate change.

Forest Connectivity, Host Assemblage Characteristics of Local and Neighboring Counties, and Temperature Jointly Shape the Spatial Expansion of Lyme Disease in United States

Understanding risk factors for the spread of infectious diseases over time and across the landscape is critical for managing disease risk. While habitat connectivity and characteristics of local and neighboring animal (i.e., host) assemblages are known to influence the spread of diseases, the interactions among these factors remain poorly understood. In this study, we conducted a county-level analysis to test the effects of forest connectivity, together with the suitability of local assemblage (measured by the similarity of local host assemblage with neighboring assemblages) and the infection intensity of neighboring counties on the spatial expansion of Lyme disease in the United States. Our results suggested that both the similarity of local host assemblage and the infection intensity of neighboring counties were positively correlated with the probability of disease spread. Moreover, we found that increasing forest connectivity could facilitate the positive effect of neighbor infection intensity. In contrast, the effect size of the host assemblage similarity decreased with increasing connectivity, suggesting that host assemblage similarity was less effective in well-connected habitats. Our results thus indicate that habitat connectivity can indirectly influence disease spread by mediating the effects of other risk factors.

Thermal biology of mosquito-borne disease

Mosquito-borne diseases cause a major burden of disease worldwide. The vital rates of these ectothermic vectors and parasites respond strongly and nonlinearly to temperature and therefore to climate change. Here, we review how trait-based approaches can synthesise and mechanistically predict the temperature dependence of transmission across vectors, pathogens, and environments. We present 11 pathogens transmitted by 15 different mosquito species - including globally important diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika - synthesised from previously published studies. Transmission varied strongly and unimodally with temperature, peaking at 23-29ºC and declining to zero below 9-23ºC and above 32-38ºC. Different traits restricted transmission at low versus high temperatures, and temperature effects on transmission varied by both mosquito and parasite species. Temperate pathogens exhibit broader thermal ranges and cooler thermal minima and optima than tropical pathogens. Among tropical pathogens, malaria and Ross River virus had lower thermal optima (25-26ºC) while dengue and Zika viruses had the highest (29ºC) thermal optima. We expect warming to increase transmission below thermal optima but decrease transmission above optima. Key directions for future work include linking mechanistic models to field transmission, combining temperature effects with control measures, incorporating trait variation and temperature variation, and investigating climate adaptation and migration.