Zhou, L.; Tsynman, L.; Kanapathipillai, K.; Shah, Z.; Bajwa, W. Acarological Risk of Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease Agent, in Staten Island, New York City. Arthropoda2024, 2, 181-191.
Zhou, L.; Tsynman, L.; Kanapathipillai, K.; Shah, Z.; Bajwa, W. Acarological Risk of Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease Agent, in Staten Island, New York City. Arthropoda 2024, 2, 181-191.
Zhou, L.; Tsynman, L.; Kanapathipillai, K.; Shah, Z.; Bajwa, W. Acarological Risk of Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease Agent, in Staten Island, New York City. Arthropoda2024, 2, 181-191.
Zhou, L.; Tsynman, L.; Kanapathipillai, K.; Shah, Z.; Bajwa, W. Acarological Risk of Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease Agent, in Staten Island, New York City. Arthropoda 2024, 2, 181-191.
Abstract
Lyme disease, the leading vector-borne ailment in the U.S., annually affects an estimated 476,000 individuals, predominantly in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Despite its increasing incidence, the evaluation of risk within U.S. cities, including natural public lands, remains inadequate. This study focuses on blacklegged tick occurrences and Borrelia burgdorferi infection prevalence in 24 Staten Island parks, aiming to assess Lyme disease exposure risk. Monthly acarological risk index (ARI) calculations from 2019 to 2022 revealed elevated values (0.16-0.53) in specific parks, notably Wolfe’s Pond Park, High Rock Park, Clay Pit Pond Park, Clove Lake Park, and Fair View Park. June (0.36) and November (0.21) consistently exhibited heightened ARIs, aligning with peak tick collection months. Despite stable yearly infection rates at 28.97%, tick densities varied significantly between parks and years. Identifying a high transmission risk in specific parks in Staten Island, a highly urbanized part of New York City, emphasizes the continuous necessity for Lyme disease risk management, even within the greenspaces of large cities.
Keywords
Lyme disease; Ixodes scapularis; urban green spaces; public health risk
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public, Environmental and Occupational Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
