Publications by authors named "L Bournez"
Article Synopsis
- Lyme borreliosis, transmitted by Ixodes ticks, is the most common zoonotic disease in the northern hemisphere, and a study was conducted in northeastern France from 2020 to 2022 to understand the factors influencing tick presence in private yards.
- Citizen scientists collected ticks and assessed various yard and landscape features to determine their association with tick occurrences, particularly focused on the nymph stage of the Ixodes ricinus tick that primarily bites humans.
- The study found that ticks were present in 32% of yards, with higher nymph presence in shaded areas and increased likelihood in yards with deer signs and brush piles, highlighting the need for public awareness about tick exposure in urban environments.
Article Synopsis
- Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) outbreaks in Europe have been linked to the consumption of raw milk products, highlighting a need for better detection methods of the virus in these foods.
- Researchers developed a sensitive cell culture-based method for detecting infectious TBEV in artificially contaminated raw goat milk and cheese, achieving varying levels of viral detection.
- The study showed that this method successfully identified infectious TBEV in both milk and cheese samples, supporting its potential use in future foodborne outbreak investigations.
The eco-epidemiology of tick-borne diseases hinges on the abundance and distribution of hosts that sustain tick populations and the pathogens they carry. Research into the role of bird species in the feeding of Ixodes ricinus ticks, the primary tick species of veterinary and public health importance in Europe, remains scarce. This study endeavors to bridge these knowledge gaps by (i) assessing the density of feeding ticks (DFT) within a bird community to pinpoint species making substantial contributions, and (ii) exploring interannual variations in DFT over an extended timeline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a severe human neuroinfection caused by TBE virus (TBEV). TBEV is transmitted by tick bites and by the consumption of unpasteurized dairy products from infected asymptomatic ruminants. In France, several food-borne transmission events have been reported since 2020, raising the question of the level of exposure of domestic ungulates to TBEV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTick-borne flaviviruses and spp. are globally spread pathogens of zoonotic potential that are maintained by a transmission cycle at the interface between ticks and vertebrate hosts, mainly wild animals. Aside data on pathogen burden in ticks, information on the status of various hosts relative to infection is important to acquire.
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