Influence of climatic factors on Ixodes ricinus nymph abundance and phenology over a long-term monthly observation in Switzerland (2000-2014).

Background: One of the major public health challenges in the field of communicable diseases consists of being able to predict where and when a population is at risk of being infected by a pathogen. In the case of vector-borne diseases, such predictions often require strong ecological knowledge of the vector life-cycle and the environmental conditions promoting or preventing its establishment and maintenance. In this study, we analyse how climatic factors influence the abundance and phenology of the Lyme borreliosis vector Ixodes ricinus in a Swiss temperate forest, based on a long-term monthly observation over a period of 15 years (2000 and 2014).

Serological signature of tick-borne pathogens in Scandinavian brown bears over two decades.

Background: Anthropogenic disturbances are changing the geographic distribution of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Over the last few decades, the tick Ixodes ricinus has expanded its range and abundance considerably in northern Europe. Concurrently, the incidence of tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis, has increased in the human populations of the Scandinavian countries.