caa a22 4500 467882290 CHVBK 20180406152723.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20061201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10393-006-0065-1 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10393-006-0065-1 Abundance and Borrelia burgdorferi -infection Prevalence of Nymphal Ixodes scapularis Ticks along Forest-Field Edges [Elektronische Daten] [Valerie Horobik, Felicia Keesing, Richard Ostfeld] More than 19,000 human cases of Lyme disease (LD) are reported each year in the United States. Lyme disease cases occur when humans are exposed to the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi through the bite of an infected ixodid tick. The probability of human exposure to infected ticks results from a combination of human behaviors and entomological risk. Human behaviors include use of tick habitats, use of protective clothing, and grooming for tick removal. Entomological risks include the density of ticks in a habitat and the proportion of these that are infected with B. burgdorferi. Recent studies have suggested that humans are at higher risk of exposure to B. burgdorferi near edges between forests and herbaceous communities, including lawns and old fields, but whether this increased risk is a function of human behaviors, entomological risk, or both, is unknown. We assessed entomological risk across forest-old field edges in Dutchess County, NY. Densities of ticks and of infected ticks were considerably higher within forests than at forest-field edges, and were lowest within fields. Thus, edges between forests and fields do not pose a higher entomological risk than do the forests themselves, although risk at the edge is higher than in herbaceous habitat. Landscapes with abundant edges between forested and herbaceous habitat, and roughly even proportions of both, might attract both heavy human use and pose moderately high entomological risk, and thus could be targeted for mitigation. We suggest that determining appropriate methods for reducing human exposure to LD requires differentiating entomological risk from human behaviors. Ecohealth Journal Consortium, 2006 blacklegged tick nationallicence Borrelia burgdorferi nationallicence Ixodes scapularis nationallicence landscape epidemiology nationallicence Lyme disease nationallicence tick ecology nationallicence Horobik Valerie Institute of Environmental Science, Miami University, Boyd Hall, 45056, Oxford, OH, USA aut Keesing Felicia Biology Department, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, 12504, New York, NY, USA aut Ostfeld Richard Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 65 Sharon Turnpike, 12545, Millbrook, NY, USA aut EcoHealth Springer-Verlag 3/4(2006-12-01), 262-268 1612-9202 3:4<262 2006 3 10393 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-006-0065-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-006-0065-1 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Horobik Valerie Institute of Environmental Science, Miami University, Boyd Hall, 45056, Oxford, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Keesing Felicia Biology Department, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, 12504, New York, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ostfeld Richard Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 65 Sharon Turnpike, 12545, Millbrook, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- EcoHealth Springer-Verlag 3/4(2006-12-01), 262-268 1612-9202 3:4<262 2006 3 10393 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer