Implications of climate change on the distribution of the tick vector Ixodes scapularis and risk for Lyme disease in the Texas-Mexico transboundary region

Particle and Fibre Toxicology

Maria D Esteve-Gassent⁴  Adalberto A Pérez de León⁵  Raul F Medina⁶  Javier Torres²  Abha Grover⁴  Margarita Vargas-Sandoval¹  Ana L Cavazos³  Guadalupe Gordillo-Perez²  Ivan Castro-Arellano⁷  Teresa P Feria-Arroyo³ 

[1] Facultad de Agrobiología, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Uruapan, 60090 Michoacan, Mexico;Unidad de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, Centro Médico Nacional SXXI, IMSS, Distrito Federal 06720, Mexico;Department of Biology, The University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA;Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;USDA-ARS Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory, Kerrville, TX 78028, USA;Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;Department of Biology, College of Science and Engineering, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA

关键词: Climate change;    Lyme disease risk map;    Transboundary disease;    Borrelia burgdorferi;    Ixodes scapularis;   

Others  :  807066
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-3305-7-199

 received in 2014-02-05, accepted in 2014-04-18,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Disease risk maps are important tools that help ascertain the likelihood of exposure to specific infectious agents. Understanding how climate change may affect the suitability of habitats for ticks will improve the accuracy of risk maps of tick-borne pathogen transmission in humans and domestic animal populations. Lyme disease (LD) is the most prevalent arthropod borne disease in the US and Europe. The bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi causes LD and it is transmitted to humans and other mammalian hosts through the bite of infected Ixodes ticks. LD risk maps in the transboundary region between the U.S. and Mexico are lacking. Moreover, none of the published studies that evaluated the effect of climate change in the spatial and temporal distribution of I. scapularis have focused on this region.

Methods

The area of study included Texas and a portion of northeast Mexico. This area is referred herein as the Texas-Mexico transboundary region. Tick samples were obtained from various vertebrate hosts in the region under study. Ticks identified as I. scapularis were processed to obtain DNA and to determine if they were infected with B. burgdorferi using PCR. A maximum entropy approach (MAXENT) was used to forecast the present and future (2050) distribution of B. burgdorferi-infected I. scapularis in the Texas-Mexico transboundary region by correlating geographic data with climatic variables.

Results

Of the 1235 tick samples collected, 109 were identified as I. scapularis. Infection with B. burgdorferi was detected in 45% of the I. scapularis ticks collected. The model presented here indicates a wide distribution for I. scapularis, with higher probability of occurrence along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Results of the modeling approach applied predict that habitat suitable for the distribution of I. scapularis in the Texas-Mexico transboundary region will remain relatively stable until 2050.

Conclusions

The Texas-Mexico transboundary region appears to be part of a continuum in the pathogenic landscape of LD. Forecasting based on climate trends provides a tool to adapt strategies in the near future to mitigate the impact of LD related to its distribution and risk for transmission to human populations in the Mexico-US transboundary region.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Feria-Arroyo et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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