期刊名称：Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
印刷版ISSN：1232-1966
电子版ISSN：1898-2263
出版年度：2018
卷号：25
期号：2
页码：1-4
DOI：10.26444/aaem/89919
出版社：Institute of Agricultural Medicine in Lublin
摘要：Introduction. Tick abundance and the prevalence of the pathogens they carry have been increasing worldwide in the last
decades, and is projected to increase even further. Despite the fact that problem is global, there still remain many gaps in
the diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne diseases. The best protection from tick-borne pathogens, therefore, is prevention
and avoidance of bites. Ticks mobility is limited so that their spatial distribution is strongly correlated with the presence of,
especially with large mammals. In this study, the hypothesis was tested that tick abundance is higher on animal tracks in the
forests than in adjacent habitats. This is an important issue because there are still several human habits and practices that
can decrease the zoonoses risk. For example, during recreation in forest, people should always walk on the paths (including
narrow animal’s tracks) instead of wading through bushes.
Materials and method. Flagging of animal trails and near control transects were performed simultaneously. Next, collected
ticks were counted, sexed and aged.
Results. The abundance of ticks was almost 5-fold (Ixodes ricinus) and 3-fold (Dermacentor spp.) higher on animal trails than
on adjacent control transects.
Conclusions. The results obtained support the hypothesis that ticks are more abundant on pathways than in adjacent
habitats. Most likely, the pattern emerges because large mammals, like deer, which are the most important ticks hosts, use
forest paths to move across the landscape and frequently move along the same routes. This research sends an important
public message that these forest trails are hotspots of disease risk and should be avoided.
