Li S, Juhász-Horváth L, Trájer A, Pintér L, Rounsevell M D A, Harrison P A
Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2018 Feb;65(1):e248-e253. doi: 10.1111/zph.12413. Epub 2017 Oct 17.
Controlling tick bites on farmers is important to the management of tick-borne diseases and occupational health risks in agriculture. Based on an extensive household survey conducted between June and August 2015 with 219 farmers from western Hungary where tick-borne diseases are endemic, we analysed the pattern of farmers' self-reported contacts with ticks and investigated the potential interactions between farmers, landscape and the risk of exposure to tick bites. We developed a lifestyle typology based on farmers' socioeconomic profiles, farming objectives and time use patterns, and a habitat typology describing different configurations of tick habitats and agricultural areas in place of farming. We found no relationship between tick exposure risk and self-prevention. The lifestyle typology could be used to classify the risk of tick bites and the adoption of prevention measures into different levels, the difference between which could further be modified by the habitat typology. Our results suggest that (i) farmers who are frequently engaged in outdoor recreations and (ii) part-time and inexperienced farmers who have lower rate of preventive actions are likely to experience greater exposure to tick bites either in less cultivated, semi-natural habitats or in agricultural landscape with highly diverse land uses. Future disease prevention practices should take into consideration the interaction of lifestyle and habitat and the need to associate different farmer groups with different landscape configurations.
控制农民被蜱虫叮咬对于蜱传疾病的管理以及农业职业健康风险至关重要。基于2015年6月至8月间对匈牙利西部219名农民进行的一项广泛的家庭调查（该地区蜱传疾病为地方病），我们分析了农民自我报告的与蜱虫接触的模式，并调查了农民、景观与蜱虫叮咬暴露风险之间的潜在相互作用。我们基于农民的社会经济概况、耕作目标和时间利用模式制定了一种生活方式类型学，以及一种描述蜱虫栖息地和农业区域不同配置的栖息地类型学。我们发现蜱虫暴露风险与自我预防之间没有关系。生活方式类型学可用于将蜱虫叮咬风险和预防措施的采用分为不同级别，而栖息地类型学可进一步改变它们之间的差异。我们的结果表明：（i）经常从事户外休闲活动的农民，以及（ii）预防行动率较低的兼职和无经验农民，在耕种较少的半自然栖息地或土地利用高度多样化的农业景观中，可能更容易被蜱虫叮咬。未来的疾病预防措施应考虑生活方式与栖息地的相互作用，以及将不同农民群体与不同景观配置相关联的必要性。
