Département de pathologie et microbiologie, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.
Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada.
J Med Entomol. 2024 Sep 10;61(5):1203-1213. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjae091.
Among approaches aimed at reducing Lyme disease risk in the environment, those targeting reservoirs of Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson are promising because they have the potential to reduce both the density of questing Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidea) ticks and the prevalence of B. burgdorferi in the tick population. In this 4-yr field study, we treated a population of wild small mammals with 2 densities of fluralaner baits and investigated the effect of the treatment on 3 parameters of the endemic cycle of B. burgdorferi: (i) the prevalence of infected Peromyscus mice (PIM), (ii) the density of questing nymphs (DON), and (iii) the prevalence of infected questing nymphs (NIP). We demonstrated that fluralaner baiting is effective at reducing tick infestation of Peromyscus mice, the main reservoir of B. burgdorferi in central and northeastern North America, in the laboratory and the field. Results from this study showed a significant decrease in B. burgdorferi infection in mice (odds ratio: 0.37 [CI95: 0.17 to 0.83]). A reduction in the DON between 45.4% [CI95: 22.4 to 61.6] and 62.7% [CI95: 45.9 to 74.2] occurred in treated area when compared with control areas. No significant effect was reported on the NIP. These results confirm the hypothesis that fluralaner baits have an effect on B. burgdorferi endemic cycle, with the potential to reduce the density of B. burgdorferi-infected ticks in the environment. Further studies performed in various habitats and public health intervention contexts are needed to refine and operationalize this approach for reducing Lyme disease risk in the environment.
在旨在降低环境中莱姆病风险的方法中，针对伯氏疏螺旋体（Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson）储存库的方法很有前景，因为它们有可能降低游离的肩突硬蜱（Ixodes scapularis Say）（蜱螨目：硬蜱科）的密度和蜱种群中伯氏疏螺旋体的流行率。在这项为期 4 年的野外研究中，我们用 2 种浓度的氟虫腈诱饵处理了一个野生小型哺乳动物种群，并调查了处理对伯氏疏螺旋体地方性循环的 3 个参数的影响：（i）受感染的小家鼠（Peromyscus mice）的流行率（PIM），（ii）游离幼蜱的密度（DON），和（iii）受感染的游离幼蜱的流行率（NIP）。我们证明，氟虫腈诱饵在实验室和野外都能有效地减少北美中东部地区伯氏疏螺旋体的主要储存宿主——小家鼠身上的蜱虫感染。该研究的结果表明，小鼠（优势比：0.37 [95%置信区间：0.17 至 0.83]）的伯氏疏螺旋体感染显著减少。与对照区相比，处理区的 DON 减少了 45.4%[95%置信区间：22.4 至 61.6]和 62.7%[95%置信区间：45.9 至 74.2]。NIP 没有显著影响。这些结果证实了氟虫腈诱饵对伯氏疏螺旋体地方性循环有影响的假设，有潜力降低环境中感染伯氏疏螺旋体的蜱虫密度。需要在各种生境和公共卫生干预背景下开展进一步的研究，以完善和实施这种降低环境中莱姆病风险的方法。
