Eisen Rebecca J, Foster Erik, Kjemtrup Anne, Saunders Megan E M, Brown Jennifer, Green Lee, Cervantes Kim, Prusinski Melissa A, White Jennifer, Barbarin Alexis M, Williams Carl, Kwit Natalie, Bernick Joshua, Gaines David, Dykstra Elizabeth, Oltean Hanna N, Dotseth Eric, Lee Xia, Osborn Rebecca
Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
Vector-Borne Disease Section, Infectious Diseases Branch, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA, USA.
J Med Entomol. 2025 Mar 17;62(2):289-300. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjae149.
In response to notable increases in tick-associated illnesses in the United States, recent public health policies encouraged multi-sector collaborative approaches to preventing vector-borne diseases. Primary prevention strategies focus on educating the public about risks for tick-borne diseases and encouraging adoption of personal protection strategies. Accurate descriptions of when and where people are at risk for tick-borne diseases aid in the optimization of prevention messaging. Tick and tick-borne pathogen data can be used to fill gaps in epidemiological surveillance. However, the utility of acarological data is limited by their completeness. National maps showing the distribution of medically important tick species and the pathogens they carry are often incomplete or non-existent. Recent policies encourage accelerated efforts to monitor changes in the distribution and abundance of medically important ticks and the presence and prevalence of human pathogens that they carry, and to provide actionable, evidence-based information to the public, health care providers and public health policy makers. In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated a national tick surveillance program focused on Ixodes ticks. The national program coordinated and expanded upon existing efforts led by public health departments and academic institutions. Here, we describe experiences of state public health departments engaged in Ixodes tick surveillance, including information on why they initiated Ixodes surveillance programs, programmatic objectives, and strategies for maintaining tick surveillance programs. We share experiences and challenges in interpreting or communicating tick surveillance data to stakeholders and explore how the acarological data are used to complement epidemiological data.
针对美国蜱媒相关疾病显著增加的情况，近期的公共卫生政策鼓励采取多部门协作方法来预防媒介传播疾病。一级预防策略侧重于对公众进行蜱媒疾病风险教育，并鼓励采取个人防护策略。准确描述人们在何时何地有感染蜱媒疾病的风险，有助于优化预防信息传递。蜱虫和蜱媒病原体数据可用于填补流行病学监测的空白。然而，蜱螨学数据的实用性受到其完整性的限制。显示重要医学蜱种及其携带病原体分布情况的全国地图往往不完整或根本不存在。近期政策鼓励加快努力，监测重要医学蜱种的分布和数量变化以及它们所携带的人类病原体的存在和流行情况，并向公众、医疗服务提供者和公共卫生政策制定者提供可采取行动的、基于证据的信息。2018年，美国疾病控制与预防中心启动了一项针对硬蜱属蜱虫的全国蜱虫监测计划。该全国性计划对公共卫生部门和学术机构牵头开展的现有工作进行了协调和扩展。在此，我们描述了参与硬蜱属蜱虫监测的州公共卫生部门的经验，包括它们启动硬蜱属监测计划的原因、计划目标以及维持蜱虫监测计划的策略。我们分享在向利益相关者解读或传达蜱虫监测数据方面的经验和挑战，并探讨蜱螨学数据如何用于补充流行病学数据。
