Frequent Prescribed Fires Can Reduce Risk of Tick-borne Diseases

Recently, a two-year study found that long-term prescribed fire significantly reduced tick abundance at sites with varying burn regimes (burned surrounded by burned areas [BB], burned surrounded by unburned areas [BUB], and unburned surrounded by burned areas [UBB]). In the current study, these tick...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-07, Vol.9 (1), p.9974-10, Article 9974
Main Authors: Gleim, Elizabeth R., Zemtsova, Galina E., Berghaus, Roy D., Levin, Michael L., Conner, Mike, Yabsley, Michael J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/1469
631/158/2465
692/699/255/1318
704/158/1469
704/158/2465
Animals
Arachnids
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Burning
Controlled burning
Dermacentor - microbiology
Dermacentor - pathogenicity
Ecosystem
Fires
Florida
Georgia
Health risks
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Ixodes - microbiology
Ixodes - pathogenicity
multidisciplinary
Pathogens
Prescribed fire
Rickettsia
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Seasons
Tick-borne diseases
Tick-Borne Diseases - epidemiology
Tick-Borne Diseases - transmission
Timber industry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recently, a two-year study found that long-term prescribed fire significantly reduced tick abundance at sites with varying burn regimes (burned surrounded by burned areas [BB], burned surrounded by unburned areas [BUB], and unburned surrounded by burned areas [UBB]). In the current study, these ticks were tested for pathogens to more directly investigate the impacts of long-term prescribed burning on human disease risk. A total of 5,103 ticks (4,607  Amblyomma americanum , 76  Amblyomma maculatum , 383 Ixodes scapularis , two Ixodes brunneus , and 35 Dermacentor variabilis ) were tested for Borrelia spp., Rickettsia spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Anaplasma phagocytophilum . Long-term prescribed fire did not significantly impact pathogen prevalence except that A. americanum from burned habitats had significantly lower prevalence of Rickettsia (8.7% and 4.6% for BUB and UBB sites, respectively) compared to ticks from control sites (unburned, surrounded by unburned [UBUB])(14.6%). However, during the warm season (spring/summer), encounter rates with ticks infected with pathogenic bacteria was significantly lower (98%) at burned sites than at UBUB sites. Thus, despite there being no differences in pathogen prevalence between burned and UBUB sites, risk of pathogen transmission is lower at sites subjected to long-term burning due to lower encounter rates with infected ticks.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-46377-4