Multiple causes of variable tick burdens on small-mammal hosts
Multiple causes of variable tick burdens on small-mammal hosts
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DOI：
10.1890/07-0665.1
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发表时间：
2008-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Ostfeld, Richard S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brunner, Jesse L.;Ostfeld, Richard S.
黑腿蜱（肩胛骨蜱）在脊椎动物宿主上吸血，可在宿主和蜱之间传播几种人畜共患疾病的病原体，包括莱姆病、人类巴贝斯虫病和人类粒细胞无形体病。如果蜱虫聚集在主机上，则一小部分主机可能负责大多数传播事件。因此，了解和控制这些病原体传播的一个关键因素是确定喂养数量不成比例的蜱虫的群体或个人。然而，以往关于蜱虫负荷的研究主要集中在一组或几组寄主的年平均负荷差异上，而忽略了肩胛骨蜱的强烈季节性动态及其在寄主上的聚集性。我们提出了一个统计建模框架，可以预测个体宿主全年的负担，作为时间、地点和个体特定属性的函数，以及负二项分布的聚集程度。然后，我们将该模型的替代版本与白足鼠（Peromyscus leucopus）和东部花栗鼠（Tamias striatus） 11年的肩胛骨负荷数据集相匹配，以探索哪些因素对预测蜱虫负荷很重要。
Blood meals by blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) on vertebrate hosts serve to transmit the agents of several zoonotic diseases, including Lyme disease, human babesiosis, and human granulocytic anaplasmosis, between host and tick. If ticks are aggregated on hosts, a small proportion of hosts may be responsible for most transmission events. Therefore, a key element in understanding and controlling the transmission of these pathogens is identifying the group(s) or individuals feeding a disproportionate number of ticks. Previous studies of tick burdens, however, have focused on differences in mean annual burdens between one or a few groups of hosts, ignoring both the strong seasonal dynamics of I. scapularis and their aggregation on hosts. We present a statistical modeling framework that predicts burdens on individual hosts throughout the year as a function of temporal-, site-, and individual-specific attributes, as well as the degree of aggregation in a negative binomial distribution. We then fit alternate versions of this model to an 11-year data set of I. scapularis burdens on white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus) to explore which factors are important to predicting tick burdens.