Collaborative Research: Testing Alternative Hypotheses for Gradients in Lyme disease in the Eastern U.S.: Climate, Host Community and Vector Genetic Structure

莱姆病(LD)是美国最常见的媒介传播疾病，大多数病例是从黑腿壁虱那里获得的。这些扁虱在美国东部各地都有发现，然而93%的LD病例发生在东北部和上中西部的十个州。对于在一些黑腿扁虱出现的地区令人费解地缺乏LD，人们提出了各种解释，但没有达成一致意见。缺乏解释导致公民和医疗保健提供者在面对美国许多地区不断扩大的扁虱种群时感到不确定和困惑。研究小组代表五所大学以及国家和国际政府机构。他们坚定地致力于向科学家、公共卫生机构、土地管理人员和公众传播研究成果。他们将使用现场、实验室和计算机模拟研究来检验关于LD分布的三个关键假设。将从美国东部四个相距甚远的地区的野外现场收集有关扁虱-宿主关系、扁虱季节生物学和扁虱遗传学的数据。应用建模和分子工具将揭示导致美国不同地区LD风险变化的生态和进化过程，并帮助预测气候变化如何改变这种风险。此外，进一步了解决定受感染硬体动物分布和数量的因素，将有助于人类疾病的诊断和治疗、硬体动物控制措施，以及关于LD和其他硬体动物传播疾病风险的地区差异的公众教育。

Lyme disease (LD) is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., with most cases acquired from blacklegged ticks. These ticks are found throughout the eastern U.S., yet 93% of LD cases occur in ten states found in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Various explanations have been proposed for the puzzling absence of LD in some areas where blacklegged ticks occur, but no agreement has been reached. The absence of an explanation contributes to uncertainty and confusion felt by citizens and healthcare providers faced with expanding tick populations in many parts of the U.S. The research team represents five universities as well as national and international governmental agencies. They have a strong commitment to disseminating research findings to scientists, public health agencies, land managers, and the public. They will test three key hypotheses concerning LD distribution using field, laboratory, and computer modeling studies. Data on tick-host relationships, tick seasonal biology, and tick genetics will be collected from field sites in four widely-separated regions of the eastern U.S. Application of modeling and molecular tools will reveal the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the variation in LD risk in different regions of the U.S., as well as help predict how climate change could alter this risk. Furthermore, this improved understanding of factors determining the distribution and abundance of infected ticks will assist in human disease diagnosis and treatment, tick control measures, and public education on regional differences in the risk of LD and other tick-borne disease.