Assessing Community-Based Tick Control for LD Mitigation

Healthy People2010制定了将莱姆病病例减少到每10万名居民9.7例的目标 在接下来的六年内。在罗德岛州，该州平均每10万居民的疾病发病率为51,000，因此，很明显，迫切需要采取有效的疾病缓解措施，包括减少扁虱的干预措施。数不胜数 已经制定了疾病预防的防治战略；至少在一定程度上对许多战略进行了评估，但广泛或协调地实施的战略很少。此外，可能有强有力的实验证据表明特定干预的有效性，但其在实际应用情况下的有效性可能是有限的或未知的。到目前为止，还没有任何研究衡量在人群水平上降低莱姆病发病率的实际有效性。我们的假设是，为使干预措施有效，有必要增加公众知识并适当实施壁虱控制策略，或使用需要较少风险公众参与的策略。 为了评估这一点，我们建议：1)在实施积极的、互动式的社区防治计划之前和之后，评估和评估防治蜱的态度和做法；2)实施社区范围的4柱防治计划，并评估其对疾病预防的有效性；以及3)通过制定一份全面的手册，详细介绍市政4柱控制计划的实施，来协助4柱的技术转移。 该项目将是第一个测试整个地区的蜱类控制努力是否会降低发病率的项目。它的创新之处在于，壁虱生物学家将使用互动技术，并积极参与市政和房主的壁虱控制规划。努力的重点将是确定让社区和处于危险中的个人参与进来的战略。

HealthyPeople2010 established a goal of reducing Lyme diseaseto 9.7 cases per 100,000 residents within the next six years. Sincet ick abundance is positively correlated with disease incidence in Rhode Island,where statewide disease incidence rates average>51 per 100,000 residents, there clearly is an immediate need for effective disease mitigation measures including tick reduction interventions. Numerous tick control strategies for disease prevention have been developed ;many have been evaluated, at least to some degree but few have been implemented widely or in a coordinated manner. Moreover, there may be strong experimental evidence indicating the effectiveness of a particular intervention, but its efficacy under actual application circumstances may be limited or unknown. To date, there have been nostudies that measure actual effectiveness in reducing Lyme disease incidence at the population level. It is our hypothesis that for interventions to be effective, it wil lbe necessary to increase public knowledge and proper implementation of tick control strategies, or use strategies that require less participation of the public at risk. To evaluate this, we propose to: 1) assess and evaluate tick control attitudes and practices before and after implementing an aggressive, interactive community outreach program for tick control; 2) implement a community-wide 4-poster tick control program and evaluate its effectiveness for disease prevention; and 3) assist 4-poster technology transfer by developing a comprehensive manual detailing implementation of a municipal 4-poster tick control program. This project will be the first to test whether area-wide tick control efforts result in reduced disease incidence. Its innovation lies in the fact that tick biologists will use interactive techniques and be active participants in municipal and homeowner tick control programming. Efforts will focus on identifying strategiesfor engaging the community and individuals at risk.