Back to Search Start Over

The Role of Environmental Factors in Lyme Disease Transmission in the European Union: A Systematic Review

Authors :
Christine Giesen
Daniel Cifo
Diana Gomez-Barroso
Rosa M. Estévez-Reboredo
Jordi Figuerola
Zaida Herrador
Source :
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, Vol 9, Iss 5, p 113 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

Background: Lyme disease (LD) is an emergent vector-borne disease caused by Borrelia spp. and transmitted through infected ticks, mainly Ixodes spp. Our objective was to determine meteorological and environmental factors associated with LD transmission in Europe and the effect of climate change on LD. Materials and methods: A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was performed. We selected studies on LD transmission in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) published between 2000 and 2022. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database. Results: We included 81 studies. The impact of environmental, meteorological or climate change factors on tick vectors was studied in 65 papers (80%), and the impact on human LD cases was studied in 16 papers (19%), whereas animal hosts were only addressed in one study (1%). A significant positive relationship was observed between temperature and precipitation and the epidemiology of LD, although contrasting results were found among studies. Other positive factors were humidity and the expansion of anthropized habitats. Conclusions: The epidemiology of LD seems to be related to climatic factors that are changing globally due to ongoing climate change. Unfortunately, the complete zoonotic cycle was not systematically analyzed. It is important to adopt a One Health approach to understand LD epidemiology.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
24146366
Volume :
9
Issue :
5
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.bcba8ab6261747cd85cc2f42c0da7705
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9050113