Exhaustion, paralysis, heart or neurological damage, Lyme disease is feared.
The National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) has just released a study on the infectious agents of this dangerous mite, as part of a participatory research program.
Out of "more than 2,500 ticks analyzed", "15% of ticks that bite humans were carriers of (the) bacteria" Borrelia bugdorferi sensu lato, responsible for Lyme disease, and "14% were carriers of another potentially dangerous pathogen for human and animal health, ”says the institute.
These ticks are among the “more than 35,000 ticks transmitted” by residents as part of the participatory research program CiTique, which aims to establish “a map of the risk of tick bites in the territory”, in particular via the application “ Tick report ”.
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This program, launched in 2016 as part of the Lyme disease control plan, is coordinated by INRAE, in partnership with the University of Lorraine, ANSES and CPIE Nancy Champenoux.
More and more bites in the gardens
The proportion of infected ticks is higher in the north and east of France (up to 43% in the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region), while it falls to 18% and 19% in Brittany and the Pays Of the loire.
Another lesson from this tick "collection" campaign: "While between 2017 and 2019, 28% of people declared having been bitten in a private garden in France, the rate of declaration of bites in this place is is high at 47% between March and April 2020 ”, during the first confinement to fight against the Covid-19 epidemic.
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This result “confirms the importance of the risk of bites in gardens, this familiar environment being often less perceived as at risk by individuals than outings in the forest”, underlines INRAE in a press release.
Also, the institute announces the launch of a “new component” of CiTique, with “specific research” targeted on “the private gardens of the communes of Greater Nancy and surroundings”, “to improve the understanding of this phenomenon” and “ make this risk visible to public authorities, citizens and health professionals ”.
In 2019, the health authorities officially listed 50,133 cases of Lyme disease in metropolitan France, mainly in Grand-Est, Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and New Aquitaine.