Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
19 WOODWARD HALL 9 EAST ALUMNI AVENUE
KINGSTON,RI 02881
Performing Department
Plant Science
Non Technical Summary
Currently, an estimated 717,000 Rhode Island residents are at risk of contracting one or more of three serious diseases transmitted by black-legged ticks. Disease associated with black-legged ticks continues to increase in RI and the region - in just the past five years, cases of the sometimes fatal human babesiosis and human anaplasmosis have increased in Rhode Island by >1,500% and >2,500%, respectively. Many states within the northeastern region are similarly impacted. Our overall goal is to develop regionally-relevant health promotion tools for reducing the impact of tick-borne diseases on the northeastern U.S. region. Our method is to create and validate various decision support products (tick risk index, risk calculator, tailored interventions, supporting content, etc) so that they are operational for the entire northeastern US. As a first step, the current project focuses on one research project and two extension projects in Rhode Island. In field experiments, we will test the hypothesis that extended durations of sub-optimum levels of atmospheric moisture directly affects black-legged tick activity and survival. Collected data will be used to develop models that predict nymphal black-legged tick activity. Expected outcomes from this project are improved decision support and an increase in the number of people taking risk-appropriate actions to prevent tick-bites and disease.
Animal Health Component
70%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
70%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Human and animal diseases transmitted by blacklegged ticks are increasing in Rhode Island and the larger northeastern United States region - the health burden from Lyme disease is estimated to cost Rhode Island more than $30 million annual, and in just the past five years, cases of the sometimes fatal human babesiosis and human anaplasmosis have increased in Rhode Island by >1,500% and >2,500%, respectively. The current new project builds on previous work and will focus on developing, and improving access to health promotion tools for tick-bite protection and on increasing the number of people in Rhode Island that take risk-appropriate actions to prevent tick-bites and disease. The project integrates biological and geo-physical research with social science and public health marketing, to create credible health promotion tools and remove barriers to implementing tick-bite protection and disease prevention. There are four specific objectives of this new project. 1 and 2) Identify climatic predictors of tick activity and tick encounter risk and build a risk forecasting tool that uses a geo-referenced multi-sensor approach. Sub-projects under this objective will measure relative humidity in tick habitat as well as obtain humidity data from the Northeast Climate Data Center at Cornell University. Final outputs of the current work will be graphs correlating duration of sub-optimal RH and weekly host-seeking nymphal tick abundance. 3) Extend a novel, user-friendly, TickEncounter Risk Calculator and customized health promotion plan for preventing tick-bites in backyard environments to other northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. Using a unique model relating Lyme disease incidence to nymphal deer tick abundance, we will functionalize the risk calculator tool for tick endemic states where local Lyme disease incidence data is readily available. Outputs will be in the form of easily interpreted products providing multi-channel tick-bite prevention decision support during the spring and summer tick risk season. 4) Implement a pilot social marketing campaign encouraging people to regularly conduct daily tick checks on their children and wear clothes with built-in tick repellent. Outputs will be unique promotional materials and interactive decision support tools directed at appropriate target audiences, and extensive target audience analyses. The expected outcomes from this project are greater awareness and use of credible resources for improving tick-bite protection decision support, and an increase in the number of people taking risk-appropriate actions to prevent tick-bites and disease.
Project Methods
Field experiments will be conducted to confirm previous lab-derived atmospheric moisture thresholds associated with blacklegged tick mortality. Additional GIS and remote sensing studies will provide critical data for fine-tuning the site-specificity of the relative humidity predictive model, and for extending the predictive capacity of our TickEncounter Risk Index to the larger Northeast Region. To validate the relationship between tick activity/survival and duration of exposure to sub-optimal RH, we will conduct weekly tick sampling at field sites where humidity data is being collected. An important component of this work will be to establish the relationship between relative humidity in tick habitat and a remotely sensed index. We will employ a hierarchical sampling design to scale-up from in situ field measurements of RH to remote sensing observations. We will take advantage of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions from multi-sensor remote sensing data. We will use these regression models to assess which humidity variable (daily average, weekly average, number of consecutive 4 or 6 hr periods below the 82% threshold, etc.) best predicts tick activity levels. Akaike Information Criterion and similar approaches will be used for final model evaluation and selection. A second model based on 15 years of tick encounter risk surveillance in Rhode Island will be used to extend a novel decision support tool, "TickEncounter Risk Calculator " to other states in the northeastern U.S. Once operational, we will begin monitoring incoming web traffic to the TickEncounter Risk Index and TickEncounter Risk Calculator pages on www.tickencounter.org, and evaluate traffic patterns within the site, especially links to www.tickencounter.org/prevention/protectyourself. We also will conduct a follow-up pen and paper mail survey, soliciting 10,000 residents statewide (last conducted in 2004/05, n=1,835), to assess Rhode Islanders tick bite prevention practices.