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Review
. 2022 May 27;19(11):6516.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116516.

Climate Changes Exacerbate the Spread of Ixodes ricinus and the Occurrence of Lyme Borreliosis and Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Europe-How Climate Models Are Used as a Risk Assessment Approach for Tick-Borne Diseases

Chrysa Voyiatzaki  1 , Sevastiani I Papailia  1 , Maria S Venetikou  2 , John Pouris  1 , Maria E Tsoumani  1 , Effie G Papageorgiou  3
Affiliations
Review

Climate Changes Exacerbate the Spread of Ixodes ricinus and the Occurrence of Lyme Borreliosis and Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Europe-How Climate Models Are Used as a Risk Assessment Approach for Tick-Borne Diseases

Chrysa Voyiatzaki et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Climate change has influenced the transmission of a wide range of vector-borne diseases in Europe, which is a pressing public health challenge for the coming decades. Numerous theories have been developed in order to explain how tick-borne diseases are associated with climate change. These theories include higher proliferation rates, extended transmission season, changes in ecological balances, and climate-related migration of vectors, reservoir hosts, or human populations. Changes of the epidemiological pattern have potentially catastrophic consequences, resulting in increasing prevalence of tick-borne diseases. Thus, investigation of the relationship between climate change and tick-borne diseases is critical. In this regard, climate models that predict the ticks' geographical distribution changes can be used as a predicting tool. The aim of this review is to provide the current evidence regarding the contribution of the climatic changes to Lyme borreliosis (LB) disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and to present how computational models will advance our understanding of the relationship between climate change and tick-borne diseases in Europe.

Keywords: Europe; Ixodes ricinus; climate change; geographical distribution; temperature; tick-borne diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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