Volume 17, Number 9—September 2011
Dispatch
Differential Risk for Lyme Disease along Hiking Trail, Germany
Dania Richter
and Franz-Rainer Matuschka
and Franz-Rainer Matuschka
Table 1
Density of Ixodes ricinus ticks, prevalence of pathogenic Lyme disease spirochetes, and theoretic risk for exposure to such infected ticks along a trail, southern Germany, May–October 2006 and March–October 2007
| Study site and tick stage |
Mean no. ticks collected in 1 hour* |
No. ticks examined |
% Ticks infected with pathogenic spirochetes |
Person’s risk for exposure in 1 hour† |
| Pasture | ||||
| Nymph | 11.8 | 104 | 3.8‡ | 0.45 |
| Adult |
2.3 |
33 |
3.0§ |
0.07 |
| Meadow | ||||
| Nymph | 87.2 | 188 | 21.8 | 19.01 |
| Adult |
10.4 |
58 |
17.2 |
1.79 |
| Fallow land | ||||
| Nymph | 129.3 | 502 | 17.5 | 22.63 |
| Adult | 38.0 | 291 | 13.7 | 5.21 |
*Nymph or female.
†Theoretic risk for exposure, mean number of questing nymphs or female ticks infected by pathogenic genospecies of spirochetes that cause Lyme disease: Borrelia afzelii, B. garinii, B. bavariensis, B. burgdorferi s.s., B. spielmanii.
‡Significantly smaller (p<0.0001 by Fisher exact test).
§Comparison lacks statistical meaning because only 1 adult tick infected with pathogenic spirochetes was collected.
Page created: September 06, 2011
Page updated: September 06, 2011
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